Twitter has brought a new phenomenon to the social media/micro blogging world. Companies, large and small, have been using Twitter and Facebook asmarketing channels to run their campaigns. Some have greatly benefited from the use of these tools and others have destroyed the public’s opinion of their company. Loads of companies have made highly publicized mistakes, and here we will address three of them:
1. Chrysler’s F-Bomb
In March of this year, a tweet emerged from the Twitter account held by Chrysler, that read as follows:
“I find it ironic that Detroit is know as the #motorcity, and yet no one here knows how to (expletive) drive.” (Image taken from Forbes)
The Story: An employee of the marketing firm that managed the Chrysler account had posted content to the account earlier in the day from his phone. Later, having forgotten to log out, he unknowingly posted to the company’s account thinking it was his own.
The Repercussions: The backlash was intense. The marketing firm fired the employee responsible and Chrysler firing the marketing firm the next day.
Lesson Learned: The world is watching your every move when you market through social media. These new social media tools are out there to connect people, and to allow everyone to post things that are important to them. When you post something on Twitter it is ‘out there,’ so be mindful of what you are writing. Don’t post things that you wouldn’t want your boss or employers to see because those types of things have a way of coming back around. With a few clicks or retweets your content can be seen by millions of people.
I know this sounds terrible but I think that this is pretty funny. This poor guy had no idea that he was posting to the company's Twitter account instead of his own. However, employees of any firm should always know that they are constantly being watched and evaluated even when they are not on the job. Had this particular individual posted this to his own Twitter the repercussions would not have been so severe, but he would still make the company look bad. People need to know when to use discretion when it comes to making such public posts!
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