Avoiding Social Media Backlash

Dan Limbach

Social media can be good and bad for brands. Everything is more transparent. Word travels faster. Having a social media strategy does not mean it will work. (Is that a big "duh" or what?) Here's a nice article about strategy and avoiding backlash in social media channels. Motrin is one of the examples cited.

Let me clear up front: If you are going to use social media, you absetively should have a strategy driving your efforts. Totally.

But simply creating a social media strategy and executing it doesn’t mean you are using social media correctly. I can create a blogging strategy for your company and tell you exactly what to do, but that still doesn’t mean you’ll have a successful blog. You still have to follow-through.

Having a strategy isn’t enough, you still have to BE social. You still have to WANT to connect with your customers.

So many companies today are resistant to communicating with their customers. I think in most cases, it’s simply because they never have, and really don’t know how to get started.

But many companies fear blogs and social media because they fear that their customers will say bad things about them. Or worse, that there will be a social media backlash against their brand.

Folks, social media backlashes don’t just happen, they are created. Let’s look at a few examples:
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Article by Mack Collier