Social Media Failure

The point of using social media for marketing is to enhance relationships and build trust. Not everyone seems to get that point. From Keith Dawson at the CMO Site, here are some examples of tone-deaf uses of social media.

New York Police Department
The NYPD announced the formation of a unit to search social media sites or information on planned crimes and their perpetrators. While that's an appropriate use of social media for them, they're missing an opportunity for engagement and they would certainly benefit from fostering more trust.

DARPA
The Department of Defense's advanced research arm is also missing a chance to foster trust through engagement. They're researching  "purposeful or deceptive messaging and misinformation" and techniques that can "recognize persuasion campaign structures and influence operations across social media sites and communities."

City of Chelyabinsk
This city in Russia is one of the most polluted in the world. They are hiring an SEO contractor to "optimize" search engine queries like "radiation in Chelyabinsk" and "dirtiest city in Russia" to return more positive or neutral links.

Spirit Airlines
Spirit issues a steady stream of tweets, but doesn't seem to listen or converse, ignoring sizable amounts of bad will directed at them.

These organizations have all ignored the watch-words of social media marketing: engagement, relationship, transparency, trust.

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