Chevron found out the hard way that not every promotion on Twitter works in your favor. The company paid to promote the hashtag “AskChevron” this week as a publicity stunt.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the questions took a rather critical turn before long, with many Twitter users asking Chevron to answer for its involvement with oil drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and the toxic wastewater it ended up dumping there. Several hours later, Chevron stopped promoting the trending hashtag, but not before thousands of Twitter users had a chance to view it.
If you want to promote your website, it’s a good idea to look for a digital marketing firm. Otherwise, it’s easy to make the type of mistake that Chevron blundered into. Here are three online marketing mistakes companies have made in the past year, and what businesses and their creative advertising agencies can learn from them.
1. The Kenneth Cole Incident
When discussion in the U.S. was revolving around whether the U.S. military should get involved in Syria, Kenneth Cole tweeted about his fashion line that, “Boots on the ground or not, let’s not forget about sandals, pumps and loafers. #Footwear.” His flippant and mocking take on war was not well received and generated negative controversy for the brand. Lesson learned: there’s a fine line between keeping your social media fresh with interesting perspectives, and offending your followers.
2. Home Depot Makes an Avoidable Mistake
Several months ago, The Home Depot tweeted a photo with a caption of ‘which drummer is not like the others?” The company quickly came under fire considering that one of the drummers was a man in a monkey costume, and the other drummers were black, hearkening to racial stereotypes. Home Depot quickly deleted the post, apologized, and fired their internet marketing firm.
3. Don’t Try to Cash in on Tragedy
Cooking site Epicurious participated in a poorly-planned PR stunt when they attempted to ride the coattails of the Boston Marathon bombing by suggesting that people could relax from it with a bowl of cereal. “In honor of Boston and New England, may we suggest: whole-grain cranberry scones!” The company tweeted. Professional marketing companies can help your company avoid making insensitive jokes that can prevent you from having a positive experience with consumers.
Why would your company hire creative advertising agencies? Do you have a plan for how to promote your business with social media? Let us know in the comments. Read more blogs like this.