Social Media #Fail(s)

and How to Deal With

ThemSusan Fant / www.susanfant.comwww.fernweb.orgwww.castlesandsllc.comThese Slides are for Educational Purposes Only – The University of Alabama Marketing Department MKT597: Digital & Social Media Marketing Fall Semester 2013

What are Social Media Fails?

• Tweets / Posts from angry employees who utilize a company’s official accounts

• Poorly timed messages on official accounts • Messages in poor taste (cursing when the

company is family friendly etc.) • Bottom Line: When the representation and

branding of the company does not match the type of post utilized correctly.

Representation is Key

• When you’re an employee of a company or organization you represent that company as well as yourself this is especially true for public persons like TV news anchors, actors, officials, and company c-suites (CEOs etc).

• When outsiders relate you to the company or organization you represent that group (whether you like it or not).

Local News Anchor Makes Today Show Coverage

Shea Allen, a fixture on the evening news for Huntsville, Ala., ABC affiliate WAAY, has been let go from her position for revealing confessions on her personal blog.

http://www.today.com/video/today/52619485#52619485

Whoops, Tweets.

• First type of #fail: Tweets / Posts from angry employees who utilize a company’s official accounts

How to Recover?

• Respond quickly. Keep tone and voice intact.

Bad Timing, Tweets.

• Second type of #Fail: Poorly timed messages on official accounts

Bad Timing, Tweets (2)

Gap estimates their tweet cost them over $1,000,000 in bad publicity (Business Insider).

How to Recover?

• Take a step back. Apologize. Now. Re-think your social media campaigns.

• Things to think about: does it break or build your brand, while a lot of it is free publicity what should the reaction actually be from the company side?

@P($*@(, Tweets.

• Messages in poor taste (cursing when the company is family friendly etc.)

How to recover?

• In the proceeding Tweet, the agency was fired for the slip up.

• Control Tweetdeck or any other apps employees use to Tweet from personal account and corporate accounts. Switching back and forth tends to be the main problem.

Another Fail = Not Engaging

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xszjpo_lessons-from-progressive-s-social-media-fail_news

How to Deal with Engagement

• The Progressive Auto Insurance Case: – Progressive did not respond to anyone on social

media after a major case in court. – A blog post went viral from a stakeholder /

thousands of people tweet that they will drop Progressive.

– “The Court of Public Opinion” moves rapidly and has huge reputational impact.

– Explaining roles and impacts can be difficult. – Companies must be watching hashtags and

dialogues that they cannot outright control.

Corporate Twitter Hacks

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/424068/february-21-2013/corporate-twitter-hacks

What Actually Happened with the @BurgerKing / @McDonalds Hack?

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/02/19/mcdonalds-denies-hacking-burger-kings-twitter-account/

How to Deal with Hacks?

• Is it a fake out? • There could be an outside organization

hacking the accounts. • There could be some cross promotional

branding. • Ultimately it’s best to be out in the open and

take tweets head on and directly.

How to be Preventative • Engage employees. • Develop a social media plan

for the organization that represents them best.

• Talk about “longer-term” strategy planning and social media is building a brand’s reputation up with decision makers.

• Reward positive social media outcomes and set examples.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorieclark/2013/10/15/the-best-way-to-prevent-social-media-disasters/

Ways to Not Fail

• Don’t promise fans then not deliver. Loyal fans can quickly become nasty when they feel betrayed by the brand. (Keep up with contests, promotions, and release dates.)

• Don’t go outside the brand. For example, pop band NSYNC’s recent update about a political issue created an uproar from fans who didn’t want the band’s opinion, but just wanted music.

Engage in Crisis Communications (Because it Really is a Crisis).

1. Inform staff, clients and key audiences that there is a problem and you are searching for solutions.

2. Apologize for the problems the situation may cause (and apologize often).

3. Immediately define the dimensions of the crisis, and look for both temporary workarounds and permanent fixes.

4. Put your crisis plan in motion. With all hands on deck and all active / running social media channels open.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviatemin/2013/09/07/how-not-to-handle-a-crisis-xo-communications-monumental-fail/

More Social Media Fails:

Questions?