5 Major Social Media PR Disasters

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:51:23 +0000

Social media can be a great PR tool for businesses, but all too often things can go very, very, wrong. From utterly clueless businesses experimenting with the internet to in-touch online businesses simply making amateur mistakes, the world of social media certainly isn’t one that you want to be caught in when you’ve screwed up.

These five social media mistakes must have hurt. From businesses to bands, CEOs to employees, social media PR disasters happen surprisingly frequently. These five caught our eye for sheer style, stupidity, and humor value.

1. Whole Foods’ Political Debacle

Whole Foods, a brand that’s particularly popular amongst social media users, caused a stir in the blogging world in mid-2008 when CEO John Mackey made some negative comments about President Obama’s healthcare plan. While the comments were made in the Wall Street Journal and weren’t related to Whole Foods as a company, left-leaning social media users were outraged at Mackey’s conservative remarks, and created a 22,000-strong Facebook group calling for a company boycott.

2. Attack Attack’s Horrible Music Video, and the Rise of Crabcore

It’s one thing to be made fun of anonymously on the internet, and it’s another altogether to have your official Youtube channel invaded because of a music video. Attack Attack’s latest music video drew jokes and criticism from just about every metal fan, who rushed to their Youtube channel to poke fun at their patently ridiculous dance moves.

How did Attack Attack respond? By pretending the old video didn’t exist, and filming a new one to replace it. Despite their best efforts, the older, significantly more hilarious video still draws thousands of views per day.

3. Microsoft’s Horrible Windows 7 Ads

When it comes to advertising, competitor Apple Inc. have a clear advantage on their Redmond competition. Microsoft’s recent advertising campaigns have drawn a lot of criticism, mocking, and even entertaining parody in the blogosphere. Thousands of bloggers have challenged Microsoft to make a good commercial, and with their recent string of TV-bombs, it seems unlikely they’ll accept.

4. Horizon Realty’s Ridiculous Twitter Lawsuit

Fancy being sued for the content of your tweets? Chicago-based property firm Horizon Realty decided that one user’s tweet was too much when they filed a libel lawsuit for $50,000. Her only offense? Calling a Horizon Realty apartment “moldy”.

Naturally, Horizon’s move drew a lot of negative feedback in the blogosphere and social media world. Who knew frivolous lawsuits could draw so much attention? Let’s hope Horizon Realty gets their settlement – they’ll need it after this wave of bad publicity.

5. Dominos’ Youtube PR Disaster

This one isn’t a case of marketing incompetence as much as it is employee stupidity. In 2009, two Dominos employees uploaded a video to Youtube of them doing some pretty nasty stuff to customers’ pizzas. Dominos managed to get the video yanked off Youtube two days later, but the damage was done: some 1 million viewers saw the video, and news travelled quickly. Dominos later responded to the controversy, minimizing damage slightly, although the effects are still quite clear – search “Dominos PR”and you’ll still be inundated with coverage of the PR meltdown.

Top 4 Social Media Mistakes

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:20:18 +0000

Social media is no longer an oddball marketing tactic, it’s a proven marketing method for thousands of businesses worldwide. With small businesses, major corporations, and Fortune 500 companies all rushing to create their own social media presence, we’re seeing significantly more social media successes.

However, alongside those successes are some embarrassing mistakes. From fake grassroots marketing to paid-for reviews, big brands occasionally make some major errors in the transition to social media marketing. These five mistakes seem to pop up embarrassingly often, so we’re put them together as an anti-template for social media marketers.

1. Online astroturfing

Normally reserved for “grassroots”political campaigns, astroturfing is the process of creating a marketing campaign that appears spontaneous and audience-driven, but is really planned out well in advance by the advertiser.

A standard practice for some offline advertisers, astroturfing rarely ends well in the online world. Social media moves fast, and users can quickly find details about online personalities and so-called “genuine” movements. Create real social media movements, not manufactured enthusiasm.

2. Being a brand, not a person.

People use social media platforms to connect with other people, not other brands. As valuable as an @Microsoft Twitter account could be, it’s unlikely to provide any direct interaction with customers. If your company is using social media for customer support, assign each employee a personal account, not just an anonymous company brand.

3. Moving too slowly.

A large number of offline-only companies are amazed at the speed of online business. Social media moves incredibly quickly, with major news stories traveling across the world in mere minutes. There’s no greater proof than the massive reliance on Twitter for recent news stories and world events. While traditional outlets take hours, sometimes even days to report, Twitter users have pieced stories together in minutes.

There’s a downside to this, especially for small businesses. While social media can promote you rapidly, it can also bring your business down without careful attention. Respond immediately whenever negative feedback hits the airwaves, and don’t let stories travel without your side out there.

4. Spreading your influence.

Social media is all about influence. When given the choice between 100 semi-valuable profiles or one ultra-influential profile, which would your business choose? Obviously, the choice is in the single profile, but thousands of businesses, intentionally or not, end up choosing the hundred.

For businesses with multiple employees, it’s unwise to spread influence across each and every account. Using individual accounts for technical support and customer assistance is a worthwhile strategy, but it’s especially wise to keep one brand-only account for major announcements, promotions, and business events. Ensure that your followers only need to listen to one account, and enjoy greater online influence.

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