Habitat twits: how not to use Twitter
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009It never fails to surprise when a big concern like Habitat makes a mess of their social media.
Well maybe a story like this probably was bound to happen at some point soon – somehow some big corporates don’t have a feel for it - but I am still shocked at how blatantly deceptive and poorly thought out this was.
The thing about social media is that is gives the small guy a voice. And many users see themselves as social media Robin Hoods: you cannot throw your corporate weight around or throw a big budget to get a result – you play by the same rules as everyone else.
Really, social media follows many of the same etiquette as face to face networking and other human interactions, so common sense, manners and a bit of thinking come in handy. Three simple rules to start:
No hard sales – nothing turns people off you as being sold to, especially if they did not ask to be the centre of a sales talk
Be honest – try to fool people on social media sites and you set yourself up for a backlash
Listen and contribute as much as you speak and take, if not more – giver’s gain
Habitat say they are “sorry” and that this particular use of hash tags was “absolutely not authorised.“ Good so far, but as Habitat declined to name those responsible – in-house or agency – means that this will go on for a little longer than necessary.
Let’s be honest though, how many people enjoy something as big as Habitat messing up?
