All may be fair in love and war but is it fair in social media marketing?

My client Aarti Kohli is the Principal of three practices in Hampshire and shared with me an unusual experience last week, which I can best illustrate by simply showing you a screenshot from the Facebook Business Page of her practice.

So, at Winklebury Dental Practice (Aarti’s practice) a straight question from a prospective patient is given a straight answer.

Imagine then, her surprise, when a personal profile is used to suggest the enquirer should contact an alternative practice for a free consultation?

The use of the phrase “come to” by this individual is enough to suggest that she is possibly on the payroll at “Finest Dental” – but a closer investigation reveals an even more baffling explanation.

Because a quick search on Facebook reveals that Lisa Bonello works as a sales executive at the Basingstoke Gazette.

So here’s what I’d like to know:

1. Lisa – if you still work at the Basingstoke Gazette, why are you promoting Finest Dental by invading another practice’s conversation with a potential patient?

2. And if you have moved on and you are inviting the enquirer to “come to” your new employer, do they know and sanction that?

3. Or are you simply a private individual who is so inspired by the treatment that you have had that you feel as if your are a team member at Finest and are happy to recommend them this way?

4. In any event, what do Finest Dental (which appears to be a micro-corporate) have to think about these tactics?

5. Are there any rules about that behaviour? If not, what happens if the world descends into competing organisations invading each others conversations with prospective new clients and tempting them elsewhere?

Is it me, or does this stink?