Social Media Blunders

by: @MDGadvertising ii ji. SOCIAL MEDIA BLUNDERS FANS AND CUSTOMERS ÁLIKE CAN GET MORE ! THAN THEY BARGAINED FOR WITH SOCIAL MEDIA. Social media has become an important and powerful online tool. It enables celebrities and athletes to easily reach their fan bases and helps businesses continuously engage their customers. While social media's real-time nature makes it ideal for spreading messages and responding quickly, that same quality allows for occasional blunders and bad judgment to be ? broadcast on a very public scale. Fortunately, social media also allows for the rapid retraction of these subtle slip-ups. Take a look at some of the more famous mistakes and mix-ups made on social media. ii CELEBRITIES Actors and athletes alike use social media to show a side of themselves that fans can't see on the screen or at the game. But this exposure can also get them in hot water. ASHTON KUTCHER THE MISTAKE "How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste." WHAT HAPPENED JOE PATERNO The actor tweeted his response to the firing of Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, being unaware that Paterno was fired for his involvement in the student sexual abuse scandal. THE RESULT Kutcher deleted the tweet, apologized, and then handed his account over to his media team. ANTHONY WEINER IIIII THE MISTAKE Sending partially nude photos of himself to women. WHAT HAPPENED A photo of a man's crotch was sent to a college student from the U.S. representative's Twitter account. The politician claimed it was the work of a hacker. When other pictures surfaced, Weiner continued to deny involvement. He later confessed and apologized for sending lewd photographs and inappropriate messages to a few women over the course of several years. THE RESULT With mounting pressure from the media and fellow politicians, including President Obama, Weiner finally gave in and stepped down from office. WOODY HARRELSON THE MISTAKE "First of off, its not true, and second off, I don't want to answer questions about that. Lets focus on the film people." WHAT HAPPENED The actor agreed to do an AMA (ask me anything) session on Reddit, but what was supposed to be an honest exchange between the actor and fans quickly devolved into an obvious promotion for Harrelson's movie Rampart. Harrelson became flustered after one of the commenters told a story that involved Harrelson crashing a hotel prom party and sleeping with a student. THE RESULT The meme “Scumbag Woody Harrelson" was created, which poked fun at the actor turning every question into an answer about Rampart. Fans called it “the worst AMA of all time" and an “epic fail by Woody Harrelson's PR machine," which was followed by a small online campaign against Rampart. KAREEM JACKSON THE MISTAKE "My first time ever seeing a chicken fight to the death it was crazy." WHAT HAPPENED While on vacation in the Dominican Republic, where cockfighting is legal, Jackson tweeted a picture of himself at a cockfight. He also tweeted, “Look at all these people that be at these chicken fights, you would think it's a college football game." THE RESULT The tweets were quickly deleted after a backlash from angry fans who compared the photo to Michael Vick's dogfighting. BUSINESSES For every chance to further engage clients and customers with social media, there's an equal opportunity for everything to go wrong. KENNETH COLE THE MISTAKE "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at [link] -KC." WHAT HAPPENED Kenneth Cole made light of the riots in Egypt in a tweet. THE RESULT The designer apologized on his company's Twitter less than two hours later, but the media had already begun coverage and commentary. Then came the hashtag #boycottKennethCole and a new trend of humorous (but fake) insensitive Kenneth Cole tweets. NESTLÉ THE MISTAKE "Thanks for the lesson in manners. Consider yourself embraced." WHAT HAPPENED Nestle. sinarmas Greenpeace activists flooded the Nestlé Facebook page with comments and altered logos, criticizing Nestlé's contract with Sinar Mas, palm oil company that Greenpeace said was responsible for the destruction of Indonesian rainforests. This led to the snarky retaliation of Nestlé's fed-up Facebook page administrator, who shot back with sarcastic comments. THE RESULT Nestlé ended its contract with the palm oil company in question, and the administrator's comments have become a famous example of how not to engage customers online. RAGÚ THE MISTAKE "Do your kids like it when you make dinner?" WHAT HAPPENED Ragú sent reply tweets to popular male bloggers in order to bait them into checking out their video of mothers complaining about fathers in the kitchen. THE RESULT With a video that was more insulting than satire and a Twitter campaign that looked like a spam attack, Ragú quickly saw a very negative reaction. The very father bloggers they were trying to lampoon and attract told their followers that Ragú used spam tactics and campaigned against dads. SOCIAL MEDIA SAVE One organization turned a social media error into something good. AMERICAN RED CROSS THE MISTAKE "Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogfish Head's Midas Touch beer. when we drink we do it right #gettngslizzerd" WHAT HAPPENED An employee at the Red Cross thought she was on her personal Twitter account. She wasn't. G. THE SAVE The Red Cross posted a follow-up tweet that read, “We've deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we've confiscated the keys." This gained the Red Cross some good attention for having a sense of humor about the situation and even struck up a "beer for blood" deal with Dogfish Head. With proper execution, social media offers celebrities, athletes, and businesses a chance to make a positive impact, while inviting fan and customer interaction that wouldn't exist otherwise. Preventing mistakes should be a priority, but even when things go wrong, a professional recovery can help minimize the damage. SOURCES: INC.COM • BLEACHERREPORT.COM • MASHABLE.COM MONEY.CNN.COM • NEWS.YAHOO.COM • THEFUTUREBUZZ.COM mdg mdgadvertising.com twitter: @MDGadvertising