IAB Joins Social Media Failure Ranks

We all love stories of companies or organizations that wade into the social media space with a delusional plan or an “us first” marketing platform. Rarely though do these stories originate from an organization whose stated purpose is to promote interactive social marketing. This past week however the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) did just that; started a social media campaign that was all about them.

For several years now I have subscribed to the IAB’s daily e-newsletter and enjoyed the content they provided. Recently they have amped up their social media efforts and began to promote them at opportune times. On April 21st however they prominently featured this push and asked you to connect with them. Here is what they asked:

"Connect with IAB via social networks
IAB wants to be your friend! Find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Connect with other advertising professionals and keep up to date on breaking news."

Simple invite, simple call to action, just click and connect. Having been a fan I did just what they asked me, clicked and connected. Facebook, no issue, I’m a fan; Twitter, yep no issue there either but then came a strange notice from my LinkedIn request. It said that this group was a private group and my request would need to be accepted. I found this strange and a little unsocial for a social site but hey I can wait a few hours till someone accepts my request. The IAB said they wanted to be my friend so I’m cool waiting, no big deal; I thought nothing more about it. That is until NINE DAYS (9 days to accept a request, first sign of failure) later when I received this email from Corie at the IAB:

“Josh,
Thank you for your interest in joining the IAB LinkedIn group. For now we’re going to keep the IAB LinkedIn group open only to actual members of the IAB (US).
In the meantime, feel free to become a part of the IAB community at www.facebook.com/iab and sign up for the IAB Informer at www.iab.net for the latest on IAB Developments.
Has your company considered joining the IAB? I’ve attached our member information and an application so please feel free to look them over and to reach with any questions you might have about moving forward with membership.
Regards,
Corie”

WOW so the invite was really not an invite to be friends, it was a push to get people to sign up for IAB membership. Why was this not stated in their original call to action? And if I understand social media correctly, the IAB is fine with me listening to them as they Tweet away or pushing their updates to my Facebook page. But when it comes to a tool like their LinkedIn account that could be useful to me they block it. It brought back memories of college Rush Week and watching those that could afford it buy into a peer group in the hopes of finding friends.

The IAB is another example of a “me first, listen to us” social media campaign. I’m very disappointed that this would be the message the IAB would send. But since this is their stance I implore you to take action to teach them the true power of social media. Please stop following the IAB on Twitter and remove your Fan status from their Facebook account. Companies and organizations need to be held accountable for social media hijacking. They not only ruin their image but the reputation of social media as a whole. If we don’t take action companies will disregard best practices because they know they will not be held accountable. We must guard against disingenuous social marketing or the new fertile ground members have created will become another one way communication tool for brands. Shame on you IAB, you should know better. I never paid for friends in college and am not about to pay for friends now.