{"id":2122,"date":"2020-03-25T19:31:43","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T19:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/top-5-online-pr-disasters\/"},"modified":"2020-03-25T19:31:43","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T19:31:43","slug":"top-5-online-pr-disasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/logic-magic\/top-5-online-pr-disasters\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 Online PR Disasters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Less than 7% of Fortune 500 companies are even on major social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. So, for these admitted online Public Relations Disasters, we really can\u2019t blame them for trying. What we can do is point out the mistake, identify the opportunity, and all learn from someone else\u2019s goof-up.<\/p>\n


\nRed Cross The lesson here is to make sure anyone who is posting on behalf of a brand, is either very savvy or micromanaged. An employee of the American Red Cross posted an embarrassing tweet that went unnoticed on the brand\u2019s Twitter feed for an hour. In Twitter-land, that\u2019s more than enough time for people to take notice, and respond \u2013 it was reaction time. Thankfully for the brand they had a savvy PR pro at the helm who responded appropriately, and turned what could have been a not-for-profit nightmare into a fundraising opportunity!<\/p>\n


\nAussie Army Earlier this year, Australia\u2019s Army had to answer to public outcry when serving military personnel posted racist and sexist comments on a private Facebook site. While the site was private, and we advise against interfering with the posts of friends\/users, in this case, the \u201cbrand\u201d had to get involved. To keep Facebook safe it\u2019s up to the brand\u2019s creator (in this case the Australian Army) to remove any posts that bully, intimidate, harass, or otherwise attack. The disaster here is not that it happened (as this was not the Army\u2019s only allegations of abusive and sexist behavior), it\u2019s that it wasn\u2019t reacted to until someone blew the whistle.<\/p>\n


\nAnthony Weiner We all know the story. Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy. Boy (who is a New York U.S. State Representative) sends explicit photos of himself to her, via his public Twitter account. Oops. This is an extreme case, obviously, but we\u2019ve seen this a lot across all social media outlets. The person participating in the social media activity doesn\u2019t fully understand what public and viral mean. Here\u2019s a key learning from Weiner\u2019s devastating gaff: anything you send over your social properties can be used against you \u2013 so stop, think, then post.<\/p>\n


\nBelkin The hardest thing for companies to accept, in this digital age, is that they are not in control of user feedback. Belkin decided (unwisely) to take that control back \u2013 and not surprisingly \u2013 it backfired. The company posted an ad offering payment for a 5\/5 positive review of any one of their products. Unfortunately for them, a savvy young consumer stumbled upon the ad and decided to blog about it. The story then got picked up by the New York Times. It took mere hours for this blunder to become public and create a windstorm of bad press. What Belkin failed to realize is that if their product deserved good reviews, it would get them organically. There are other ways to gain positive feedback, and it starts with basic business 101.<\/p>\n


\nSO, WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OUR FRIENDS IN PR?<\/p>\n