Branding fails are usually reserved for the big guns of the consumer world, when they tweet unsuitable material by accident or set up content to auto generate without thinking about how people will take advantage of an opportunity to be offensive – such as when the New England Patriots tried to simply say thank you to their 1 million followers and unknowingly sent out a racist tweet.
A lot can go lost when you don’t utilize the power of social media the right way. To try and get ahead of yourself or to save yourself time by automating a lot of the important social media steps is usually a recipe for disaster. Many companies can attest to that so it’s important that you pay attention the things that really matter.
Before you log back into your social media platforms or order the brochures for that next print campaign advert, ask yourself, are you guilty of any of these branding fails?
You Don’t Use Spell Check
Spell check is a literary lifesaver and comes in handy whether you’re posting online, writing content for your site or printing out business cards at Helloprint. Pointless (and avoidable) spelling mistakes aren’t going to do any good for your brand, in fact if they’re really unforgivable you could be hearing about it for a while afterwards. This could end up being a costly branding fail in terms of brand quality.
You Don’t Respond On Social Media
If your customers are tweeting you, try to respond swiftly and politely. A non-responsive account is going to receive criticism (especially if people are complaining about things) and portray a poor brand image.
You Didn’t Do Your Research
In the height of the World Cup, Delta Airlines posted a tweet that landed them in hot water with that group of people online who seemingly have nothing better to do in their time but correct others.
When the USA won a match against Ghana they posted a picture featuring the Statue of Liberty to represent America and a giraffe for Ghana. They were soon swimming in replies with people telling them that there are no giraffes in Ghana. Not as devastating a moment as when a pizza company jumped on the Twitter hashtag about domestic violence, #WhyIStayed, with an awkward joke – but a little embarrassing nonetheless.
If you’re not researching and checking facts before posting online, you could land yourself in hot water later and be found guilty of a branding fail.
You’re Not Paying Attention
US Airways (airlines always seem to be getting into trouble online) experienced an extremely embarrassing (and NSFW) Twitter blunder when the person in control of their account somehow managed to post an image of a naked woman and a toy airplane being inserted… somewhere.
The tweet managed to stay up on their account for a good hour before being taken down and a hurried apology being sent out, but not before the Twitterverse had got its hands on it.
If you aren’t checking and double checking before you finalise anything to do with your brand then you’re simply setting yourself up for failure and criticism. Before you hit confirm ensure everything is in order to avoid any branding fails.
Careful consideration and second opinions can really help when it comes to branding and will avoid anything you do from blowing up in your face.
Embarrassing Branding Fails
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