Besides collecting lists of Social Media Case Studies for my Superlist of Social Media Case Studies, I’ve also been collecting links about Social Media mistakes, failures, blunders and no-no’s. Since my Superlist of Social Media Case Studies has proven so popular (and since Jacob Morgan suggested a Superlist of social media failures would be helpful), I thought I’d take a crack at starting to pull together this type of list (Anti-casestudies?) with the articles I have so far.
Have any more case studies lists or good articles/posts on social media mistakes, no-no’s, failures or bad ideas? Feel free to add them here in the comments!
- A Chronology of Brands that Got Punk’d by Social Media by Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang
- Ad Age Video: Social Media Mistakes of Five Big Marketers
- Mashable’s Biggest Mistakes Made by Social Media Gurus
- How to Commit Social Media Suicide by Socialmediatrader.com
- Six Stupid Marketing Mistakes by Adam Broitman
- Ignite Social Media’s 6 Part Video Series: Social Media Marketing Mistakes And How to Avoid Them
- Corporate Missteps from Frymaster Speck
- 6 Stupid Mistakes Companies Make with Their Online Communities from CIO.com
- Video: “Avoiding Disaster: How Not to Use Social Media” Panel at Blog World & New Media Expo 2008
- 7 Deadly Sins of Social Media from Room 214
- 10 Social Media Blunders that Can Destroy Your Brand from Sparkplugging.com
- Tamar Weinberg’s The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook
- The Twitter Hall of Shame: 50 Tweets That Will Echo in History from InsideCRM.com
From brand backlash to brandjacking, a list of companies who were blindsided by social media by year including the now infamous case of the Motrin Moms.
8 minutes video of speech given by Joseph Jaffe, head of the marketing consulting firm Crayon, at the Association of National Advertisers’ Integrated Marketing conference. From faking to manipulating to controlling, Jaffe criticizes the social media programs of 5 major marketers including Target and Starbucks.
A list of errors in judgment from the people who should know better- top notch social media all stars. A couple of notable blunders – assuming social media doesn’t exist until you arrive and posting a comment on your own Facebook wall.
A list of some of ways you can ensure that your content fails on social media sites from ignoring criticism about your website to selfishly promoting only your own content.
Great article that talks about mistakes made in social media and interactive marketing campaigns with some good examples. Includes solid constructive critiques of several social media initiatives including British Airways’ Twitter presence and Slurpee’s social network, Slurpee Nation.
Part 1 Not Listening. Not Responding. Not Good
Part 2: Schmoozing Instead of Connecting
Part 3: No Transparency, No Authenticity
Part 4: Social Media As A Channel, Not A Conversation
Part 5: Applying traditional marketing tactics to social media marketing
Part 6: Thinking anyone cares about your brand
Examples of 5 companies who thought they could control information on the Web but found out that they couldn’t including Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s blogging well-publicized blogging fiasco.
Nice discussion of 6 ways companies often show that ” ‘doing community’ doesn’t mean ‘doing community well’ ” — from trying to control the conversation too closely (e.g. removing all criticism) to forgetting that volunteer participants are part of your company’s community.
5 Part video series can be found on YouTube as part of Managing Communities’ YouTube Channel. Here’s the first part:
From Pride to Sloth to Greed to Gluttony, this post (also available in PDF
From submitting every single post you’ve ever read (or written) to social bookmarking sites to being a copycat – a collection of short and to-the-point advice for entrepreneurs and small businesses on how not to use social media.
A great rundown of no-no’s in social media etiquette you want to avoid on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media sites.
- 8 Sure-Fire Ways To Tick Off the Twitterverse
by Jenny Cromie on a guest post on Twitips.com. Here Jenny explores 8 sure ways to tick off other Twitter users from being a TwitterNarcissist to being a TwitterDumbLinker.
- (Bad and) Tasteful Ad Tactics for Social Media
From the 10e20 Blog: First half of this excellent post reviews what NOT to do if you’re integrating advertising into your social media. Bonus- the second half reviews as the title suggests tasteful tactics for social media advertising.
- How Not to be a Key Online Influencer
From David Henderson: Story about a PR account executive/vice president from Ketchum who flew to Memphis to visit FedEx, one of their biggest clients. Upon arriving, he posted a derogatory message about Memphis on Twitter. The folks inside FedEx saw the Twitter message and didn’t like it much. Ironically the executive was visiting FedEx to talk with them about social media.
- Why I Suck At Twitter: Confession Of A Failure
From Twitip: Sunil Pathak of Blogger’s Lab talks about his own failure and mistakes on Twitter so you can learn what not to do from his experience.
- 7 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid on Twitter
From iMediaConnection.com: Discussion of the most common mistakes and pitfalls on Twitter that could have a negative impact on your business or brand – from “inconsistent or lack of visual branding” to “not listening for brand mentions and relevant conversations” to “using Twitter as a push marketing tool.”
- 4 Signs You’re a Social Media Failure
From iMediaConnection: Denise Zimmerman outlines four common failure scenarios to help you prepare to respond effectively and turn social media mistakes into successes. Includes situations such as “nothing happening”, “backlash”, “public outings” and “negative post, tweets, & comments”.
- Twitter FAIL! The 8 Worst Brands on the World’s Hottest Microblog
From Revolution Magazine: Here are eight big-name brands with microblogging strategies you’ll want to avoid – includes McDonalds, HP, Amazon, E-Bay and more.
December 5th, 2008
Tags: blunders · caseStudies · facebook · failures · mistakes · socialMedia · Tips · Twitter45 Comments
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45 responses so far ↓
Thanks for mentioning the “Avoiding Disaster
panel!
Thanks for the mention. Good list. I’m checking out the Avoiding Disaster write now.
~Jim
[...] – Superlist of what NOT to do in Social Media. Courtesy of Robin Broitman at IIG. On the flip side, Lee Odden shares 26 tips on being Social [...]
[...] http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/superlist_of_what_not_to_do_in_social_media/ Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)New use of Twitter: brand apologies for bad advertisingCongratulations Motrin. You just proved why every brand needs to understan…Widgets, widgets everywhere…Social media’s uphill advertising climb « theDigitalNews.TV [...]
This is some very good material, was just about to take a break, now I have some videos to watch while I do.
~Eric
[...] added Tamar Weinberg’s The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook to our Superlist of What NOT to Do in Social Media – it’s a great summary of some mistakes in that you don’t want to make on social media [...]
[...] Superlist of What NOT To Do In Social Media [...]
Nice post. A lot of great information. Keep it up!
[...] following article is a second installment to the initial “superlist of social media” article. Some [...]
here’s a few added thoughts put together awhile back,while on the agency side. enjoy
Social Media Commandments
[...] blog post from fellow Virginian Robin from Interactive Insights Group. Her blog post is a “superlist” of what NOT to do in social media. Given that most people — especially in the corporate and business realm — are [...]
Glad you could include my little list. Please note my new website – I joined this think-tank full time. I was actually gonna take that site down, but I’ll leave it to support your link or I’ll send you a new link if I move the content elsewhere.
Thanks again.
Thanks Frymaster…appreciate your keeping the site up or keeping us updated so we can change the link when you migrate to the new one!
[...] we brought you a superlist of social media initiatives and ideas; today we bring you a superlist of social media no-nos! (As with yesterday’s list, this list is from the knowledgeable folk at US social media [...]
[...] 3) Super List of what NOT to do in Social Media [...]
What a fabulous resource! As we put together our strategy for 2009, we will be checking in here. Thank you.
[...] Superlist of What NOT To Do In Social Media (UPDATED) – [...]
[...] Thinking about social media? Here’s what not to do. [...]
[...] the flipside here is a link on what NOT to do in social media. I really liked how these guys put together some great examples. Filed under Jim’s Opinion, [...]
I found this post on LinkedIn – great list!
[...] What NOT To Do In Social Media [...]
Great collection. Your readers might be interested in my blog post, 5 Worst Twitter Disasters of 2008 (Twisasters)
http://www.twitterthoughts.com/social-media-news-analyses/2008/12/16/5-worst-twitter-disasters-of-2008-twisasters.html
[...] Superlist of What Not To Do In Social Meda From our own collection of casestudies and articles about what not to do in social media- mistakes, blunders, failures, etc. . [...]
[...] Twitip this past Friday “8 Sure-Fire Ways To Tick Off the Twitterverse” to the “Superlist of What Not To Do In Social Media”….I’m sure you’ll agree this is an excellent addition.
[...] provides links to relevant posts around the web (mine automatically provided a link to our Superlist of What Not To Do in Social Media , and a list of your most recent Twitter [...]
[...] you haven’t already done so, take a look at our Superlist of What Not To Do in Social Media. In this article, you’ll find examples of companies who ignored social media and suffered [...]
[...] Noticed this is getting a lot of coverage on Twitter so I thought I’d share it here for anyone who might have missed it. For more social media blunders see our Superlist of What NOT To Do In Social Media. [...]
[...] Strategy: Superlist of What NOT To Do In Social Media (UPDATED): A super list of super lists of what not to [...]
[...] Interactive Insight Group’s Superlist of What Not to Do [...]
Thanks very much for bringing all these ‘don’ts’ together! I’ll tweet it out : ) We’ve got our own list of things to avoid in community management on the eModeration blog http://blog.emoderation.com/2009/03/pitfalls-of-community-management.html
[...] Superlist Of What NOT To Do In Social Media [...]
Very insightful and good advice.
Particularly enjoyed How to Commit Social Media Suicide
[...] Superlist of What Not To Do In Social Meda [...]
[...] Superlist of what NOT to do in social media – This is a very informative list, with some videos, about major mistakes and what not to do. It’s always interesting to chuckle and say, “Oh, I’d NEVER do that!” (or at least, you THINK you wouldn’t…) [...]
[...] a detailed “Superlist of What NOT To Do In Social Media,” visit Robin Broitman’s excellent (and regularly updated) site. Broitman has [...]
Would like to see you keep updating this every six months or so
[...] basic misunderstandings and company culture misfit, miscellaneous mistakes, or by committing overt social media blunders that lead to firestorms of criticism, apologies and [...]
[...] or wrong answers when it comes to social media marketing. There are plenty of ways to get it right; and wrong. Treat these 10 mistakes as ways to think through your social media tactics. They may even serve as [...]
[...] – Superlista sobre Qué no hace en Redes Sociales. [...]
[...] Superlist of What NOT To Do In Social Media Superlist collection of articles/blog posts on what not to do with social media. Mistakes, failure, bloopers to avoid. [...]
Very good read that cautions companies to learn from other people’s mistakes
[...] more dont’s, check out this article. Last 5 posts in Social MarketingIncrease brand visibility on Facebook and engage with fans [...]
[...] your way in, make some mistakes, and find your social media footing. Maaaaaaaaaaaybe. But there are too many counter examples of brands that screwed up and got burned because of not knowing, understanding, or working within the evolving conventions of social media. [...]
[...] even though there have been exhaustive lists put together about social media blunders (Mashable, Interactive Insights Group) no one has really put together a comprehensive list of all the naughty things we have done to each [...]
[...] Social media mistakes, no-no’s, failures or bad ideas [...]