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Some advertisers thought they'd be clever and launch fake blogs (flogs) to promote products. Users quickly find out that these blogs are staged attempts by advertising agencies to create positive viral buzz about their products but it often has the opposite effect. Take Walmart for example. Walmart's ad agency decided it would be a good idea to launch a blog from a couple travelling across the USA. They raved about the Walmarts they had visited. Problem was, they were hired writers and personalities who were being paid to write about Walmart. Soon after the flog launched the jig was up. Suspicious users (because what smart user is not suspicious about what they read on the Web?) figured out quickly that it was all a sham. The result was obviously a massive amount of negative PR for Walmart. The worst thing you can do on the Web is try to trick users; you'll lose customers forever-- an advertiser's worst nightmare. Another much-talked-about flog was Sony's, "All I Want for Christmas is a PSP". When users accused the blogger of being a fake, the ad agency responsible for the flog added insult to injury by having the blogger defend the authenticity of the site. Ouch! So before you decide to be sneaky and clever, think twice about launching a flog. Your users will find you out no matter what measures you take to cover up the scam. Instead, do like Target does and allow users to rate products. If you're putting out a great product, users will do your PR for you, by rating your products positively, and then telling two friends and so on and so on and so on. Ivy Hastings is a Project Manager at, Fusionbox a Denver web design company. A graduate of UC Berkeley, Ivy has written many articles about Internet Marketing for journals, blogs and publications. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Arts Street, a Denver non-profit that teaches underserved youth job skills.
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