The recent gruesome shooting at the midnight Batman movie premier in Aurora Colorado is an fathomable tragedy – no words known to mankind can even begin to express the nation’s collective horror, revulsion and pain. With 12 dead, 58 wounded, and the life of bright, happy and vital six year old girl snuffed out eons before her time – before really beginning her life – we’re all left reeling, wondering why and how this could happen?
But hey! Celeb Boutique ain’t worried, cuz hell: #Aurora is TREADING! And clearly it’s because of their Kim K (Kardasian) inspired #Aurora dress!
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FAIL
As you’re probably already aware, online clothing retailer Celeb Boutique broadcast the a fore mentioned message via the the Tweet Machine – seemingly in complete ignorance of the devastating Aurora Colorado tragedy
As my mother would say (in her incredulous deadpan): you’ve got to be kidding me…
Celeb Boutique’s careless misstep illustrates a perfect example of: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FAIL But in the words of President Barack Obama, this represents a choice “teachable moment.”
Three Lessons in Social Media Marketing Message Management from Aurora & Celeb Boutique
The power of Social Media Marketing is undeniable (so I won’t try). And I’m not here to disparage or slander the platform either, when used properly social media can be an incredibly effective marketing tool. But with great power comes great responsibility. Marketing is communication. And in Social Media Marketing – that communications is two-way: businesses broadcast and customers respond, and the world is watching.
The world is shrinking. Not literally decreasing in size or population numbers – quite the opposite in fact – but in terms of communication, connection and interaction.
Businesses, particularly businesses engaged in Social media Marketing, have to stay on their toes, not only monitoring their message and tone, but also being aware of (and sensitive to) the happenings in the world around them.
Lesson #1: Respect the 24 Hour News Cycle
I flipped on CNN at 6am the morning of the Aurora shooting to mainline my daily news fix, and was greeted by wall-to-wall Aurora tragedy coverage – CNN’s anchors could hard bear to break for commercials in their fervor to report the news – which continued uninterrupted for the next 97.5 consecutive hours. And every other news media outlet was behaving in similar fashion.
With CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Yahoo News, and countless other online news media outlets – news travels faster than the speed of light.
It seems impossible any heyhoo with a pulse residing in the good ole US of A could have missing this earth shattering event. But the fact that Celeb Boutique did demonstrates that you need to keep your eyes and ears open, and your brains shifted into an active gear before you open you mouth and start blabbering to the world at large via the Social Web.
Lesson Learned: Current events matter. Be aware of what’s happening in the world around before inserting foot in mouth by commenting on mis-perceived trends.
Lesson #2: Do the Social Media Cruise
If you’re participating in a social media platform as marketing vehicle for your business, take a moment to pursue that platform, and find out what’s going on before jumping. And that means every time you hit up your Facebook news feed for sharing fodder or fire up the ole Tweet Machine to distill your pearls of wisdom, be sure you know what’s the happs within those digital atmospheres.
Lesson Learned: Before you join the conversation, be sure you know what the conversation is actually about, i.e. #Aurora has nothing to do with to do with Kim K or her attire.
Lesson #3: Sorry Doesn’t Cut It
Of course Celeb Boutique should publicly apologize – at the very least – for their ill timed blunder. But it’s already too late. The people turned off by this gaff are more than likely lost as customers.
Everyone makes mistakes, and these kinds of faux pas tend blow over, but the internet’s memory lasts forever – you never know when you’re “foot in mouth” moment will come back to haunt you: “I just Googled Celeb Boutique, the first thing that came up in the search was…#Aurora..what a bunch of idiots.” I doubt that’s the way anyone wants their business to be remember by Google.
Lesson Learned: Marketing your business in the social media sphere is risky. Social media is a broad, far reaching, two-way communication channel – when you put your business out there – you never know what going to come back.
What About You?
have you ever taken a total Bozo the Clown stumbled and completely goofed up in your business marketing or communication efforts, whether in the social media sphere or otherwise? What did you do to offend (cuz you know we love the juicy details)? How did you get out from under the seemingly crushing weight of your bone-headed blunder (cuz we wanna learn from your mistakes)?
