Spotlight on Social Sabotage

DIGITAL MEDIA GHOST | PRIVACY CONCERNS

Being smart from the get-go may save you from falling into the many traps that lay in wait along the social media landscape.

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Social sabotage is a serious threat that will continue to grow as digital reach expands. If you’ve never heard of social sabotage, we explain it all here. It only takes one inappropriate-comment-gone-viral to bring your business to its knees. The good news is social sabotage is avoidable if you acknowledge that it exists, and establish a solid social media plan for your company and all employees.

Starting this week I’ll be sharing a weekly tidbit highlighting social media gaffes so you can learn from others’ mistakes.

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But let’s start off on a positive note, with a good example by Starbucks, whose Twitter profile says:

Paige, Archana and Madeline. These three names comprise a clearly-defined trio touted as the voice of Starbucks on Twitter.  What makes this brilliant is two things:

• Naming these three employees creates a distance of sorts. If something brand-damaging gets tweeted, it’s easy enough to trace it back to a single employee spouting off an opinion not sanctioned by the company. “It wasn’t US, it was HER.” And she’s been fired.
• Having names attached creates an implied sense of responsibility for these three marketing team members. They aren’t nameless interns updating the Twitter account behind a veil of anonymity. Assuming, of course, they are real. Even if they aren’t, the illusion provides a nice pass-the-buck exit strategy for the company if a damaging tweet goes public. 

Being smart from the get-go may save you from falling into the many traps that lay in wait along the social media landscape. If you do find yourself caught, it may be difficult (or even impossible) to recover. Before that happens, we’re here to assess your risk and provide you with a solid plan to avoid a social media marketing disaster. Just reach out and we’ll make online less scary. 

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