How To Avoid Social Media Disasters and Blunders

Social media is a great, wonderful, blessing tool that we have at our disposal 24/7. Yes, it is definitely a friend to those of use who like to express ourselves; however, it can also be a foe. In no time at all, you have a 140 character tweet or several hundred character Facebook post get people talking about your brand but is it good or bad talk?

Since the dawn of time, er, social media, we have seen several companies become victims to social media snafus and faux pas for some very silly reasons. The person in charge of the social media account either purposefully or accidentally sent an unfortunate post and then had to deal with the repercussions.

Just recently, US Airways had a rather graphic image pop up in their twitter response to a passenger. If you do not remember or know of this incident, maybe that's for the best. It seems like a hard thing to have happen, we wonder how the person could mess up so bad. However, we all make mistakes and they are easier to have happen. As a Chicago PR agency, we have seen plenty of people fall victim to the seemingly impossible social media mishap.

So how can you avoid these ordeals?

• Have complete thought before you post. Think through what you want to post to your corporate social media accounts. It is not uncommon to have a list of things you can post about. One major thing to consider is the concept of posting content regarding current events. You can post about holidays or things going on in the news but make sure your post is tasteful. If there was a recent disaster, like a tornado, you company could post about it saying, "We are saddened by this event. Our thoughts are with those affected." Or something like that but do not try and capitalize on the situation. Example, "The tornado is sad news, those affected can use our washing detergent brand to wash their clothes." or something like that. 
• Make sure to log out of your accounts. This is especially true if you use your corporate accounts and personal accounts on the same device(s). Chrysler had a tweet complaining about the driving in Detroit, from the Chrysler account; this was likely due to the person forgetting to check if they were using the company or personal account from their device. 
• Remember, whatever you post on social media will be seen. Don't think that you deleted the post within a couple minutes so no one saw it, they saw it. 
• Think about when you are posting. For one thing, there are peak times to post to social media; besides that, you should really not post really late at night because at that time, our minds are tired and our decisions are not always the best. 

As a franchise PR agency, we have to emphasize the importance of these tips. Social media is a friend but can be a monster quickly and can be relentless. 

Social Media Etiquette

So social media has just about infiltrated its way into the heart of human life; almost everyone uses social media to some extent; maybe you only use one social media platform and/or you only post to your social media account(s) once every few months. Regardless of how much you are invested in social media, there are certain unwritten rules, or social media etiquettes, that those of us who do use are expected to obey. Whether you are in the world of PR like franchise PR or marketing or some other vocation, on your personal social media accounts, you should be doing your own PR by following social media etiquette.

1. Be careful who you friend/follow. This day and age of social media, we like to be popular on those platforms; the idea of having thousands of "friends" or followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are very intriguing and exciting. However, the people you friend/follow or let follow you can bite you in return. When people, like potential employers, see you following someone or someone following you who is less than respectful or appropriate, it can look bad on you. 
2. Be careful of what you post. It can be easy and even tempting to post something on social media when we are angry, sad, or intoxicated but these can be less than opportunistic times to post to social media. If you are angry at someone and decide to post it on one of your accounts, then someone else can see it and it can become popular and you can get stuck in a bad situation later; even if you delete the posting but someone shared it already, then there is not much you can do to undo the damage. Poorly planned social media posts have gotten people in trouble many times. 
3. Take a deep breath. This is almost a sub point of the second point because it is more focused on the posting while angry point. If someone posts on social media and the post offends you in some way, take a deep breath and walk away for a few minutes or even longer. Posting something while angry might feel good in the moment but it will not del so good later on when you have calmed down (and especially if there are repercussions from your post). 
4. Watch the photos. Posting photos on social media is half the fun of social media but some photos we take should not go up there. A classic example of photos to watch out for are the ones that were taken while intoxicated. Sure, the times were fun but posting a photo on social media of someone, or even yourself, being drunk or foolish might not be so fun later on. A big thing to consider if you do indeed do this is whether or not to tag someone; you do not know who that person is fiends with or what they are allowed to post so don't post without their consent. 

As someone at a franchise PR agency, I can tell you that social media etiquette is not just for those who take social media seriously, it is for those who don't want to have lame regrets later on from something they could've totally avoided.