Social Media: The Double Edged Sword

     In this world, there are many things that can be both a blessing and a curse, and social media happens to be one of those things.  Prior to the advent and widespread acceptance of social media, marketing was conducted largely through more expensive and onerous means.  Social media marketing is certainly not void of cost however, as developing an effective social media marketing strategy and successfully executing it requires employees or consultants with a special skill set.  Once the creative talent has been secured, using the various social media platforms for marketing is very affordable compared to traditional marketing mediums.

    This affordability is advantageous to businesses as it can lead to lower marketing cost, and it is particularly valuable to small and mid-sized businesses that have trouble adequately funding their marketing efforts.  While social media marketing can be a godsend to many businesses and help them interact with consumers in a revolutionary way, it is important to remember that careless handling and management of your company's social media pages can adversely impact your company and possibly lead to a dilution of your brand value.

The family audience wasn't crazy about this tweet

    At this point you might be wondering exactly what I am talking about, but there are myriad examples in the news of social media blunders that have cost companies consumers, and resulted in brand damage.  One of the most recent examples would have to be the Los Angeles Kings decision to allow a local morning show host to take over its twitter feed during a playoff game.  This radio show host apparently has a love it or hate it brand of humor, which while amusing to some, has the potential to alienate many customers.  Lo and behold, this host made a twitter comment that compared the game play to sexual assault at one point.  Many fans were upset by that post, and the Kings ended up having to make a public apology for the comments made by the host.

     While the tweet from the LA Kings account offended some, the next social media crisis had many up in arms.  When one hears KitchenAid, images of various handy and helpful kitchen appliances normally comes to mind, but careless handling of the company's twitter page resulted in what I would call, very bad publicity. As has happened many times in the past, an employee with access to their company's twitter feed mistakenly sent a tweet thinking it was from their own account.  This same scenario played out for KitchenAid when an employee tweeted the tasteless comment below.  

Probably not the best way to win over consumers...

     Once a company decides to engage is social media marketing, it has to be understood that this model allows them to interact with consumers on a more personal level.  This makes social media a prized asset that companies must protect accordingly.

     In order for companies to avoid committing a serious social media blunder, it's wise to take a few precautions.  Account passwords should be given to as few individuals as possible.  With less people accessing your company's page, the less chance there is for a mistake to occur.  It is also crucial to remember that your company will accept money from people of all walks of life, so be sure to avoid any post or tweets that are political in nature.  Now no one is perfect, so if a company does commit a social media blunder, it is essential that it quickly apologize in an attempt to diffuse the situation.  Remember, social media can be a great asset to a company, as long as it is used responsibly.

I'm interested in hearing if any of you have ideas for mitigating the risk of committing a social media blunder!

KitchenAid quickly apologized for the previous remark made from its account