We’ve spent hours reading stories of how social media was used out of context and caused brands a lot of pain, followers and money.
The moral of the story – Anyone (brands big and small) can make a mistake.
Let’s learn from their mistakes, shall we?
Toyota started a campaign during the Super Bowl in 2012. They had users tweet messages about the #camryeffect. Simple enough, but the moment someone used the hashtag, they received a spammy automated message about a contest. Not their finest moment.
Twitter eventually suspended the account for spam.
Toyota might not be the image of a spammer, but even good companies made bad decisions based on good intentions.
What can we learn from this?
No one likes those spammy automated messages. Avoid sending automated messages to anyone. They’re not personable and they’re rarely appreciated. Not to mention they hurt your brand more then it helps.
Read our other Case Studies here.