We’re back from Thanksgiving, and we hope you all enjoyed a nice, long, gluttonous break, as well. The holidays are now officially in full swing, which means that it’s list season. Prepare for your Facebook timelines to be jam-packed with “best of’s” and “top ten’s” for the remainder of the year. Some are interesting, most are click-bait, but all are angling for an easy boost in traffic.
One that caught my eye and is certainly relevant to our—and your—interest landed on Forbes this morning. We’ve spoken at length about the proper strategies and techniques of social media marketing, and the landmines and pitfalls that can derail a company’s brand messaging. Forbes contributor Lilach Bullock is out with her list of the biggest social media fails in 2018, and there are some memorable ones on there.
Snapchat making light of domestic violence? Check. The US Air Force glomming on to a viral debate by tying in drone attacks? Yep, that one happened.
Her top social media fails certainly warrants a read, as it demonstrates how even the most established brands can fail to see the message within their own messaging, and the way the public writ-large will interpret it. It’s imperative to be cognizant of what you put out there, even if it seems tongue-in-cheek or light-hearted and fun to those in the marketing department.
If I were to add to this list, it would definitely include the IHOP name change to IHOB, which the company itself admitted was a marketing stunt to promote its burgers. It was clumsily rolled out, confounded consumers, and failed to even elicit the “Oh, I get it” response. Just a poorly devised social media campaign all around.
So what are the big social media fails that stick out in your mind?
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