Some of the best social media blunders of 2012 have been circulating around lately and I figured it would be best to share these so that you can prevent this from happening to your business page! If you use a platform like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or Sprout Social, make sure you are posting content to the correct account beforehand. Many big companies have had interns handling their accounts and these mishaps arrive from a lack of double checking before posting. Also, be sure to check what a trend is referring to before joining in on it. In addition to trends, if you’re going to start your own trend, think about the feedback you will receive, negative and positive. Adjust your chosen trend in accordance with what will receive the least negative feedback.
1. McDonald’s
McDonald’s asked customers to use the Twitter hashtag #mcdstories to share their experiences of dining at the company’s restaurants. They didn’t realize they would be faced with an army of Twitter users criticising the franchise’s bad quality food, treatment of animals, and poor customer service.
2. Celeb Boutique
Following the 2012 cinema shooting massacre in Aurora, Colorado, Celeb Boutique misjudged the meaning behind the Twitter trend #Aurora.
3. Susan Boyle
Combining words or phrases to make a single compound word to use in a Twitter hashtag has the potential for damaging results.
4. KitchenAid
A team member in charge of KitchenAid’s Twitter account posted a message about the president and his grandma.
The tweet was quickly removed and KitchenAid’s director of marketing issued an apology claiming one of the company’s staff had accidentally posted the ‘joke’ publicly rather than privately. The tweet had already gone viral.
5. American Apparel
Social media promotions and national disasters don’t always mix. American Apparel sent out the message that customers in US states facing the Hurricane Sandy could enjoy a 20% on their shopping in case they were ‘bored’ during the storm.
