SOCIAL MEDIA

DOs & DON’TsSocial media is a minefield to navigate, so here are some

funny stories with a few hints and tips to get you by.

DORESPOND TO CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS

An angry commuter was so mad with the Manchester Metrolink that he wrote an open letter to them. In which he pointed out their dreadful

customer service and in particular their Twitter page that does not answer any customer complaints (and there are a lot!)

And to show how bad their communication with customers is, the Los Angeles Metrolink (who has the username @Metrolink) have started

answering complaints and apologies on their behalf.

ACT QUICKLY

When the Super Bowl experienced a mass power cut, Oreo acted straight away and created a tweet with image, and seven simple words: ‘You can

still dunk in the dark’. The tweet was sent out almost as soon as power was lost.

The tweet, designed and approved within minutes, proved to be one of the most memorable marketing moments of the game, gaining more

attention than Oreo’s pricey TV advert. Within the first hour, the message was retweeted 15,811 times and drew 19,610 Facebook likes.

USE HUMOUR

Innocent drinks are renowned for their humour and clever tweets and artwork, o�en engaging tweeters in conversations completely irrelevant

to their brand and product. Driving people to their page and website and ultimately creating a powerful brand community.

DON’TBE YOURSELF

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary used Twitter to answer questionsabout the airline, with the idea that the Q&A session may so�en his image, and that of the company. However, O’Leary made multiple

sexist and confrontational remarks to Twitter users, ensuring his imageas a brash and arrogant CEO has stuck.

FORGET WHO RUNS YOUR TWITTER FEED

A�er HMV announced they were going into administration, the retailer forgot who was running their twitter page. A lot of its employees were

very annoyed at having been made redundant, so one of them decided to take out their anger by live tweeting a meeting with HR where 60 staff

members were informed that they were being sacked.

Using the hashtag #hmvXFactorFiring the employee first announced that a “mass execution” was taking place, before revealing that the

marketing director had a limited knowledge of social media and that the Twitter account was initially established by an unpaid intern.