Social media is arguably one of the best channels to reach a critical mass, target audiences quickly and engage in effective two-way communication. At the same time, it’s important brands take the time to get it right. After all, we’re all too familiar with examples of brands getting burnt for their use of Twitter.
One of the most recent examples was a McDonald’s Twitter campaign that turned nasty after consumers and ex-workers started hijacking a ‘McDstories’ Twitter hashtag by posting negative statements about the company. This story includes some of the more damaging tweets and pictures uploaded.
What’s interesting about this example is that although the incident generated huge amounts of negative media coverage, only two per cent of the daily tweets using the McDstories hastag were negative in tone. Goes to show the impact social media can have.
While that might be a lesson too late for McDonald’s it would be unfair to be too critical of the way in which they handled the situation. In fact, there are a number of things the company did well in responding to the issue as it unfolded. For example, as soon as they noticed the hashtag had been hijacked by negativity they deleted their promoted tweet and stopped using the ‘McDstories’ hashtag. This dropped tweets from a peak of 1600 to just a dozen in a few hours. The company also replaced the hashtag with ‘Meetthefarmer’ – a tag much harder to turn into a witty and negative statement.
For brands keen to learn from such incidents, here are three top tips…
- Pick your hashtag carefully – If you’re running a Twitter campaign, the need to test the chosen hashtag is vital for success. If your hashtag is really easy for people to manipulate and turn negative, then perhaps a twitter campaign is not the best option. If the hashtag has no relevance to the target audience then it will not trend or gain any click-throughs. The challenge here is coming up with a neutral hashtag, which will not be hijacked by those who do not like your brand but also engage the target audience.
- Test your campaign – This could involve a company brainstorm or funding a small focus group to look at your campaign as a whole. This can be useful to measure consumer sentiment around the campaign and to determine how it will be received.
- Monitor – Carefully monitor how your Twitter campaign is being received. If sentiment starts swinging, pull the hashtag immediately and carefully select another one (like McDonald’s did). Another alternative is to respond to the community in a thoughtful and honest way. Having said that, at some point the conversation will reach a critical mass, where it won’t be feasible to engage your audience due to the speed of the Twitter timeline.
