This article is courtesy of SEOmap.com
With more and more companies turning to social media, more and more social media campaigns are being created. Some companies have done their research and know how to push out the right content to reach their audience and generate successful results. And then there are those who blindly throw themselves into social media without a plan, and these companies end up on the worst social media campaign list.
Qwikster
In 2011, Netflix decided that it was going to introduce Qwikster, which would be the DVD component of Netflix while Netflix focused on streaming. Though the idea seemed a little strange to begin with (why fix something that’s not broken?), Qwikster quickly fell into a social media nightmare. Unfortunately for the name, the Twitter handle “Qwikster” was already taken, and it belonged to Jason Castillo, a high schooler who enjoyed weed. People on Twitter had a field day with this, and eventually the Qwikster idea was dismissed.
ChapStick
ChapStick made the ultimate social media mistake—they deleted fan comments. In an attempt to use social media, ChapStick posted a picture of a woman bending over a couch searching for her ChapStick. Facebook fans took the picture as an open invitation to get inappropriate and simply express their disgust for the picture and the company, and instead of trying to do damage control, ChapStick continued to delete the posts. As any social networker knows, deleting your customers’ comments only fuels the hatred and generates more comments, and as more and more comments piled in, ChapStick eventually gave up.
Durex South Africa
It’s hard for a condom brand to keep from being inappropriate, but there’s being inappropriate and then there’s crossing the line. And Durex South Africa jumped far across that line when they sent out the following tweet.
DurexSA: Why did God give men penises? So they’d have at least one way to shut a woman up. #DurexJoke
Durex South Africa eventually apologized for their tasteless humor, but the damage had already been done.
Woody Harrelson
Woody Harrelson was scheduled to go live on Reddit’s AMA (Ask Me Anything) forum, in which he posted that although he was pressed for time, he was willing to answer “anything”. But instead of using it to truly answer questions to his fans, he instead answered everything with a promo for his upcoming movie. Fans were not happy and called him out on using the forum as a promotional tool, and he even got a nasty response from Reddit themselves.
Boners BBQ
If you want to earn business, you shouldn’t use social media to openly bash your customers, and that’s exactly what Boners BBQ did. After a customer failed to tip her server, Boners BBQ turned to Facebook and Twitter and told the world that “Stefanie S.” didn’t tip her server on a $40 tab after receiving a generous discount—and they also linked to the woman’s personal account. They then told other restaurants that if she were to enter their establishment, they should tell her to play “hide and go f@#$ yourself”. A debate ensued, and eventually Boners BBQ recanted, but the damage was already out in public.
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