Social media is great, but it can go spectacularly wrong if you don’t think about what you are doing. And what better way to illustrate what can backfire in social media marketing – for any size business – than to see how some of the world’s biggest organisations have messed up?
Read On:
Top tools to get your SME social
Pitfalls of social media
Top tools to get your SME social
So here are 8 epic fails from 2013:
#8 Not his master’s voice
In January 2013, a social media exec at HMV tweeted the mass firing of 190 staff live from HMV’s proprietary account.
We’re tweeting live from HR where we’re all being fired! Exciting!!!”
There are over 60 of us being fired at once! Mass execution, of loyal employees who love the brand
Unfortunately for HMV, it couldn’t shut the rogue tweeter down ASAP and he concluded with:
Just overheard our Marketing Director (he’s staying, folks!) ask ‘How do I shut down Twitter?’
#7 BA and the lost luggage
When BA lost Hassan Syed’s father’s luggage, the entrepreneur PAID to tweet to 76,000 followers
BA however totally misjudged its response – and somewhat missed the point of the 24/7 nature of social media and was flamed again…
#6 Luton lunacy
In March 2013 Luton Airport posted a light-hearted Facebook update to assure passengers that they would remain safe even when it snows.
Unfortunately the social team made the bizarre decision to include an image of a real-life plane crash that caused the death of a six-year old car passenger.
#5 A taxing issue
As a PR stunt Starbucks displayed Twitter messages that used the hashtag #spreadthecheer on a big screen next to an ice rink at the Natural History Museum in London, but forgot to actually monitor what was being posted.
#4 Tesco hits the hay
At the height of the horse meat scandal, Tesco auto tweeted
It’s sleepy time so we’re off to hit the hay. See you at 8am for more #TescoTweets.
It caused a huge furore… and the retailer spent much of the next few days putting the fire out
#3 Benadryl
During hay fever season, Benadryl created an interactive hay fever hot spot map, allowing people to add their hay fever hot spots… They didn’t figure on the fact that people are basically very childish
#2 British Gas gaff
British Gas decided to hold a “tweet-up” on the same day as it announced price rises of 10%, prompting a huge social media backlash… my favourite being:
#AskBG My office has a window where the sun comes in and makes the side of my head really hot. How much do I owe you?”
#1 Ask JP Morgan
And the winner is… JP Morgan totally misjudged the global mood against bankers and banking when it instigated a Twitter based ‘chat’ #AskJPM…
They got more than 8000 responses… not all of them positive (in fact two thirds were negative). Here are just a taster of some of the ones that we can print:
#askJPM Why is it when the poor commit crimes we need more cops and mandatory sentences and when the rich commit crimes we need deregulation?
#AskJPM Quick! You’re in a room with no key, a chair, two paper clips, and a lightbulb. How do you defraud investors?”
#askjpm Is it easier to purchase a congressional representative or a senator?
But really, we better stop making fun of #askJPM before they find a way to monetize the hillarity and charge us for our enjoyment at 33% APR
JP Morgan eventually admitted defeat
#AskJPM Tomorrow’s Q&A is cancelled. Bad Idea. Back to the drawing board
Some tips
So if you don’t want to be a laughing stock and get tweeted for all the wrong reasons (and, yes, there is such as thing as bad publicity) then here are a few pointers and an idea of how it can work for you if you get it right:
• Think before you speak
• Then think again… of every possible way you could be misunderstood
• Before you start a campaign: think through how it could be misused
• Timing is everything: work around other announcements that your organisation may be doing at the same time
• Don’t over share – too much is too bad
• Don’t let it become a free for all
• Embrace it… turn it into a positive
And answering back can work for you
Feminie hygiene products maker Bodyform got a sarcastic tweet from a disgruntled man, railing against the company’s advertising stance.
The response (see the video link below the tweet) was majestic. Enjoy…
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