Fame Foundry Sound Off: AT&T's Seth the Blogger Guy

As the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S., AT&T has found itself in the midst of a PR nightmare of its own making. Most customers have a love/hate relationship with the company, and even worse for AT&T, these customers are very vocal about their issues. As fervently as they sing the praises of their iPhones, they also profess their contempt for the network's unreliable service and vent their resentment of the carrier's stranglehold on the device. In an attempt to tip the scales of public opinion back in favor of love, AT&T has once again rolled out “Seth the Blogger Guy,” who made his debut on the company's YouTube channel earlier this year to hype the launch of the iPhone 3GS: In response, Fame Foundry's agents address AT&T, Seth and yet another misguided effort by a faceless corporation to work magic through social media.

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• The Architect

  I have no idea who "Seth the Blogger Guy" is. He's obviously not a "blogger guy"; he's an AT&T spokesman. It immediately comes off as insulting that AT&T would assume I would know this guy and buy what he says from that point on because he's "just one of us." 

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• The Craftsman

  Why is a "blogger guy" delivering this message? He does not come across as an AT&T authority that can in any way influence the reliability of their network. It's almost as if they found a guy in a cubicle and asked him to be in a video. I also don't appreciate the Schoolhouse Rock approach to explaining what happens when a call is made. First of all, don't insult my intelligence. Secondly, I don't really care. I just want it to work.

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• The Developer

  This just goes to show that not only does AT&T not understand the people they are talking to, neither does the ad agency that made this lame video. It is a blatant PR attempt to position themselves as a leader instead of being honest and apologizing. Today's consumers want honesty, and obviously neither AT&T or the company that produced this video understands this simple fact. Suck it up, AT&T, and give us a sincere apology and a credit for the crappy service so we know you're serious.

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• The Engineer

  Where was the investment before now? Before the iPhone there were smartphones, and we were yelling then, too. You didn't hear us five years ago and get "on it." You're apologizing for your lack of investment in infrastructure with the money you got from charging people an arm and a leg to send cheap text messages. People don't forget, AT&T. Heaven help you when another carrier gets its hands on the iPhone.

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• The Author

  Even if we were to accept "Seth the Blogger Guy" as a credible voice of authority (note to AT&T: we don't), the video is still highly flawed. I will give AT&T credit for recognizing the conversation happening around them in the social media sphere and attempting to address customer concerns through the channels where they are talking. However, that's where their smart new-media thinking ends and they fall back on comfortable and familiar old marketing conventions. Rather than taking advantage of the opportunities offered by social media networks to engage in candid and genuine dialog, they simply broadcast a message that is obviously 100 percent scripted and delivered by a spokesperson with no real personality. There is no sense that this represents a heartfelt communication from a company that values its relationships with its customers. Instead, the tone of the video ranges from condescending ("Frankly, that's a very time-consuming process.") to patronizing ("The airwaves are kind of like a highway.") to exasperated ("We've heard you. We're on it."). As we've said before and will say again many times, people follow people, not companies. Until AT&T is willing to invest the time and resources necessary to cultivate real, meaningful and ongoing relationships with the public, their social media efforts will continue to falter, and they will be haunted by their reputation as the subpar network that's holding the iPhone hostage.

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• The Communicator

  AT&T's video violates one of the cardinal rules of social media: transparency. A simple Google search reveals that "Seth the Blogger Guy with AT&T" (as he identifies himself in the video) is neither an average joe blogger or a rank-and-file AT&T employee as his name, appearance and demeanor are all deliberately calibrated to portray. He is, in fact, not a blogger at all. He is Seth Bloom, senior vice president at Fleishman-Hillard, AT&T's PR agency. As soon as this is revealed, all credibility is lost, and the video comes across as nothing but an empty, manipulative and self-serving PR tactic. If AT&T truly cared about repairing its reputation and earning the loyalty of its customers, it would not hide behind a fictional persona but rather would put a legitimate company heavyweight on the front lines of its social media efforts. Instead, despite the controversy sparked by their questionable choice of spokesperson, the company has said that it plans to continue using Seth in future online videos.

A final word of advice for AT&T: There is no division between the "real world" and the world of social media. These days they are one in the same. You do yourselves no favors by posting what you believe to be a positive, reassuring, "we're in this together" video on YouTube and then telling every media outlet that will listen that your customers and their bandwidth-hogging iPhones are the problem. If you want to use social media to your advantage, you must be willing to represent your company in a truly personal manner - flaws and all - in order to earn and keep your customers' trust. Consumers are much more forgiving of companies with whom they have built relationships on a foundation of trust; they have little sympathy for faceless corporations. Or, in this case, a faceless corporation masquerading as a "blogger guy."

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Does Your Brand Suffer from a Split Personality?

Let's say you've been consistently active in the world of social media for many months. You update your Facebook page daily and spark good dialogue with your fans. You tweet nothing but interesting tidbits of news, information and advice that get re-tweeted through your followers' networks. You even have a thriving blog with a strong following, and you've established a voice of authority in this community. In every channel where you engage with members of your online tribe, your brand exudes a personality that is vibrant, genuine and passionate. Congratulations! You're the master of your social media domain. But now it's time for a reality check – as in the everyday reality of your business operations. When fans and followers from your social networks interact with you and your employees in the real world, does their experience live up to their expectations? When fans and followers from your social networks interact with you and your employees in the real world, does their experience live up to their expectations? When a customer calls your business, how long do they have to wait on hold and how many times must they be transferred before their needs are fulfilled? If a customer needs to return an item to your store, is their request handled graciously and expeditiously or begrudgingly with hassles over receipts and return policies? Do the salespeople on your front lines engage your customers with the same attentiveness and enthusiasm as you do online, or do they look and act like disenchanted worker drones just wasting away the hours until the 5:00 whistle blows? It's relatively easy to maintain a sparkling brand personality when you're in front of your keyboard, but that personality doesn't exist in an online vacuum. Each time you and your employees have the opportunity to interact with your customers in person or over the phone, your brand's reputation is put to the test. If you're known to fans and followers on your social media networks for being helpful, courteous and knowledgeable, they will expect nothing less when they call your business or come into your store. Therefore, in order to protect their trust in your brand and their belief in your brand’s promise, it's critical to evaluate your day-to-day customer service policies and protocols to ensure that every exchange embodies these values. If you're exposed as a phony, your former fans and followers will be quick to turn on you. All the time, energy and resources that you've poured into cultivating authentic connections with your community in the Web marketing universe can be rendered moot in an instant if your care and conviction doesn't translate when your customers unplug and engage with you and your employees person-to-person. If you're exposed as a phony, your former fans and followers will be quick to turn on you. Once lost, their goodwill is very difficult to regain, and almost nothing can save you from the viral nature of a disgruntled customer with a megaphone on Facebook or Twitter.

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