How to turn a social media fail into a social media win
The papers are always quick to comment on bad news. We hear examples of people getting it wrong on social media almost every week; whether that is the terribly handled customer service on Facebook or the Twitter HMV fiasco:
Issues like these are some of the reasons why people donât attempt social media in the first place but weâre here to reassure you that you can still turn a negative into a positive. However, this is not a comprehensive list of social media mishaps. You can find a wealth of articles in that respect and prevention is always better than a cure. In this blog post we ask how can you make a bad situation better?
Recently Burger King was hacked, made to resemble McDonalds and sent inappropriate tweets until they were able to contact Twitter directly to have it taken down.
You can imagine how frustrated the press team felt at Burger King but what has this meant really? Will we always remember the epic fail of Burger King or will it be forgotten by the time the next blunder comes along? In the fast paced world of Twitter, weâll probably forget this incident as quickly as our feeds get refreshed. Furthermore, the story got a lot of coverage for the company and a massive increase in followers.
Of course, if this were ever to happen to an account you manage then it would be hard to take a blase approach. However, we recommend you take the bad with the good, apologise, carry on and change your passwords regularly.
The nature of social media is that people think that they're anonymous and more likely to vent. What do you do if this happens to you? Donât do what Next did and ask them to delete it.
Hopefully, the wrong action here is obvious to all. Instead of trying to engage with someoneâs complaint (and were they right to engage at all if it wasnât a direct comment to them?) they asked them to remove it.Â
Instead, weâd like to take a leaf out of Bodyformâs approach. When Richard Neil commented on Facebook about how misleading Bodyform's advertising campaigns have been, they chose to take a different approach.
Tweeting from the company account instead of your personal one
It's an easy mistake to make; come Friday evening you send a tweet without checking which account youâre sending from first.
When an employee at Red Cross mistakenly tweeted their plans they were quick to admit the mistake, delete the tweet and apologise.
Owning up and taking responsibility was the right thing to do. In fact, because they handled the whole situation so well people who had heard the story decided to donate to the cause.
Lending someone your phone
This links in with the previous fail; you can be as cautious as you like but what if someone else uses your phone and tweets by mistake?
This was the case with the Dallas Police Department when a score from the game Fruit Ninja appeared on their Twitter account. This could have been a serious fail but instead they owned up to the incident, were honest and, frankly, had a great sense of humour about it as you can see from their note on Facebook and the comments underneath.Â
Current events make a tweet inappropriate
Weâve heard of Twitter fails like Habitat taking advantage of a trending topic (in this case the Iranian election) to drive traffic to their page.
Or being insensitive to current events like Hurricane Sandy
Linking to what's happening in the real world is a great way to use social media- but these fails were inappropriate and insensitive. Would you jump on the bandwagon like this in a television advert?
In regards to these examples, the best thing you can do is to delete the tweet or post and issue the apology. Of course, once on the internet it is never forgotten but a clear apology, explaining how it came about is a way to start making amends.
Youâve got an event you want to promote so you devise a hashtag to promote it- it's a great way to keep track of the conversation.
However, in some cases by not checking what could be read without the spaces or how people might jump on the bandwagon you could have a #hashtagfail. This is a trickier situation as you can't help what other people do on social media- if it's quite jokey then being seen to 'get' the joke would help the situation. However, if someone is saying things that are untrue then do confront them- not in an aggresive way of course but with links and statistics to back it up. The example from Nesta shows how not to handle the situation.
Weâr only human and you might make a mistake here and there. The important thing to do is spot it as soon as you can and correct it. For a trivial mistake, you can delete it and/or send the correction as soon as possible.
In fact, it may even help to put a human face on your company, donât take yourself so seriously on social media as it is a place to be social- think about when you make a mistake when speaking to a group of people. You can make a joke (if appropriate) and move on.
What actions could or should we take after we make after one of these social media blunders?
Address the problem. Should you address the problem knowing that everything is public? In the case of Trolls (that will do more harm than good. However, if a mistake has been made and brought to your attention then own up to it as soon as you can and send out a tweet saying that you're looking into it.
Come clean. We all make mistakes, if you or someone in your team is responsible then let people know and account for the fail.
Transparency and humour. In the case of Bodyform and the Dallas Police department handling the situation like this was a brilliant idea and a way to turn around the situation.
Learn from your mistakes. Perhaps the most important lesson of all. Don't forget that social media is social and you treat your networks, followers and fans with the same kind of courtesy as if you met them at a party, for example.
Are there any fails that youâve committed? Donât be afraid to share yours and we can tell you ours (spot the spelling mistake). Also, if you want any social media advice from our expert team then just get in touch.
