Avoiding the Pitfalls of Social Media

Social Media Week hit New York City with a vengeance last week and at one of the more spirited events–SUXORZ–a panel and a Greek chorus-style crowd identified the worst social media campaigns of 2009. In case you’re flummoxed by the word “suxorz” (I was too), it’s a word derived from the “sucks”. Campaigns by Pepsi, Charmin, Pampers, General Motors, Mars, Time Warner Cable, PETA, Pizza Hut and Ryanair were among the contenders for suckage honors.

Among the “winners”–a campaign by Old Spice that showed an animated video of a hairy, crusty armpit and Ryanair’s offensive attitude toward customer feedback.

So how can you use social media to fix campaigns that don’t click with your targets? Reacting correctly to negative feedback is crucial. According to a survey by Econsultancy and bigmouthmedia, direct engagement is the number one method of rectifying issues and addressing not-so-positive response.

In the newly published eMarketer Insight Brief: “Social Media Misfires: How to Head Off Trouble Before it Hits,” we highlight how marketers can avoid four kinds of social media meltdowns–employee abuse of social media; complaint response; how to avoid getting caught offguard; and how to avoid breaking the rules of engagement. From the brief:

Negative comments and false statements about brands can spread fast. Because consumers have the ability to create, publish and distribute their own content—as well as comment, debate, recommend and share their opinions—marketers and their brands are more vulnerable than ever. For instance, brands can be damaged by people who use Twitter to post false information. And they can just as easily be affected for the worse by employees who post prank videos on YouTube.

Listen up: Failing to appropriately research a social media strategy and establish relevant best practices can cost your company dearly.

“Social Media Misfires: How to Head Off Trouble Before It Hits” is a part of a series of eMarketer Insight Briefs focused on social media marketing. Available exclusively to Total Access subscribers, the seven briefs, along with a PowerPoint slideshow, answer the most common and most pressing questions that businesses have about social media marketing.

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