With the emergence of the digital age, social media platforms have a new-found importance in how corporations communicate with their customers. This communication doesn’t always have the intended result however, and thus, we’ve decided to reveal five companies damaged by social media blunder, rather than helped by their presence on social media.
The result of the rise in digital media are new positions in which people may be hired (and paid pretty well), to solely focus on social media throughout the day. The problem with this, however, is that many people have made the error of accidentally sending a tweet before proofreading it, or in some cases, sending out a message from a social media account of their company account when they thought it was in fact their personal account.
There are obviously a range of errors one can make on the internet, and to see the specifics, check out our list of the 10 Mistakes on Social Media that Can Harm You and Will Probably Get You Canned. For some of the situations on that list, it was not necessarily an individual blunder but rather a company marketing decision gone awry, or even a consumer spinoff of other planned advertisements.
Regardless of how the mistake was made, social media mistakes can truly impact the marketability of a company. While most of the businesses that made our rankings were able to bounce back, many will not, as these errors can go viral and take on a life of their own.
Now let’s take a look at five companies damaged by social media blunders.
5. NRA
This incident really gained attention due to its timing. On the morning after the horrific shootings occurred in Aurora, Colorado, the NRA tweeted:
“Good morning shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend plans?”
While the NRA took the quote down and claimed that an individual who was unaware of the events in Aurora was responsible for the tweet, the damage had been done. News of the tweet spread virally, and further damaged a brand already seen by many as insensitive.
Four more companies damaged by social media blunders are coming up. Check out the shocking mistakes they made, and the repercussions that followed.
4. Chrysler
In 2011, a Chrysler employee sent out the following tweet:
“I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the Motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f***ing drive.”
With such a large portion of its customer base stationed in Detroit, the PR criticism was harsh. The employee claimed to have meant to send the tweet from his personal account, yet it didn’t change the situation. The employee was shortly fired and the PR company who employed him lost its contract with Chrysler entirely.
3. Dominos
In 2009, Dominos staff members did some gross things to Dominos food and posted it on YouTube. The video spread throughout the blogosphere and was seen over a million times in its first 24 hours. Dominos fought back, however, firing the employees and even went as far as to press charges against them and have them arrested. Moreover, Dominos released this statement regarding the incident:
“The opportunities and freedom of the internet is wonderful. But it also comes with the risk of anyone with a camera and an internet link to cause a lot of damage, as in this case, where a couple of individuals suddenly overshadow the hard work performed by the 125,000 men and women working for Domino’s across the nation and in 60 countries around the world.”
2. Ryanair
This airline made the mistake of actually arguing with a blogger rather than going along with the ‘customer’s always right’ logic. Jason Roe, an Irish blogger, blogged about how due to a problem with the airline’s online system, he was able to land a free flight. Others tried to follow, but Ryanair fixed the problem and called Roe an “idiot” and a “liar with a pathetic life.” Ryanair went on to clarify that they did engage in blog discussion, but had no intention to do so again. Regardless, the situation hurt the airline’s image, as it is seen as a bully of sorts.
1. McDonald’s
In 2012, the famous fast food chain started a twitter hash tag of #McDStories with the thought of sharing the stories of farmers in hopes that it would make the company look good to the public. Yet, the Twitterverse took over the situation and the result has been a 2-year-long bashing of the company. People have posted their worst experiences at McDonalds using the #McDStories hashtag, and it is still being used today. From gross meals, to blood, to bugs, this hashtag has created a PR nightmare for the company, making this the most damaging social media blunder on our list.
