360DigitalInfluence

Yesterday, I posted a bit of a rant about the wasteful and annoying practice of blog comment spam on my personal blog.   In the post, I mentioned that spam has expanded beyond online pharma and adult entertainment to…teddy bears?   I had received a spam comment for the Vermont Teddy Bear company (who makes bears in cutom outfits) and called them out by name.

A few hours later, I received an email through my Facebook account from a senior internet content specialist named Nathan  at Vermont Teddy Bear.    Nathan has Google alerts on the company’s name that pointed him to my post.   He was alarmed that I received comment spam that appeared to be coming from the company as they do practice and promote ethical WOM standards.   They do, however,  have an affiliate program that rewards those who drive traffic to the site and he feared that one of those may have “gone rogue” (I am still laughing at the mental image of a rogue teddy bear terrorizing the internet).   At his request, I sent him all of the IP information in the comment spam and he is now investigating which of his partners should leave the flock.

The result?   I now have great admiration for a company that was not previously in my consideration set at all.   While I can’t foresee an occasion to purchase a teddy bear in an outfit,  Nathan also works with Calyx & Corolla which is a wonderful gift and flowers brand that I have used in the past, but almost forgotten about.   Now I will be looking for an opportunity to support this brand - they’re listening and they care about their brand and promoting ethical online word of mouth.   And hey, my new friend Nathan works there.