This document discusses how social media can go wrong for brands and provides tips for damage control. It identifies three common ways social media fails: human error, misjudging the audience, and PR disasters. Examples are given for each category, such as a Chrysler employee accidentally tweeting inappropriate content or Kenneth Cole tweeting something offensive during the Egyptian revolution. The document advises brands to have approval processes, take down incorrect posts immediately, understand their target audience, and be transparent, honest and speak to customers in crises. It emphasizes the importance of having a social media crisis management plan that focuses on listening, preparing, responding openly and consistently, and taking action.

1. Social media fails
What happens when things go wrong and how to fix it

2. As well as knowing when your brand
needs social media, and what platform
it’s best suited to...
...you need to know what to do when
it goes wrong

3. Brands are no longer in control
THE MOMENT A
BRAND OPENS A
FACEBOOK PAGE
OR A TWITTER
ACCOUNT, THEY
ARE HANDING A BIG
CHUNK OF
CONTROL TO THEIR
FANS AND
FOLLOWERS...

4. “Consumers can now openly challenge brands in an
environment where there is scope to make a massive
amount of noise.”
“Companies can’t gag users, or ignore them. It is
feasibly possible to hold brands to a certain extent of
reputation ransom, at least for those firms that care
about their reputations (not all do)”
Econsultancy

5. Where can it go wrong?
There is a big list of ways that social media end in disaster, but we will take a look
at examples that fall under these three areas:
Human error
1
Misjudging the audience
2
PR disaster
3
In some cases, brands have been known to fall foul of all three!!

6. Human error

7. Chrysler
THE TWEET WAS
DELETED AFTER A
COUPLE OF MINUTES
BUT IT WAS LONG
ENOUGH FOR
FOLLOWERS TO SEE IT
AND RETWEET.
CHRYSLER POSTED A
PUBLIC APOLOGY ON
THEIR BLOG. THE
MISTAKE WAS MADE BY
AN EMPLOYEE OF THEIR
SOCIAL MEDIA AGENCY
AND HE WAS DULY
FIRED NOT LONG
AFTER, AND CHRYSLER
PULLED THE ACCOUNT.

8. American Red Cross
SIMPLE CASE OF
TWEETING FROM THE
WRONG ACCOUNT, BUT
THIS TIME RED CROSS
TURNED THE FAIL INTO
A SUCCESS WITH A
COMEDY RESPONSE
WHICH LED TO DOGFISH
HEAD GIVING THEM A
#FF AND INSTRUCTING
THEIR OWN
FOLLOWERS TO
DONATE TO THE RED
CROSS, WHICH THEY
DID. WITH THE RIGHT
BRAND AND IF YOU ARE
QUICK, A NIGHTMARE
CAN BE TURNED INTO A
SUCCESS STORY

9. Rules to avoid human error
1. Need to have approval and sign off processes in place...and always double
check after the update has been posted.
2. If it is wrong, take it down immediately and monitor the reaction. Were you
quick enough?
1. Yes - Amend and re-post where possible.
2. No - If you were not quick enough or the situation is serious, escalate
and follow your crisis management plan
But most importantly, run your personal Twitter account from somewhere
different to the brand account.

10. Misjudging the audience

11. Kenneth Cole
THIS SHOWS THAT EVEN
WITH THE OWNER OF
THE BUSINESS BEHIND
THE WHEEL IT CAN STILL
GO HORRIBLY WRONG
WHEN YOU MIS JUDGE
THE AUDIENCE
THIS WAS PUBLISHED IN
THE HIGHT OF THE
EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION
WHEN TWITTER WAS
BEING USED BY
EGYPTIANS TO
COORDINATE DEMOS.
THE RESULT WAS PUBLIC
OUTCRY AND A FORMAL
APOLOGY FROM
KENNETH COLE HIMSELF

12. Ragu
AMONG THE BLOGGERS
CONTACTED WAS CC
CHAPMAN, A KEY RAGU TWEETED AT
INFLUENCER AND INFLUENTIAL DADS
PROUD FATHER, WHO WITH A SHORT VIDEO
FOUND THE VIDEO BASHING DADS FOR
HIGHLY OFFENSIVE AND NOT BEING
BLOGGED ABOUT IT, ADVENTUROUS WITH
LEADING TO A THEIR COOKING
TRENDING HASHTAG,
#RAGUHATESDADS

13. Rules to avoid misjudging the audience
1. Think before you post.
2. Really think before you post!
3. Is what you are about to post relevant and value adding to the audience? If
the answer is ‘no’ you probably shouldn’t post it.
4. When it goes wrong, it goes wrong very fast so be prepared with a robust
crisis management plan.

14. PR disaster

15. Kryptonite
TOUTED AS BEING THE
MOST SECURE BIKE
LOCK ON THE MARKET, A
VIDEO POPPED UP
SHOWING THE
‘EVOLUTION 2000’ BEING
PICKED WITH A BIRO
RATHER THAN
ACKNOWLEDGE THE
FAULT, KRYPTONITE
STAYED SILENT AND
MISSED A GREAT
OPPORTUNITY TO
CROWD SOURCE THE
R&D OF THE NEXT
GENERATION OF LOCKS
WITH THEIR FANS AND
FOLLOWERS

16. Rules for avoiding a PR disaster
1. Depending on the scale of the issue, you might have to resign yourself to
damage limitation
2. Employ social media best practice and put that crisis management plan into
practice
3. Keep fans and followers updated. There is nothing worse than unchecked
rumours to fuel the fire
4. Is this a negative that could be turned into a positive?
But most importantly, TALK TO YOUR AUDIENCE, DON’T GIVE THEM THE
SILENT TREATMENT

17. How to prepare

18. Social media crisis management plan
In simple terms, these three golden rules should always apply:
Transparency and
honesty
Openness
Moving quickly
The
Speaking to Agility personal
customers in a
personal tone of
touch
voice

19. Social media crisis management plan
At a granular levels, you should be prepared for a range of situations:
REMOVE POSTS FROM
INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS
DEEMED TO BE OFFENSIVE /
IS THE POST POSITIVE?
ABUSIVE LAUNGUAGE
WHERE APPROPRIATE
YES
RESPOND TO THE POSTER
NO (3 STRIKES AND YOU’RE
GREAT OUT APPROACH)
YOU CAN LET THE POST STAND MONITOR THE SITE FOR
YES
OR RESPOND WITH THANKS IS THE POST OFFENSIVE, PERSISTENT OFFENDERS
DEFAMATORY OR (WARN/ REPORT / REMOVE
SHOULD YOU RESPOND? DEGRADING IN NATURE? FAN AS APPROPRIATE)
NO RESPOND DIRECTLY TO
THE POST WITH THE
CORRECT FACTUAL
IS THE POST YES INFORMATION
FACTUALLY INCORRECT AND LINKS TO
NO YES
OR MISGUIDED? FURTHER DETAILS
RESPOND AND RECTIFY
NO
DO NOT THE SITUATION
RESPOND
SHOW GRATITUDE IS THE POST FROM AN ACT APPROPRIATELY AND
LET THE POST FOR POSITIVE UNHAPPY CUSTOMER, YES DEMONSTRATE HOW WE WILL
STAND IF FEEDBACK ( A POOR EXPERIENCE LEARN FROM THE SITUATION
IT’S A NEUTRAL INSTORE / WITH PRODUCT AND IMPROVE THESERVICE /
POSTING / FROM COLLEAGUE ETC)? PRODUCT IN FUTURE

20. In any situation...
Be
Take
Listen Prepare Be open consiste
action
nt
Listen to the conversation happening around your brand
Prepare a point of view and how you will aim to add value, or limit the damage being caused
Be open and honest in all of your communications, through all of your channels
Consistent communication across all of the stakeholders and consumer touch points to make sure there is
no confusion
And finally, take action and put it all into practice.

21. Doing nothing, and hoping it will fix itself,
is the worse thing you can do...