Here are four tips to help ensure your organization doesn’t
make this list next year:
1. Leverage Available Workflow Controls
On many of these posts, it’s clear that the
author had a quick thought and posted it immediately in hopes of achieving the
maximum engagement. However, “striking
while the iron’s hot” isn’t nearly as important as ensuring that the
message is appropriate before posting. I get that the post about Obama’s
grandmother was time sensitive (being that it happened during a debate, right
after he made a comment about it), but in almost any other context (whether you
like him or not), that type of comment wouldn’t be well received. And while
many social media tools don’t have integrated workflow capabilities, many web
content management systems like (and including) Ektron do, which can really help here.
2. Test Humor Before Posting
We’re all super funny on Twitter and Facebook – we’re like a universe full of
Jerry Seinfeld’s and Louis CK’s. Not
quite. In fact, we’ve all probably posted a thing or two that we found
really humorous only to find that no one else found it nearly as enjoyable.
Humor is something that definitely needs to be used on social media outlets to
make your messaging more human, and
while more crude posts might be ok on Facebook
(where you’re likely more surrounded by friends than
customers/partners/potential consumers), you still need to exercise caution. Think
before you post.
3. Remember Driver’s Ed
Maybe your Driver’s Ed teacher didn’t tell
you this, but mine did, and it’s stuck with me. He said, “Would you do X if
there was a police officer next to you?” It could have been turning on a No Turn on Red or doing a funky U Turn
in an area where they’re not allowed, but the exercise was meant to get you
thinking about whether or not you’d do something if the person able to punish
you for doing it was right there. There isn’t really a social media police to
speak of, but think of your boss, a customer, or a social media person you look
up to and ask yourself the same question – it should help keep you out of
trouble…
4. Use Common Sense
The one element that carries true in these
examples is that if a little common sense had been applied, many (if not all)
of them could have been avoided. Take McDonalds for example – if you ask people
to share stories about their experiences with McDonalds and only expect positive responses – that’s
simply naïve. In fact, research shows that users are much more likely to share a negative experience via social channels than
a positive one. Same goes for the retailers that tried to use the shooting in
Aurora, Colorado or Hurricane Sandy as an opportunity to move merchandise –
common sense definitely would have prevailed in those instances.
To err is human. We all make mistakes and for better or
worse, social channels like Twitter,
Facebook, Linked In, Instagram, Foursquare and others allow those
mistakes to be magnified. But, if you apply a little common sense, you’ll be
that much better off. If you like this content (and I hope you do), please connect with me on Linked In, Google Plus, or follow me on Twitter, and Subscribe to this Blog via RSS.
