Social Media Crisis!

Hi Everyone!

This week I would like to talk about just how easy it is for a company to hurt its brand and reputation based off of just one post on social media.  From my last post, it was easy to see just how fast anything can spread on social media, so now let's take a look at a company that didn't think of this and made a huge mistake...

Tesco is a supermarket in the United Kingdom, and they faced a huge problem. The company was under scrutiny when it was found out that the beef burgers they were selling actually were found to have horse meat in them.  If this wasn't bad enough, just shortly after the incident, Tesco's very own customer care team sent out a tweet saying "It's sleepy time so we're off to hit the hay! See you at 8am for more #TescoTweets".

This immediately caused a lot of controversy.  People who follow Tesco's Twitter saw this as the company making fun of the serious horse mean situation they were going through and making a joke out of it.  There were all sorts of replies from their followers who were all appalled by Tesco's insensitivity.  This is something that is on the internet, and therefore can never be erased.  To some of the shoppers at Tesco, this is a taint to their image that can never be erased and will always be in the back of their mind when they think of this company.

This is a perfect example of how important it is to have a social media team working on your company's posts at all times.  There should be people constantly checking, cross-checking, and double-checking their social media posts with current events and current trends to make sure that these posts are always appropriate and won't be taken the wrong way.

Remember, social media can be even more hurtful than helpful if used improperly or not carefully!

To read an article about Tesco's social media crisis, follow this link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2264394/Horse-meat-scandal-hit-Tesco-centre-Twitter-backlash-customer-care-message-told-followers-staff-hit-hay.html

-Kathleen