In 2011, Small businesses, international organisations, and beloved celebrities alike tweeted, shared, and liked via social media platforms–many for the first time. Unsurprisingly, some folks proved highly talented in this new-ish avenue of communicating. But for those select few on the other end of the spectrum–like those who didn’t know how to send a private message on Twitter (read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/01/anthony-weiner-twitter-photo_n_869769.html)–there are some serious lessons to be learned from our worst mistakes.
Human resources professionals are often the internal firefighters of an organisation. When something goes wrong, be it a violation of company policy or a serious complaint filed against an employee’s manager, HR is often the first line of defense for damage control. After reading through all of the lists of Top Social Media Blunders in 2011, I kept thinking, “I’m glad I’m not managing that HR department.” As I chewed on things a bit more (as I’m wont to do), I realised many of these blunders offer some great insights into social media best practices that we should be keeping in mind as our organisations begin adopting formal social medial policies. In this article, I’ll look at a few of the more entertaining social media snafus of 2011 as isolated studies in human resources’ challenges for 2012.
1. Communications Disconnect at Qantas. When launching a Twitter campaign in November, Qantas–the premiere airline inAustralia–had a serious breakdown in communications. Amid widespread disruptions in service (the entire fleet had been grounded in October) they attempted to create some positive energy by asking followers to describe their “dream luxury in-flight experience” using the hashtag #QantasLuxury. The problem? The campaign launched the day after Qantas and its unions stopped contract talks. Customers hijacked the campaign’s untimely campaign and used the hashtag to voice serious complaints.
When managing your social media presence, these kinds of breakdowns in communication can have serious consequences. As such, establishing clear channels for disseminating need-to-know information to key players in your management team is a must. Qantas’ mishap is a case in point on the importance of making it easy to quickly distribute key communications, not to mention the value in maintaining a degree of transparency in less-than-ideal times.
2. Kutcher’s Quickfire Backfire. As many organisations are learning, not everyone is equipped to keep small blunders from turning into social media firestorms–even if your “organisation” is the brand behind a celebrity figure. There needs to be a process for managing your online presence. CBS’ new “Two and a Half Men” star, Ashton Kutcher, sent out a particularly nightmarish tweet to 8.5 million followers in November which seemingly supported Joe Paterno: “How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #no class as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste.”
Kutcher pleaded ignorance, claiming that he wasn’t up on the allegedPennStatechild abuse scandal. He offered an apology via Twitter but the damage was done. When building a social media strategy–be it for sourcing and recruiting talent or for branding and advertising–your plan should ensure your people have a course of action outlined for cleaning up small mishaps before they become big messes. In the end, Kutcher got the message and turned over management of his Twitter account to his PR team.
3. American Red Cross Turns it Around. Some debacles have a happy ending. An employee of The American Red Cross sent out an inappropriate tweet via the @RedCross account indicating that employees were getting “slizzered” on Dogfish Head beer. To the surprise of many (and the joy of a vested few), Wendy Harman, Social Media Director for the Red Cross, was able to turn this around with grace and good humor. The rogue tweet was down within the hour, and Harman responded with a tweet assuring that the Red Cross was sober, adding, “we’ve confiscated the keys.” Meanwhile, they retained the (very embarrassed) employee, and Dogfish Head took the opportunity to launch a fundraising campaign for the Red Cross.
Because of their quick and classy response, the Red Cross turned a PR nightmare into a lesson in humility, and has been earning kudos since. This indicates a strong sense of teamwork and unity in the organisation. “We are an organisation that deals with life-changing disasters and this wasn’t one of them,” Harman told Mashable. “It was just a little mistake.”
Last Year’s Blunders: A Boon for HR in 2012?
While it’s easy to look back on social media snafus and share a laugh, HR professionals have their work cut out for them in the next year. The blunders of 2011 present a great opportunity for HR to step up to the plate and spearhead the design, implementation and oversight of formal social media policies for their organisations.
About the Author:Kyle Lagunas is the HR Analyst at Software Advice. On the surface, it’s his job to contribute to the ongoing conversation on all things HR. Beyond that, he makes sure his audience is keeping up with important trends and hot topics in the industry. Focused on offering a fresh take on points of interest in his market, he’s not your typical HR guy.
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