When running to social media accounts as or for a business, it is of course important to do so professionally and carefully. A company’s social media profiles are portfolios to the business as a whole. I personally check a company’s Facebook or Twitter feed to see what they’re like and how busy they are, etc. From misspelt text to inappropriate messages, once it’s out there, someone will see it (even with a swift deletion!), especially when is comes from a large company with a big following. Here are 3 social media gaffes from years gone by!
HMV – Leaving former employees with Twitter access!
The music and entertainment giant was famously in the news for the wrong reasons when a bunch of former employees posted messages to the company Twitter account after being made redundant.
For starters having too many people with access to the main company account is a bad idea, as messages can become mixed with people towing different lines.
You can see in the photo, that messages sent on the official feed can be quite damaging. Sure enough HMV came under fire from other Twitter users.
Lesson: Change passwords when someone with social media access departs the company. Keep users to a minimum of trusted, sensible individuals.
Transport for London customer service deliver some unwelcome advice
Using social media for customer service is a great trick, so long as the staff are trained, polite and courteous! Unlike one individual at TFL (Transport for London).
No matter how disgruntled the customer is, customer service should always be helpful. Here you can see the London Overground account’s reply to a message, which whilst is not that rude, is not very helpful!
Lesson: Be polite on social media, especially if you’re a big company! Train staff to deal with a whole range of messages and complaints.
LG’s feel the backlash after mocking iPhones
During the period when Apple were under fire for their latest iPhones suffering from unplanned bending, LG attempted to poke some fun at them. However, it soon backfired when users noticed a tweet sent by LG was uploaded using “Twitter for iPhone”. This created a trend across Twitter of people poking fun back at LG. Lesson: Don’t criticise other people’s products if they’re actually quite good!
To conclude…
However you use social media and whatever your company size, it is important to remember the basics and be pleasant. By thinking about things before you post you can avoid any gaffes like the ones above.
