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Author: Search Influence Alumni

  • The Bluths Take On Social Media: Arrested Development, Netflix, and the Importance of the Banana Stand

    This Is The Story of a Wealthy Family Who Lost Everything, and the Social Media Campaign That Got Them Back Together.

    While social media marketing is a useful and effective means of interacting with your customer base, not every campaign has the moxie to make your efforts take off — but one recently-revived cult television show is pulling out all the stops. Arrested Development has long been known for actively engaging its fanbase with inside jokes, subtle callbacks and clever Easter eggs. Cancelled after just two and a half short but brilliant seasons, AD accumulated such a devoted fanbase that the outcry prompted a full-scale resurrection over eight years later. Now that Netflix has revived the show for another 14 episodes, the show has dedicated its online efforts to getting fans excited all over again. By leveraging the show’s trademark subtle callbacks and absurdist humor, Netflix is keeping its userbase and its desires in mind — the first and most important rule of any social media campaign.

    Some Fake Landing Pages, Raw Veggies, Cup-A-Soup — Baby, You Got A Social Media Stew Going

    The first Easter egg Netflix launched in anticipation of the new episodes was to create fake Netflix landing pages for all the television shows and movies that have been mentioned on the show, from the titillating Les Cousins Dangereux to the schlocky Mock Trial with J. Reinhold. Upon clicking the link to the film, the user is taken to the Arrested Development scene where the title appeared.

    The show has a history of creating websites and landing pages for running gags that occur in the narrative, one of the first television acts to do so all the way back in Ye Olde Internete of 2005. During AD’s original run, you were able to visit the Bob Loblaw Law Blog and ImOscar.com, both websites that were mentioned in multiple episodes of the series. It’s a hilarious meta-promotion of the kind of absurd, deadpan humor that made the show so beloved. Breaking or blurring the fourth wall between advertising and the product it’s promoting can be highly effective when you’re trying to reach a variety of Web-savvy users.

    Yeah, You’re Gonna Get Some Walk-Ons

    The most engaging of ways Netflix is attempting to drum up excitement for the new “don’t call it a season” season of the show is by holding a contest to have a walk-on role on the new episodes. Gamification, when used wisely, can really heighten user engagement by creating competition while attracting attention with the prize of ultimate fan fulfillment. Netflix asked fans to create a tribute of some sort to the show. Fans responded by dressing as different characters, creating different crafts or songs, and even creating an entire website with original artwork. The winning entries were amazing, and showed a dedication that genuinely warranted a walk-on role to the show.

    I Just Blue Myself!

    Certainly the most clever and subtle of Netflix’s Easter eggs has to do with a season-long running gag about Tobias Fünke becoming an understudy for the Blue Man Group. During the course of season 2, the blue paint from Tobias’ “costume” would rub off on pretty much every surface in the Bluth’s model home. Now searching anything with “blue” in the title, such as “Blue Velvet,” will lead you to a search page with blue smudges and handprints along the side. When you click on a handprint, Netflix serves you a now-infamous scene from the show where Tobias utters the phrase, “I just blue myself!” By creating a subtle but noticeable gag, Netflix creates both an accessible reference point for the show’s fanbase as well as conjuring up curiosity and interest in people unfamiliar with the show.

    More Touching!

    Engaging your customers via social media and viral marketing can be a great way to create a casual and fun appeal for your product, as well as cultivate brand loyalty from your base. It also gives new customers a great jumping-off point in how to interface with your brand. It’s important to show your users that your brand is in-tune with what their particular kind of chicken dance, and a well-crafted and executed social media campaign will put that message front and center. By carefully incorporating so many of the now-iconic callbacks and running gags of the original series, Netflix has done a superb job appealing to fans and drawing in new viewers alike. Keep your eyes peeled for new episodes in May 2013 — and for God’s sake, don’t forget to leave a note.

  • Missing Analytics Data? It’s (Maybe) Not Your Fault

    WHERE ARE THEY, GOOGLE?

    With a recent, subtle Chrome update, Google has significantly curtailed the tracking of keyword data within its own Analytics. It’s been over a year since tracking of keyword data has been disabled for logged in Google users, who were taken to the secure version of the page for any searches. Keyword data from https://www.google.com/ searches (versus http://www.google.com/ searches) shows up in Analytics reports as “(not provided),” reportedly to protect the privacy of Google’s users.

    With the recent Google Chrome update, searches from Chrome’s “omnibox” (its term for “address bar”) now all go through the SSL version of Google search, and thus, keyword data for these searches will not be tracked in Analytics. This is worth noticing, since Google Chrome is clearly dominating the desktop web browser arena at present. In short, this policy could be causing webmasters to miss out on between one-third and half of their data.

    I casually happened upon this phenomenon last month as I was testing a client’s site for problems with cross-domain tracking for their Analytics. My usual procedure to bypass hidden keyword data was to go into Chrome’s incognito mode, search on Google for something that I believe will take me to the client’s site, then visit the client’s site from the results. On inspecting the Analytics cookies, none of the search keyword data was present! I fumbled through all of my Chrome extensions, said “UHHHHH,” a lot, and eventually resigned myself to the fact that that my browser was somehow broken.

    Turns out that it wasn’t broken — this was intentional. The changes are obvious: comparing keyword data for our clients’ Analytics profiles between December 10 and December 18 of this year versus the same of last year shows a consistent increase in “(not set)” or “(not provided)” keywords. This isn’t to say that keyword data is not present, but rather that it’s unavailable from the leading desktop browser.

    Google Chrome doesn’t alone hold the distinction of presenting difficulties for achieving accurate visitor data. For the same client, I also noticed a significant presence of “direct” traffic, which is an apparently misleading term. After a bit of research, I found that the issue was due to security settings in Safari counting a significant portion of traffic as “Direct.” As you can see by the screenshots below, Safari traffic (a majority of which is through iOS – Safari being the default browser) accounts for a sizable portion of all direct traffic.

    Google’s official description of direct traffic reports in Analytics is that they provide details on “which of your URLs are the most popular destinations for direct traffic: which URLs people can easily remember (e.g., google.com), which addresses appear most often in auto-completion, or which of your pages are bookmarked the most.” As we’ve seen, this is misleading. The depicted client had a significant amount of direct traffic to URLs laden with query strings: something unlikely for users to generate on their own.

    So how do we respond to this decrease in data available? As the Google blog post linked above mentions, Webmaster Tools still provides a list of the keywords that take users to your site. By pairing this with other information from Analytics, we still know what drives traffic to a site, but don’t have as precise a pool of data available, and for understandable reasons.

    We do use Google Analytics to give us insight into how users interact with clients’ sites and to help us plot courses of action, but Analytics is just one of the tools we use. Besides, SEO is a rapidly growing field! What worked two years ago or one year ago — or even a month ago — is no longer applicable. Constantly staying on top of changes made to the technology used within your industry, and specifically knowing what these marked changes in data mean are both necessary tasks to stay afloat.

  • 5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

    Round 1-036 Ways to Use the New LinkedIn Features to Get More Business — Social Media Examiner
    Even your online presence only gets one chance to make a first impression. LinkedIn recently updated its user interface to help users present their accomplishments and skills in a refreshing, new way. This article looks at how to use these new features to your advantage to make stronger connections, create more business, and engage with people with whom you share a common interest.

    Microsoft’s Bing Social Sidebar Gets More Context with Facebook Status Updates, Links, and Comments — The Next Web
    Facebook may have launched its new Graph Search feature this week, but Microsoft is also making some major improvements with the addition of social data to enhance its partnership with Facebook. Moving forward, when you search the web using Bing, you’ll get some Facebook results mixed in; using Facebook’s Graph Search will yield some Bing results.

    11 Obvious A/B Tests You Should Try — QuickSprout
    A/B testing can help you generate leads for your business and, if properly done, can help you create a competitive advantage. Here are some easy tips and tricks to increase your conversion rate.

    YouTube Investment in VEVO Would Strengthen its Top Position in Online Video Rankings — Search Engine Watch
    VEVO is the largest video publisher on YouTube, so it only makes sense that YouTube plans to invest in it for a content partnership. Between rumors of Facebook showing interest in stealing VEVO away from the Google-owned YouTube and its deal with YouTube ending in December, this would be an effective way to help YouTube maintain its more than half-billion views per month.

    23 Reasons to Improve Your Content in 2013 — SEOptimise
    From ranking on Google and Bing to local search and keyword competition, there are a multitude of ways to beat the competition by creating relevant, quality content in the new year. Check out this handy list for a compelling array of reasons to get it in gear and start killing it on the content end in the new year.

  • Pick Up The Paintbrush: 5 Tips For Creativity In Your Online Presence

    We all know those folks who just seem to always have amazing ideas — the ones that can look at a tin can and create a thousand different uses for it. These individuals seem to possess some kind of magic ability to conjure up an idea out of thin air. It seems as if everything is a canvas for them: the color of a living room, a blank wall, or even a cupcake.

    What they possess is a creative mindset. And when it comes to online marketing, this magical tool can come in very handy. More than handy, in fact — it’s been the main force behind many dynamic projects, especially on the web.

    Getting Started

    The creative mindset is a way of approaching a problem with an open mind and weaving your details together. This thought process is important not just because it can make the task at hand more efficient, but because it fosters innovation as well. This is a key concept, especially in the SEO world. All too often, we do “what works” and follow “the best practices,” but fail to experiment on our own with tests, variations and new concepts. Next time you’re tempted to write a Facebook status in the voice and format you’ve always used, why not mix it up? Even borrowing someone else’s tried-and-true style can often lead to surprisingly creative results.

    This mindset also opens us to developing an appreciation for art, design, and the way things interact. Regardless of what kind of job you hold, a creative mindset will create a new way of thinking that will make that job more fulfilling or inspire you to pursue side projects or hobbies that will liven up your life and inspire others around you.

    Keep an Open Eye

    It’s a common myth that some people are “born” creative. Quite to the contrary: this is an approach that can be developed. Creativity is not just about just producing out of thin air, but about your method of approach. If you are interested in developing a creative mindset, you must strive to always look at everything with an open perspective. This keeps the possibilities of discovering new avenues wide open. As we all have heard, it’s all in the details: the same goes for creativity and the way we view those details. Don’t be afraid of getting up close to that assignment and looking at it intimately. The more we know about something, the easier it is to figure out a new way of handling it. If a business decision has you stuck, a creative brainstorm with coworkers can often yield results. Research points to creativity fostering health, not to mention a thriving business environment.

    Surround Yourself With Good Stuff

    In addition, surrounding yourself with things that inspire you keeps the avenue of creativity open. The beauty of inspiration is that it can come from anywhere or anything. In a data-driven field like SEO, it’s essential to look for creative approaches to foster our sense of enthusiasm. Perhaps we should suggest a new approach for a project, or study the trends to see if the way people search is changing over time (hint: it is!). By changing up the formula on a regular basis, we allow our brains to “stay fit,” and breathe new life into what could otherwise descend into the doldrums of mediocrity.

    Surrounding yourself with peers who will give you honest feedback is also essential. With their critiques, we can get the suggestions we need  to grow and push the boundaries of our abilities. Once we have this strong group of peers, we then also have a reservoir to pull people from to collaborate with and lend our talents. The SEO community is a strong one, and we love to discuss our findings. Are you getting out there and joining the conversation?

    Never Stop Learning

    The best way to maintain a creative mindset is to keep up your passion for learning something new. This desire to learn also helps us to understand the process as a whole. The more we learn, the more we can draw connections between two fields of practice or between two seemingly unrelated things. In SEO, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the routine and forget that the field offers so many possibilities for new attacks and new growth. With a creative mindset, it becomes second nature to look at a problem or strategy from every conceivable angle.

    Apply Yourself

    Whenever we get a new toy, our immediate reaction it to play with it. We want to see what each button does, the hidden features, the secret compartments. This sense of exploration should apply to every day in the SEO world. The best way to find out if something works is to try it out! This testing process is essential to the creative process because it gives us more details about the task at hand. We can gather data on if the solution is working or not. This exercise is equal parts creative and data-centric, and smart businesses try all of the options.

    Don’t Be Afraid To Take A Leap

    Whenever there is play, there are also risks. However, taking a risk is not bad. In fact, in order to facilitate a creative mindset in business, we must learn to take a risk on our ideas to see how they work. If the idea does not work, this is still a gain. We learn more from what doesn’t work and can move on to the next solution and take a risk on the next idea.

  • Facebook Graph Beta Offers Multidimensional Social Search, New Networking Capabilities

    Facebook’s Graph search introduces a new multi-dimensional tool for discovering people, places and things filtered by your personal friends and likes. The concept isn’t entirely new — Bing has been integrating social data into its results for over a year now now, and the Google Hotpot experiment (failed though it was) featured location- and personal recommendation-based place discovery, as well as a host of Foursquaresque features such as check-ins and reviews. However, Graph offers social search on an unprecedented scale, with access to likes, posts and preferences of users’ entire social network.

    It’s been said that Facebook has become something like a search engine for people, and they’re moving into direct competition with Google with Graph. The levels of refinement are remarkable (from geographic location to employer to relationship status to hometown and more). Music preferred by people who live in Austin and Like “Motown”? Television shows for engineers over 35? No problem. Your friends with friends who work at Google? Start flexing those networking muscles.

    Local search promises to be another strong point: if you need a plumber or a doctor, you’d trust your friends to make recommendations. With Graph, you can simply discover professionals in the area with a high rating from your network. It’s going to be important for small business owners to start owning their Facebook presence harder than ever.

    Of course, the value of Graph is going to depend heavily on the extent of a user’s personal network — even the most dedicated of social networking addicts would be hard-pressed to Like their accountant on the ‘book. But it’s a self-fulfilling cycle: the more things that a user Likes, the more extensive and accurate their data becomes, providing better recommendations, which lead to more Likes, which grows the data further.

    Users will also be able to view a comprehensive backlog of the things they’ve Liked over the years — useful for search, but not so much for the nostalgia and/or procrastination-inclined among us. Tom Stocky, director of product management at Facebook, characterizes the new capability as a “third feed” for users: you have Timeline, which allows you to see your own activity, and the News Feed, which allows you to see others’ — now the “search feed” allows you to see an archived history of what you Like (and like, for that matter).

    We can only hope that “Looking For: Random Play” will make a resurgence in 2013.
    But enough about search ramifications and local business: let’s talk about how this is Facebook going back to its roots as a people engine. I’m of the generation that started using the ‘book when it required a .edu email address, producing a 25-and-under wonderland of a location-based dating site (or hookup machine, if that’s what you’re into). These days, it’s positively weird to get a message or request from a stranger who saw your profile and wants to get all up ons. However, with Graph, the networking potential is enormous — I’ll be surprised if the increased access to data doesn’t lead to a massive uptick in communication specifically via Facebook, or at least reduces the stigma of having an inquiry slotted into the dreaded “Other” box.

    Facebook Graph is the company’s first “beta” product, with a waitlist that will slowly open to English-speaking users first, then other languages. It’s tough to offer a value judgment on something so new, but personally, I’m optimistic. Graph’s potential is enormous to users (who doesn’t love getting personal recommendations without the effort of actually making a phone call?), businesses (who stand to gain a lot of notoriety if they play their social media cards right) and marketers (who have access to a veritable treasure trove of incredibly specific demographic targeting data) alike.

    Of course, Graph will be most valuable to those who are fully immersed in the service and have friends who do the same — but with Facebook’s 800 million-strong base and the heavy-engagement nature of the service, that’s a hell of a sample size. It’s a smart move for Facebook as a company and a potentially incredible tool for its users. Keep your eyes on this space for further reports as details roll out!

  • Reaching Your Customers With Social Media: Monopoly Tokens Put To Facebook Vote

    Pass Go and Collect $200 — Monopoly is as good as it gets when talking about childhood board games, and I’ve played them all. Board games are an integral part of life in my family, and now a piece of that memory is being put to the social media test.

    Growing up with three brothers turns everything into a competition. The biggest battle in Monopoly wasn’t who would win: it was which piece you got to play as. And let’s be real, with four young boys playing a board game, we never actually finished a match. Either the board got flipped or the power came back on before we finished. The boot, the dog, the top hat, the battleship: each had their own mystique and appeal. The real battle, the important battle, was which token you could barter, beg, or arm-wrestle for. Well, that could all change — and relatively soon for a game that hasn’t changed much in 75 years.

    Monopoly has announced that they will be switching out one of the game tokens for a replacement that’s “that’s more representative of today’s Monopoly players,” according to Eric Nyman, senior vice president for Hasbro Gaming.

    Everyone now has a chance to vote to save their favorite token, and you can even vote to select the next Monopoly piece. For a game that is available in 111 countries and 43 languages, it makes sense to do the voting where everyone already is: Facebook.

    Here, Hasbro is providing an excellent example of using social media to engage their wide base of fans and make them part of the creative process. Additionally, it’s a revitalized presence for the Depression-era property in a new fast-paced media landscape. Board games have suffered a significant drop in sales in recent years as consumers turn to their smartphones and tablets for entertainment, and this vote is tailor-made to draw customers’ attention and keep it. There are two factors at work here: the instinctual impulse to defend your favorite piece, and the lingering psychological effect of the positive action, leading to increased brand awareness. Nearly everyone has fond memories of the game and its iconic pieces, and this is an excellent way to put the “outrage machine” of the Internet to work and churn up public interest to boot (if you’ll pardon the pun) in the game. Bravo to Hasbro!

    So which piece will you be throwing your efforts behind? I wouldn’t want to sway your vote, but I would hate to see the battleship go… and I have to admit, that robot looks pretty sweet.

    So go vote! Save your token! As Hasbro says, “don’t leave this one to Chance.”

  • Read This! January 2013

    Every month, Search Influence brings you an array of directly applicable DIY solutions to help you compete online with our Read This! feature. See something that we missed? Let us know in the comments!

    Five Steps To Successfully Navigate Negative Online Reviews — Search Engine Land

    Has your business recently been victim of a negative review on a social platform such as Yelp? Don’t take legal action just yet: check out this article from Search Engine Land’s Neg Norton on the best ways to assess and address a bad review, merited or not.

    Hot #Instagram Analytic Tools to Optimize Brand PR Power — Search Engine Watch

    Is your brand on Instagram yet? If not, now’s the time to hop on. The image sharing service has announced the addition of new analytics tools from Nitrogram that allow you to know who’s looking at your content, what sources your traffic is coming from, and where to focus your efforts next.

    What is Evergreen Content and Why Should You Care? — Search Engine Journal

    We all know that keeping your blog updated with is the best strategy for promoting yourself as a thought leader and keeping your site fresh, but there’s a difference between breaking news and something that will stay relevant to your readers even as what’s en vogue changes. Check out this SEJ article on crafting timeless content to engage readers and capitalize on your blog long after the initial post date.

    3 Tips For Effectively Growing & Managing Your Online Community — TopRank

    Your online community is a vital part of conducting business and engaging with fans, but how to attract a committed group of individuals? TopRank’s Ashley Zeckman has some tips.

    SEO 101: How Your Website’s Structure Affects its SEO — Search Engine Journal

    If your website is a DIY project, this is where to turn. SEJ’s Sujan Patel takes us through the basics of making your site search engine friendly with plenty of beginner-friendly wisdom, including fluid site navigation, the importance of internal linking, and correct URL structure. Even professionals will find something worthwhile in here!

  • 5 for Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

    • How To Blog Successfully About Anything — SEOMoz

    Blogging is one of the key aspects of keeping your site fresh and your knowledge cutting-edge, but even the most experienced blogger occasionally has the well run dry. As a corollary to his recent Mozinar, Blogging Like You Mean It, Tanner Christensen takes us through the steps to approaching topics you may find uninteresting or distasteful and spinning them into a sparkling post that’s sure to wow your audience.

    • Cover Your Backside in Social Media — Search Engine Journal

    For both personal and professional accounts, it’s best to keep it squeaky clean and avoid a whiff of bad mojo that may lose you followers or taint your brand. Many companies are taking liberties with their connections, and the results can be dangerous, losing you money on ads or even costing you a personal account for being overly promotional. Read up on what Andy Nathan has to say over at SEJ.

    • Hey, marketers: What if there was no Google? — Search Engine Guide

    It’s an exhilarating prospect: a world in which Google isn’t the end-all, be-all of online marketing efforts. In the absence of the search giant, how would we promote our content and services? This interesting thought experiment may yield a few tips you haven’t thought of.

    • Infographic: Who Is Using Google+? — Social Times

    While its user base is just half that of Facebook, Google+ still has a surprisingly diverse and interesting set of characters to follow. With new features such as Youtube playlists and integrated pan-and-zoom photo capabilities, it’s also becoming quite the media powerhouse. Will you be joining in?

    • Google Local Video Listing Spotted in the Wild — Blumenthals.com

    If you’re a small business owner, listen up! It seems that Google+ Local is integrating video into their listings: come check out this initial analysis and exciting glimpse into what could be next.

  • Stop Ignoring Your Leads: Best Practices For Capitalizing On Opportunities You May Not Even Know You Have

    Internet inquiries are often the bread and butter to capturing new leads for several clients. These inquiries can come from phone calls or web forms on the site, and they are a way to generate new business. By converting these leads into real customers, each company can gain new customers as the site becomes more visible on the Internet. How does one convert a lead into a real customer? How quickly should the company respond to web forms? After reading through several articles and working with several different clients, I’ve gathered a list of best practices on how to respond to leads.

    According to an Inside Sales report, most companies in their research took an average of 44 hours to respond and at least 55% of these companies did not respond at all. The longer it takes a person in the office to contact the lead, the greater the loss in attention span for these potential customers. Harvard Business Review even reported a lack of urgency in lack in response time by several firms.

    Here are the best ways to convert leads:

    • Best Days to Make Contact
      • Wednesday
      • Thursday (preferred day)
    • Best times to make contact
      • Best time to call: 4-5 pm
      • 2nd best time to call: 8 – 9 am
    • Response Time
      • Best within 5 minutes (10x decrease after first 5 minutes)
      • Autoresponders for web forms are good if it’s tailored and personalized
    • Persistence
      • Calling back once is not enough. People may not be able to answer the phone immediately.
      • Making at least 6 call attempts (90% chance of converting) since reps give up too soon

    When a customer contacts you via internet form or call, the customer is already interested in you — so seize that opportunity! A lead can turn cold fast if a company does not make the effort to contact the customer back immediately.

    In addition to looking at keyword rankings and traffic, form leads and calls are one of the ways we show our value to a client. These leads provide true ROI to our clients and can demonstrate some of our efforts. Once we send these leads to our clients, it is in their hands to convert them into real patients and customers. Is your staff taking the initiative to following up with a customer within 24 hours? Within the hour? You may be losing out on leads.

  • 12 Worst Social Media Mistakes of 2012 (And How to Avoid Them)

    2012 was truly a year of phenomenal social campaigns by many national companies. However, with the good came plenty of bad. Here are some of the year’s worst campaigns, and how you can avoid these gaffes in your own businesses’ online marketing.

    Screen Shot 2012-12-27 at 12.12.27 PM 12. Kansas City Chiefs
    A disappointed fan tweeted at the Kansas City Chiefs in September, calling the owner greedy and unethical. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, the fan took a screenshot of the offensive direct message he received back and posted the message to Reddit, where it went viral within hours.

    The main takeaway from this blunder? The customer (or fan) is always right, and you are never speaking for yourself when representing a brand on social media.

    Screen Shot 2012-12-27 at 12.25.05 PM

    11. Progressive Auto Insurance
    The auto insurance company faced a huge Twitter backlash this year after a popular blogger released a post titled “My Sister Paid Progressive Insurance to Defend Her Killer in Court”. Instead of responding to their detractors, the company replied to every tweet with the same robotic response. This, of course, attracted even more negative attention on the social media network.

    Our lesson: if you’re going to respond to negative comments or tweets, take the time to personalize the replies.

    10. Southwest Airlines
    Southwest accidentally overcharged thousands of customers in August. While they acknowledged that their site had experienced some “technical difficulties,” they failed to note that many customers were going to have multiple charges on their credit card statement. Angry patrons took to their Facebook page, where many left displeased comments after being unable to get through to the company via phone. Southwest did not address any of these complaints, and then updated their brand cover photo, which many viewed as insensitive in the midst of an unanswered crisis.

    Be proactive: You should remove any regularly “scheduled” posts during a crisis — angry consumers don’t want to see that you have time to update your status when you haven’t fixed their problem.

    Screen Shot 2012-12-27 at 12.06.52 PM9. American Apparel
    Although they weren’t the only brand to send insensitive messages in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, they are the only one who failed to apologize for their hurricane puns. They sent out a nationwide sale email that included the phrase, “In case you’re bored during the storm,” and was only available in affected states.

    What more can we say? It’s never a good idea to make light of a national disaster in order to move product.

    8. Chick-Fil-A
    The chicken company came under fire in early 2012 for its anti-gay campaign donations. Protesters took to their Facebook page, where thousands left angry comments and disappointed messages for the company. Instead of responding to the comments with their brand page, they allegedly created a fake Facebook account to comment on each attacker’s post. This technique was outed pretty quickly, and viewed with scorn by many.

    How can you avoid this? Don’t make fake profiles! It is far too easy to be tempted by this scheme in today’s digital society, but it is generally quite easy to spot a fake Facebook account.

    Screen Shot 2012-12-27 at 12.15.43 PM 7. KitchenAid
    A common theme in Twitter gaffes this year involved accidental tweets. KitchenAid profusely apologized for its tweet making light of President Obama’s grandmother’s death, but the damage was done. A better question is why anyone would hire someone to manage their brand’s online identity who abbreviates the word “before”.

    Learn from their mistakes:  Keep politics off your company’s account, and make sure you are hiring competent, careful employees to manage your social media channels.

    6. National Rifle Association
    The NRA’s social media strategy seems to have been updated to going dark recently, but earlier this year they faced plenty of criticism. The gun advocates tweeted “Morning Shooters – Happy Friday! Weekend plans?” the morning after the Aurora, CO theater shooting. The tweet drew tons of ire from the press, and may have lead to their silence following the Newtown, CT shooting earlier this month.

    Protect yourself from controversy: Make sure your social media team is aware of national happenings and in touch with local news.

    5. Hitman’s Disastrous Foray Into Social Gaming
    Square Enix’s hyper-violent, edgy Hitman game series has been a huge money-maker for the gaming giant, but their attempts at capitalizing on Facebook gaming proved to be a complete failure on every level of content QA. The Hitman social media game included a variety of motivations for placing a “virtual hit” on your friend, with crass and juvenile reasons such as “her muffin top,” “her small tits,” or “his tiny penis.” Apparently blasting your friend in the face with a sniper rifle just isn’t enough of an insult.

    Our (obvious) takeaway? Including blatant misogyny and insulting content in your endeavors doesn’t make you look “edgy” — it just makes you look like a jerk.

    Screen Shot 2012-12-27 at 10.12.38 AM 4. Olympic Games
    The Olympic committee applied Rule 40 to every aspect of athlete’s lives this year, including Twitter. Athletes stirred up a huge controversy on the social networking site using the hashtag #WeDemandChange2012 over their right to represent brands during the Olympic Games. They argued that they received no compensation for participating in the games, while the organizers got rich off official endorsements. It raised great debate about censorship, and athletes’ right to use social media as they pleased.

    Learn from the Olympics: it’s impossible to censor your opponents on social media channels.

    Screen Shot 2012-12-27 at 10.30.58 AM3. Toyota Camry
    The car giant kicked off the year with a Super Bowl campaign intended to get users to tweet with the hashtag #camryeffect. Unfortunately, their campaign centered around sending spammy tweets back at anyone who used the hashtag, encouraging them to enter a contest to win a free Camry. Their accounts eventually got suspended by Twitter, which drew even more attention since they had already been verified on the social network.

    Our lesson? Even legitimate contests can easily look like spam and offend users. Don’t use organic interaction on your channels as a way to push sales.

    2. Celeb Boutique
    The online clothing retailer tweeted a promotional bit this year using the hashtag #Aurora, which they mistakenly thought had to do with their clothing line. Unfortunately for them, it instead referred to the tragic shooting in a Colorado theater.

    Don’t tweet blindly: This could’ve been easily avoided if their team had simply researched the hashtag before using it.

    Screen Shot 2012-12-27 at 12.42.24 PM 1. McDonald’s
    This year’s worst social media campaign came from the fast food giant, whose #McDStories hashtag was described by Forbes as being a “bashtag”. The twitterverse jumped at the chance to use the branded hashtag, but not to promote the company, but rather to ridicule its food and company principles. Tweets such as “Dude, I used to work at McDonald’s. The #McDStories I could tell would raise your hair” were everywhere on the social media network, and the hashtag is still being used negatively almost a year later.

    Know your brand’s reputation: Encouraging consumers to share stories involving a company that already gets a lot of negative press is probably not the best idea. Stick with campaigns that inspire positive interaction, rather than open-ended tweet requests.

    There you have it, the 12 worst social media gaffes of 2012. Fortunately, there are ways to bounce back even after the worst mistakes. See any that we missed? Let us know in the comments!