Social Media Mistakes by Agencies and Brands

Rishikesh Patil

Some of the mistakes done by Social Media Agencies

Lack of priorities Agencies fail to handle two major

priorities I. Meet with and sign new clients ii. Handle client programs

perfectly

many are doing so many other things outside of these priorities.

Mistakes (Continued..)Communicating wrong voice MOST social media agencies focus their voice

incorrectly on their peers and competitors, rather than their prospects.

Here ,Voice means to messaging, content creation (blog posts) and content strategy

Mistakes (Continued..)Building wrong audiences No active community building and

targeting wrong people just to get Likes and followers.

Connecting with real target market and building relationship with them is a key.

Mistakes (Continued..)Wrong Focus Management of their own

accounts is not focusing where their audience is and building communities and spending time on networks that will never return results.

Wasting time on platforms which are less effective is of no use.

Mistakes (Continued..)Improper Website

ManagementDisplaying price and packages on

website is one of the biggest mistakes.

Someone will always look for cheaper .

Always sell value and not the price.

Mistakes (Continued..)Talking about themselves

more than 20% of timeContinuously hammering your

services to audiences leads to over promotion.

It should be more of informative and drive engagement to create positive perception towards value of agency.

Case Studies

1. Violation of Copyright and stretching an issue by Nestle

‘Greenpeace’ accuses Nestle of supporting deforestation and threatening the Orangutan monkeys with extinction.

‘Greenpeace’ created a video communicating wrong message about Nestle. This is again a wrong move by Greenpeace as it is violating trademark rights of Nestle

Nestle removed that video which angered Greenpeace and they started negative comments aggressively on Nestle FB page

Nestle removed those comments from their FB page. This again angered Greenpeace which results in more and more negative comments on Nestle FB page

Nestle continued to remove comments and proudly announced their intention to use only sustainable Palm Oil by…(wait for it) 2015! Just 5 short years from now.

This topic has become trending topic of discussion all over. Lack of transparency and apparent unconcern was translated into disdain and unfeeling by the Greenpeace movement.  Nestlé’s silence spoke volumes.

Nestle later tried to maintain reputation by a traditional slow speed counter movement making several environmental statements and announcing initiatives. But time has already gone for them

Refer (http://www.1goodreason.com/blog/blog/2010/05/19/nestles-social-media-meltdown-case-study_)

2. A Social Media Attack Can Arise When Least Expected - StarBucks

Issue arises when Starbuck tweets to Argentina customers, apologizing for a temporary supply shortage, and therefore the temporary use of non-branded cups and sleeves – made in Argentina. 

Unfortunately the comment was not well received by their Argentinian customers and fans. Instead its taken as insult to their nation.

why should Starbucks be apologizing for using Argentinian-made supplies? As #pedimosdisculpas (#weapologize) trended on Twitter, people were expressing sarcasm with tweets wondering when Starbucks “will start apologizing for hiring local staff that speak Spanish”. 

Though intention of Starbuck is honest still how people take it is all that matters for a brand

3. KFC’s Kentucky Fried Liver Fiasco  Ibrahim Langoo, a 19 year old UK-

based scholar, recently found brain-like substance in his KFC chicken, the image he took and posted online soon went viral, leaving KFC in a social media storm.

The issue became viral via Social media and blogging too where other side KFC remained neutral by not taking action for stopping crisis.

World was blaming chain’s lack of compassion, extremely low-food-quality and lack of regard to wards food safety, KFC continued its regular posts and tweets as if nothing has happened.

Stopping crisis at right time with right strategy is crucial.

4. Timeless crisis communication strategies – Dominos Pizza Two employees of Dominos in

their Conover N.C. franchise uploaded a video to YouTube of themselves doing disgusting things to a sandwich before it went out on delivery.

The video instantly went viral and Dominos Pizza was instantly launched into a full social media crisis unlike anything they could have ever imagined.

Dominos respond quickly with their loyal customer community and avoided more danger outcomes

5. One’s crisis is another brand’s salvation – Lassonde Oasis

Lassonde sued a small Quebec-based soap company for using the word “Oasis” as their product line’s brand name, Olivia’s Oasis. 

It cause so much trouble to owner of soap company to face legal challenges in terms of money and time.

Suddenly an avalanche of support towards the cosmetics brand took shape in the form of scrutinizing tweets and comments on Lassonde’s social media platforms.

By the end of the weekend over 900 comments had been posted to Lassonde’s Facebook wall and the Twitter-sphere had exploded with attacks for the brand’s unruly actions.

Thank You