Chrysler Autos sack social media consultancy over F-tweet
Have you been rubber-necking at the latest social media car crash on the hard shoulder of the information super highway? Chrysler got into a fender bender with its social media supplier after a foul-mouthed tweet appeared on its feed.
Not only did the account manager from New Media Strategies get sacked by them, Chrysler sacked New Media Strategies too. This is nothing new of course, remember that immortal Vodafone tweet?
As a leading social media and public relations in Berkshire, Morgan PR offers social media support packages much like the one used by Chrysler. Through close liaison with our clients we are able to represent them on social media, including tweeting on their behalf and updating Facebook.
Now, at risk of tossing large stones around glass houses, we have never encountered an issue like this thanks to a fairly obvious and simple approach that you too can employ if you use Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to manage multiple accounts.
Be nice! Stay friendly on your personal twitter account. If you are not swearing or ranting there, an accidental personal tweet on a business feed might cause some blushing, but is unlikely to create the uproar that Chrysler or Vodafone did.
You’ll be familiar with Thumper’s rule even if you didn’t learn it from the 1942 movie Bambi. Thumper is reminded by his mother: ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all’. Wise words!
Things moved quickly when @ChryslerAutos appeared to tweet about congestion in Detroit with the tweet: ‘I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f***ing drive’.
They soon tweeted:
Then it emerged that they were terminating their contract with New Media Strategies and the offending tweeter had also been sacked by them.
Such a puritanical stance would be more credible had Chrysler not endorsed the talented yet potty-mouthed Detroit rapper Eminem for its Super Bowl advert. Incidentally, New Media Strategies were left roosting in the dog house after its chief executive revealed the involvement of the rapper three days before the football event when it was supposed to be a surprise for the massive half time audience.
That makes you wonder if actually Chrysler were reacting to that as much as the tweet about congestion in the motor city.
Surely it would have been better to laugh it off and tweet: ‘If I’m going to be stuck in traffic I’m glad I’m in a Chrysler’ or how about: ‘Sorry about that, but man, that traffic was bad today? Anyone else get stuck?’ Maybe then it would have been a positive case study on crisis management on Twitter.
At least Chrysler is on Twitter! Are you? Remember we can raise your profile on social media with our affordable social media support services.