May 29, 2009, 1:20 PM — Is the Twitter halo slipping? I know social media consultants who quote great Twitter success stories, but I'm starting to notice they're telling the same stories as last year. To me, Twitter works best for trendy communities hot for the next tidbit. “Corporate tweeting” seems wrong on several levels. So my thanks to Jennifer Leggio for ZDNet's “Nine worst social media fails of 2009...thus far.”
Never underestimate the ability of an idiot vice president to botch social media in many ways, including harming their own brand and no doubt wasting buckets o'cash. Can we blame Twitter for continued employment of idiot vice presidents in corporate marketing departments? No. My laughs are not at Twitter but at companies mis-using the hottest ticket in social media.
Twitter asks “What are you doing?” Too many large companies, including Fox TV, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Quiznos, answer that question with, “making a fool of ourselves using social media incorrectly.” There's a reason viral social media breakouts are a surprise: they do new interesting things that catch our attention with flair. The same old mangled marketing message for a Fortune 1000 company can't create social media lightning in a bottle on command.
Kudos again to social business writer Leggio for pointing out that the Motrin and their “Wearing your baby” campaign, a good tongue-in-cheek series suggesting mothers carrying babies might need a Motrin now and then, comes off looking better than the “mommybloggers” who twisted this into an insult of their motherhood. Every time a social media group goes berserk over some imagined insult, the social media naysayers gain more ammunition. Yes, when you artificially work yourselves into a lather, you look stupid, I don't care how many of your Tweety-buddies agree with your grievances.
Advice to marketing idiot vice presidents: don't try to push the Twitter rope because it doesn't work that way. Find out where the Twitter crowd is going, get toward the front, and make helpful suggestions. And stay away from rabid mommybloggers.
