Social Media – PR Lessons

There are some great PR lessons to learn from the social media faux pas, flame outs and funny/sad antics in the virtual universe. Everything from bad pitches, poor blogger relations, careless crisis management and even worse.

Of course, we all know better, right? In the interests of learning and social media best practices, we share some of the social media mistakes of others so you have no excuses if it happens to you. This page will no doubt be updated frequently.

Other social media and PR resources you may find useful: Best Social Media Bloggers for PR, Best Social Media Tools for PR, Blogging & PR, Online Crisis Management, Social Media Monitoring, Social Media Tips & Strategies, Social Media Releases (SMRs) and Twitter & PR. The PR Coach’s own blog  This Just In… will also keep you current twice a week.

We guess you’ll want to learn more about Crisis Communications Planning & Management resources in the PR Library too. Sites with a W are PR Coach “winners.”

5 Examples of Social Media Blunders and What to Learn From Them
Learn from Mashable’s look at social media blunders from Facebook, Sony BMG, Motrin and Astrospace.

10 Ways to Get Fired for Building Your Personal Brand
Dan Schawbel reminds us that the web is a very public place. Remember that next time you rant, flame or get too personal online.

A Monster’s Inc Move at Domino’s
An in-depth look at Domino’s employee crisis, the company’s response and lessons learned by Valeria Maltoni.   W

American Airlines Fires Employee for Good Customer Service
The Guardian reports on American Airlines’ strange response to an employee and the web whirlwind that followed.

Astroturfing Online Reviews: 3 Reasons It’s a Bad Idea
Dave Fleet says astroturfing is risky to clients and agencies, not to mention unethical.

Blog Brushfire
When an association received negative blog comments, its response was a lesson in social media.

Cheating the App Store: PR Firm Has Interns Post Positive Reviews for Clients
Bad PR practice, lacking transparency, dishonest business, negative publicity for its clients, bad example for interns, unethical. What else can you say about this agency?

Dominos Responds to Brand Crisis Through Social Media
Useful overview of Dominos’ response to its YouTube crisis, what it did well and could have done better.   W

Doubling the Dilemma: National Pork Producers Council
Rich Becker considers the challenge of de-linking swine flu from pork in the marketplace and whether the NPPC may have created its own issue.   W

How to Respond to Negative Press: Lessons Learned from Walmart
When Walmart was recently under fire by the New York Times, they found a creative way to respond that turned the situation in their favor. Walmart’s Vice President of Corporate Communications ‘edited’ the New York Times piece on the company blog to correct the inaccuracies it presented. This humorous way of combating the negative attention demonstrates several do’s when it comes to combating negative attention.

How Twitter Broke and Covered the Hudson Plane Crash Tonight, From Eyewitnesses
The immediacy of Twitter helped coverage of the plane crash in the Hudson and rescue of passengers notes Drew B on the day of the event.

Hulking Astroturf: Reverb Communications
Rich Becker shows how astroturf PR agency Reverb’s clumsy comeback made its practices come even more under fire.   W

Ignore the Twittersphere? Major Brands Learn That They’d Better Respond — and Quick
Lots of social media lessons to be learned from Amazon, Dominos and CNN.

Learning From the Mistakes of KMart, Motrin and FedEx
Three social media mistakes and many lessons learned.

NBC: A Corporate PR Disaster
The Bad Pitch Blog looks at NBC’s poor job handling of the Tonight Show.

Negative Blog Spurs Positive Outcome
Quick response by Bemis Manufacturing turns negative post into lemonade.

Negative PR in Advertising Travels Fast Online
A look at the Dr Pepper/Guns and Roses dust-up and the impact of online bad news on other brands as well.

Nike, Just Do It: When a Local Story Runs Away on the Web and Leads to Change
Brian Solis explores Nike’s mishandling of a local story leading to a better PR outcome after a social media firestorm.

Poisoning PR: Peanut Corporation of America
PCA proved negligent in business and in its communications. Rich Becker looks at other companies impacted and their responses.   W

PRDisasters.com
Gerry McCusker blogs about PR disasters, PR spin,  and PR gone wrong. Always interesting and no shortage of bad examples.

Ruffling Feathers: Jeremiah Owyang
Rich Becker highlights media analyst Owyang’s use of Twitter to communicate about another company’s potential problems. Lots of crisis and social media lessons.   W

Social Media and the Saga of the Lug Nuts
A telling tale of poor service, slow response and social media impact by Catharine Taylor.

Social Media Marketing With Twitter: The EA Comic-Con
A sophomoric marketing campaign and poor response by Electronic Arts lead to a negative Twitter storm.

Social Media Mistakes
Jennifer Horowitz shares six critical social media mistakes you can avoid.

Social Media Snafu – Another Cautionary Tale
Skylight Opera firing results in intrigue, toil and trouble played out on the social media stage.

Sorry PR People You’re Blocked
Wired’s Chris Anderson blows his top at PR spammers, publishing more than 300 offender emails and it’s deserved.   W

Starbucks Social Media Monitoring & Community Help It Survive Brand Attack
Quick response and savvy community building help Starbucks weather a brand attack.

Sued for a Tweet: How Not to Deal With Complaints on Twitter
Chicago firm learns the cost of suing a Twitter complainant may cost more in bad publicity.   W

The New Rules for Breaking News, Robert Scoble Should Be in PR
Brian Solis highlights the role of bloggers as a new powerful element to add to public relations and media relations campaigns.   W

TwitPic of Napping Transit Worker Sparks Media Controversy
New Twitter picture sharing tool catches sleeping transit worker and all sides pile on in the media.   W

Twitter Campaigns: A Cautionary Tale for Marketers
Moonfruit’s successful campaign caused Twitter to dampen the response to Twitter’s discredit.

United Airlines Breaks Guitars
A tale of sad customer service by United Airlines and the resulting social media tsunami.

Why Spam PR Pitches Won’t Go Away
More spray and pray pitching gets Dave Fleet’s ire again.

Photo credit: Maureen Flynn-Burhoe