For corporations social media has the power to be both friend and foe. Allowing users to hash tag, like pages, or comment on walls can yield different results. The first is positive free advertising and an expansion of a company’s customer segment. The second, and much for frequent case is when users use the hash tags and opportunity for dialogue that companies have given them, and take advantage of it leading to hilarity for netizens and embarrassment for the company. Recent cases include Burger King’s ill-thought-out #WTFF, McDonalds #McDStories, and most recently JP Morgan’s #AskJPM.  The result of those three campaigns led to the company pulling the plug within hours of the campaigns release – apparently these corporations do not believe the phrase that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Let these three failed attempts at jumping on the social media advertising band wagon be warning to future companies considering it. What makes social media different from traditional advertising, besides the wide reach, is that contrary to TV or newspapers where the message is set in stone, netizens can interpret and modify the message for their own purposes. In the case of these and other large companies a bit of caution and a contingency plan is warranted before devoting time and resources to social media campaigns.

Image: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/jpmorgan-chase-admits-twitter-qa-bad-idea/story?id=20887665