As you all know, social media is a major game player for any business, whether they have a social media account or not. Organizations NEED to have accounts and have people who monitor them, so that they do not end up like the companies mentioned below.
It is incredibly easily for a disgruntled customer to trash talk a company through social media, especially Twitter. Since most people have public accounts, their tweets are available to view for all. It simply takes an @ sign or a hash-tag (#) to create bad PR for any organization.
I for one am a HUGE FAN of this, because instead of spending a large amount of time on the phone with an unhelpful customer service representative, I can send a simple tweet full of hate. Within a short amount of time, I am usually tweeted back or direct messaged asking how they can help.
A great example of this is Wells Fargo (formally Wachovia). On numerous occasions I have tweeted to them about various issues with my account and have been promptly met with better customer service than available on their website, on the phone, or in the store. These tweets are not always the nicest ones either…but they get the job done.
“
@WellsFargo An overdraft transfer fee? WTF!!!@Wachovia never charged me a fee, because way2save was built in automatic.#bullshit“
The worst thing in this day and age is for a bad experience to become vocalized to more than just a customers’ immediate circle; but to spread around social media like an uncontrollable wildfire. So here are my top 3 social media blunders of 2012 (yes, there have already been enough to make a list.)
#3 McDonalds & the hash-tag fiasco
I find this one quite hilarious. McDonalds thought of a great plan to get people talking about their brand on Twitter by having them share their memories about McDonalds with the hash-tag #McDStories. It sounds like a good idea…or at least it did, until it totally backfired! Instead of receiving tons of happy stories, they were inundated with bad ones. This caused them to pull the campaign a mere two hours after launching it.
“I used to like McDonalds. I stopped eating McDonalds years ago because every time I ate it I felt like I was dying inside. #McDStories“
I am sure in the next version of communication studies textbooks, this will be in there under the subtitle “How to not succeed in a Twitter campaign.”
#2 Toyota Camry Give-a-Way
Toyota took to Twitter to give-a-way free Camry’s during the Super Bowl. One tiny problem, they spammed everyone who was talking about the game by sending out @ messages such as this one.
“How are you getting ready for Sunday? Make sure you’re prepared for your chance to win a Camry.”
These messages were sent from 10 verified Twitter accounts to thousands of people, creating a backlash. What gave Toyota the right the spam thousands of people? Nothing. Toyota released a statement the next day apologizing for the messages. I am sure this will be in the textbooks as “Reasons why you plan every detail of a campaign.”
#1 Valentines Day & 1-800-NOflowers.com
Valentines Day…that awful day when couples show their love for one-another by giving each other gifts, in order to make us singles jealous of them. Unfortunately for hundreds of customers, their flowers and gifts did not arrive on time. 1-800-Flowers.com guaranteed delivery by/on Valentines Day for their customers, but did not deliver. If they did, the flowers were unsatisfactory (one customer tweeted that his roses arrived decapitated!)
Not only are people taking to Twitter complaining about not recieving their promised items, but also to complain about the lack of customer service from 1-800-Flowers.com. Some claimed that they were on hold for eternity, or sometimes simply hung-up on.
1-800-Flowers.com hasn’t released any statements yet and has employed a few pour souls (Rachel, Tyne, Stacey, & Stephanie) to respond too all complaints by @ messaging people with the request
“Please send me your order number, ur name, recip name, delivery date & order issue so I can resolve. Thanks!”
Oh, and this is just their Twitter feed…imagine their Facebook wall.
Hmm…looks like 1-800-Flowers.com just lost a lot of business. Today their homepage has this current advertisement.
Seems that 1-800-Flowers.com needs to send itself some cheer-up flowers before they try and fulfill orders for those who”forgot” about Valentines Day. It is unclear whether or not the undelivered orders will be fullfilled or the money refunded, but 1-800-Flowers.com is NOT doing what they should be doing. While they are working on Twitter, more tweets have just appeared that they are DELETING bad Facebook posts.
Now, that is a BIG NO-NO! Did they not learn anything from Nestle? I can not WAIT to see how this plays out over the next few days. What heading will this be under in the textbooks? “How to destroy your business through social media.”
Educated. Unemployed. Broke 