1. The top spot goes to the FA, which quickly highlighted the fact that women footballers still have a way to go in gaining equality on the pitch. This tweet, published once the World Championships were over, made some people question whether the same point would have been made about the men’s team.
2. A BBC News reporter was sacked for tweeting that Queen Elizabeth II had died after mistaking a rehearsal of the announcement of her demise for the real thing. As the reporter represents such a renowned, national news organisation, it was picked up worldwide and many thought it to be true.
3. To celebrate 4th July, the clothing company American Apparel posted a photo on Tumblr that was believed to be a cool image of fireworks. Unfortunately, it’s actually a photograph taken from the Challenger space shuttle disaster that killed seven people in 1986
4. HMV employees vented their fury over Twitter after significant numbers of people were fired by the company.
5. Critics questioned Janay Rice’s decision to marry ex-Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice, despite his history of domestic violence. Victims rallied on social media using the hashtag #WhyIStayed, where survivors explained why they stayed in abusive relationships. Pizza company DiGiorno clearly didn’t understand what the hashtag meant and jumped on to the bandwagon, angering many along the way.
6. In the midst of Tesco’s horsemeat scandal, the supermarket tweeted a ‘humorous’ horse joke immediately after the uproar. “Too soon” springs to mind.
7. Not knowing your audience and fact-checking are two unforgivable mistakes for social media management. Clearly, British Airways did not know who its audience was, despite the individual already following its feed.
8. AT&T’s attempt at product placement while commemorating the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was understandably considered to be in poor taste by many. Using a public memorial event to promote the brand caused widespread offence – with the company being slammed on Twitter and Facebook as a result.
9. Kellogg’s also clearly demonstrated insensitivity by seeming to promise to only feed vulnerable children if people retweeted its message. Its tweet below suggested that the cereal manufacturer was holding Twitter to ransom and would let kids go hungry if users refused to retweet the message.
10. During a heavy winter season, Luton Airport posted this message to reassure its Facebook customers that flights were running smoothly, despite the harsh weather. Captioning the Facebook message with a photo from a previous aeroplane incident that occurred due to poor conditions, in which a young boy died, failed to get a warm reception with its social media following.
If you need help on your social media strategy, or advice to ensure you avoid any blunders, then do get in touch on say.hello@mobas.com.
