5 Twitter Mistakes to Avoid
June 08, 2012
There have been a few big Twitter faux pas in the past few days, so I thought I would share a few Twitter mistakes made by big brands who are marketing with Twitter, and what we can learn from them.
Lesson: Double check your tweets, especially if you are tweeting on multiple accounts.
The Story: On Tuesday, Starbucks posted a tweet about being proud to be British to both their Ireland and UK Twitter accounts.
The post was meant only for the UK account and caused a commotion among Irish users. While in many countries this would just be an obvious mistake, the problem is that Ireland separated from the UK after a brutal war of independence that killed a large number people. To Starbucks’ credit, they handled the mistake well and immediately apologized.
Lesson: Be careful what you tweet. If you are tweeting for a brand, tweet like your grandma is going to read it.
The Story: Tech companies have recently been under fire for the way that they treat women in an industry that is mostly male dominated. A few days ago Asus tweeted this remark which was seen as sexist by many Twitter users.
To make matters worse, this happened directly after the New York Times posted an article that credited men, and only men, with inventing the internet.
Lesson: Research your brand sentiment on Twitter before starting a hashtag. Twitter users can be snarky.
The Story: In an effort to promote their company, McDonald's started a sponsored hashtag #McDStories. Their hashtag began trending, but not in the way they wanted. Stories varied from finding fingernails in McDonald's food to vomiting because of it.
Lesson: Make sure you control your Twitter handle before you announce a new company. This also goes for the domain name.
The Story: Last year Netflix decided to split its streaming and DVD services into two companies. After they announced the name of the new company, it was discovered that not only was the Twitter handle already taken, it was taken by a foulmouthed drug user with an inappropriate profile picture.
Would you want this representing your new brand initiative?
Lesson: Be careful who you give access to your social media accounts to, and make sure to clearly separate your personal social media from your company or client’s social media.
The Story: After Chrysler spent a huge amount on an advertising campaign that focused on made-in-Detroit cars, an employee of one of their marketing companies accidentally tweeted “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f*ing drive” on Chrysler’s account.
All of these mistakes, while preventable, can be easily made. If you are active on Twitter or any social media platform, it is always good to have a plan in place in case such a mistake happens. Educating employees or any outside personnel on your company's standards for social media posts is imperative and make sure there is a clear chain of command for handling any such mistakes.
