Social media has brought people together, helped businesses grow, and allowed companies to engage with their customers. It has also made it easier to offend and hurt others as well as embarrass yourself. Social media is a powerful marketing tool, but it must be wielded with the utmost care and caution. Even deleted posts will come back to haunt you.
Social media damage control has become a must for companies and professionals because one small slip can result in public ridicule and serious damage to a company’s reputation and brand. These strategies are designed to help you avoid a social media faux pas, but if you slip there’s a strategy for recovering as well. Of course, the best way to learn is by observing the mistakes of others. Here are some social media missteps by several major companies – and how you can recover from or, better yet, avoid them.
Avoid posts that could be ethnically, racially offensive, sexist, or just plain in bad taste.
Dave & Buster’s thought they would cleverly promote “Taco Tuesday” on Twitter with these seven fateful words: “I hate tacos” said no Juan ever. Their followers did not find it so clever and called the company out in a very public way. The tweet was eventually deleted and an apology sent out, but tweets never really die. While it was deleted, it was not forgotten.
Of course, the best strategy is to think before you tweet (or post). This tweet obviously crossed some serious lines, but sometimes the lines can be more blurred. A good rule of thumb is, if you think it might be offensive to someone, it is probably best to refrain from posting. Better to work a little harder and find another way to present something than to offend your own customers.
Research your photos before posting.
American Apparel learned this lesson the hard way in July 2014. The company posted a photo of a plume of “firework” smoke on its Tumblr page in honor of Independence Day. Unfortunately, the smoke was not from fireworks but from the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In January 1986, it exploded, killing all seven of its crewmembers on board, including teacher Christa McAuliffe.
American Apparel issued an apology and explained an international employee who was born after the disaster and did not know anything about the event had posted the image.
Double-check before posting private messages.
It is pretty common for someone to publicly post a message that was intended to be private. It happens to the best of us. However, when it happens to the CFO of Twitter, people take notice. In November 2014, Anthony Noto, CFO for Twitter, tweeted a tantalizing message: “I still think we should buy them. He is on your schedule for Dec 15 or 16—we will need to sell him. I have a plan.”
Obviously this tweet was intended to be a private message, but Noto posted before ensuring that it remained private. While it was quickly deleted, the Internet has ensured that we never forget. As for the recovery, there was none. The tweet was deleted quite quickly and the incident was never addressed in any form, including the potential acquisition.
Carefully think through your hashtag campaigns.
Over the years, we have seen various hashtag campaigns go horribly wrong, but 2014 saw some pretty good ones as well. The New York Police Department learned this the hard way. In April 2014, it launched a hashtag campaign encouraging followers to tweet photos of themselves with NYPD officers using the hashtag #myNYPD. The department promised to post the best ones on its Facebook page.
Many people did post the feel-good photos that were the campaign’s intention. However, others took it in a very different direction. Occupy Wall Street’s famous response included an Associated Press photo of NYPD in what appeared to be a physical altercation with civilians. It included the message: “Here the #NYPD engages with its community members, changing hearts and minds one baton at a time. #myNYPD.” That was obviously not what the department had in mind.
Other photos surfaced that gave the perception of police brutality and abuse. They all bore the campaign’s hashtag.
While the intentions may be good, people can take a great campaign and run in the extreme opposite direction with it. Sometimes they can do harm, but most of the time they just ruin the campaign and it has to be abandoned. Think before you launch that hashtag. Write it down, read it to ensure it cannot be read in different ways (consider Susan Boyle’s album party promotion hashtag campaign #susanalbumparty). Those few extra minutes spent reading and reviewing can save a great deal of embarrassment.
Apologize, but sometimes if you try to explain, you just dig the hole deeper.
There are typically two ways that companies handle a social media faux pas. There is the “delete and die” approach and the “apologize and move on” method. Noto used delete and die; he deleted his tweet very quickly and it was never mentioned again. On the other hand, American Apparel apologized and explained. You have to use your own judgment regarding how you handle messing up on social media. In the end, you have to do what is best for your company, your reputation and your brand. Keep it simple, keep it real, and don’t be afraid to say, “Oops! Sorry. I messed up!”
