Buisnessinsider.com has a list of the 10 worst social media market fails of 2013. The worst of which I thought was an Airport in London which joked about an airplane crash.
An airport joking about plane crashes is clearly a bad choice, like a restaurant joking about food poisoning, or a politician joking about corruption. You don’t want there to be any association between your company and negative aspects of your industry. It seems like common sense that you don’t want the first thing for users visiting an airport’s Facebook page to see is an image of an airplane which has slid off a runway.
There is an understandable desire to poke fun of the short comings in your industry, but it doesn’t convey an appropriate level of professionalism. Users want to be reassured that your company is responsible and that possible mistakes are taken seriously. Making fun of such negative occurrences makes it seem like your company is just blowing it off.
What makes London Luton Airport’s post so much worse is that there was an actual fatality of a six year old child. The member of the social media team which made the post almost certainly didn’t know this, but it makes the company seem insensitive and tone deaf.
It’s important to have the appropriate balance of personality and professionalism on social media. A lack of professionalism results in posts like this one.
When a company makes an innocent but damaging mistake such as this, how forgiving are you? Would it prevent you from buying their product or service?
10 Worst Social Media Marketing Fails of 2013 Article
http://www.businessinsider.com/10-worst-social-media-marketing-fails-of-2013-2013-11?op=1
An airport joking about plane crashes is clearly a bad choice, like a restaurant joking about food poisoning, or a politician joking about corruption. You don’t want there to be any association between your company and negative aspects of your industry. It seems like common sense that you don’t want the first thing for users visiting an airport’s Facebook page to see is an image of an airplane which has slid off a runway.
There is an understandable desire to poke fun of the short comings in your industry, but it doesn’t convey an appropriate level of professionalism. Users want to be reassured that your company is responsible and that possible mistakes are taken seriously. Making fun of such negative occurrences makes it seem like your company is just blowing it off.
What makes London Luton Airport’s post so much worse is that there was an actual fatality of a six year old child. The member of the social media team which made the post almost certainly didn’t know this, but it makes the company seem insensitive and tone deaf.
It’s important to have the appropriate balance of personality and professionalism on social media. A lack of professionalism results in posts like this one.
When a company makes an innocent but damaging mistake such as this, how forgiving are you? Would it prevent you from buying their product or service?
10 Worst Social Media Marketing Fails of 2013 Article
http://www.businessinsider.com/10-worst-social-media-marketing-fails-of-2013-2013-11?op=1