For the past week, I have seen several blogs, posts and articles lambasting the idea that a “social media expert” exists. In true fashion, a PR shop has helped fuel the fire that social media professionals are anything but.
It’s not the first time, and certainly won’t be the last. This egregious lack of professionalism is confounding social media’s quest for the one thing that the industry and those we serve are reluctant to give: credibility.
So I’m offering three pieces of advice to those involved in social media, based upon these well-publicized, and very costly, social media screw-ups.
If you’re mad at someone, don’t NUKEM in social media.
In the latest gaffe, The Rednor Group angrily posted a tweet in response to negative reviews its client, 2K (publishers of the Duke Nukem Forever video game) was receiving. It said “too many went too far with their reviews. We r reviewing who 
gets games next time and who doesn’t based on today’s venom.” (The Rednor Group screw-up was quickly made public in Advertising Age.
Although the tweet was deleted, Wired had a screen shot of it. 2K immediately fired the agency, even though The Rednor Group apologized early and often.
The take-away: Social media is forever. Someone will see it. Someone will take a screen shot of it. Someone will let others know that you’re upset and airing it publicly.
Don’t take work home. And don’t take home to work.
Back in March, an employee for New Media Strategies tweeted something about the traffic in Detroit. New Media Strategies handles… er, handled… social media for Chrysler. The tweet in question came from the ChryslerAutos handle on Twitter and contained not only a negative opinion of Detroit, but an f-bomb as well.
Although the staffer was trying to tweet from her personal account, she accidentally posted on the client’s. Oops. NMS immediately fired her. Chrysler fired New Media Strategies almost as quickly. This came at a time when Chrysler began its homage to the city through its “Imported from Detroit” campaign.
The takeaway: Business is business. People in social media should know better and take steps to ensure this never happens. The easiest way is not to post from personal accounts during business hours. I’ll take it a step further… Don’t post on personal accounts from business devices, whether it’s a work computer or Smart Phone.
I’ll go even further: Don’t tweet about business at all. Not your company, your work, your client, or your client’s brand. Many try to cover they posteriors by stating in their profiles “Opinions are my own.” That simply doesn’t cut it.
If you state in your profile that you work for XYZ agency, then like it or not, you’re representing the company in your tweets, whether you post about your work day, politics, sports, or preferred brand of vodka. So don’t mention your employer in your personal account.
If your client has a history of saying stupid things, don’t let him near Twitter.
Fashion designer Kenneth Cole has had a history of making light of social issues and current events in order to sell clothes, including AIDS, the homeless and national debt to promote his product. In February, during protests and riots in Egypt, fashion designer he posted this on Twitter:
Unfortunately, there was no one to fire over this fiasco, since it was the boss himself who did it. Of course, Cole wouldn’t fire himself.
The takeaway: If you ARE the brand, act like it. Just because you’ve built the company around yourself doesn’t mean you know how to promote it. Creative managers and marketing strategists need to know when to take the reins from the boss and how to use them in branding. They need to have the spine to tell the boss what to do when it comes to the brand, and have the balls to walk away. Ultimately, it’s your reputation on the line when everyone knows that you presided over a public meltdown.
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These gaffes were avoidable. Yes, it happens. Not very often, but it happens. When it does, it happens publicly because social media is nothing if not public. The long and short of it is that if social media professionals do not start acting and performing like part of the marketing department, the desired respect will be a long time coming.
By the way, if you’re working in social media and have ever thought, “I can’t believe they pay me to mess around on Twitter and Facebook all day,” you’re not a professional. You’ll never move up and you sure don’t understand the strategy involved in using social media in branding. It’s time to put on your big boy pants and think big picture or find something else to do.
