I Do (Love Social Media)! November 12, 2010

One of my best friends from high school just recently got engaged and I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of her bridesmaids! Today I ran across an article on Mashable’s site called, “HOW TO: Tastefully Use Social Media at Your Wedding.”

The first thing I thought was, “How in the world can using social media at a wedding be tasteful?”

Texting Bride courtesy of Google Images

I think on my big day, or at least I hope, I will be able to put down my phone and put away my computer and enjoy my friends and family. However, this article had some great advice on how using social media can engage your friends and family and help you capture some really great moments on your big day.

Many of the experts suggest opening a virtual area online for your guests to meet before the reception to cut back on any possibility of awkwardness. Mashable interviewed Azure Nelson of OneWed and he suggested using a social network such as OneWed’s Wedding Pre-Party. This site allows your guests to see who else is invited and interact and post comments to the wall. You can also upload photos from pre-wedding parties and post-wedding parties.

The Groom’s Wedding Blog from TheManRegistry.com spoke to other experts on this same topic. They also spoke to OneWeb on Twitter and they said that opening a site like this could help prevent upsetting those who weren’t invited.

Oh Yes I Do suggests that using Twitter and Facebook to bookmark milestones, like finding your dress, cake or bridesmaid dresses, is a great way to let others know where you’re at in the process.

One suggestion I really loved on the Mashable article was dumping the traditional disposable cameras and creating a Flickr account instead. This will allow guests to upload photos immediately to the account. They suggest streaming it live to a projector so everyone can see what other guests are doing during the reception.

The other suggestion I loved from the article was streaming parts of the day live to a close relative that can’t make it (be as inconspicuous as possible with the camera). Recording the reception and allowing them to video message you a toast is a great way for relatives out of the state (or country in some cases) to still be a part of your big day.

No Social Media courtesy of Google Images

No matter what sort of social media fun you get into at your wedding always remember. KEEP IT OFFLINE DURING THE CEREMONY. Ask guests to stay off of phones during the ceremony. This is a very private special moment that should not be tweeted, updated, liked, bookmarked, tagged, etc. Some may disagree with me like this couple:

Call me old fashioned but I would be way more concerned about actually tying the knot than tweeting to my “friends” online about tying the knot.

What do you think of incorporating social media into your big day? Do you only tweet before the ceremony, after the ceremony, on the honeymoon? What sort of updates would you make as your big day approaches?

Finding Shelter from Social Media Fire November 2, 2010

Recently, I read that PETA has set its always-watching eyes on Coach. They are trying to get supporters to blast Coach’s social media sites with what some believe to be over the top, graphic images in order to get Coach to stop selling fur items. Caroline McCarthy of CNET News goes into more detail on the feud in her article, “Anti-fur activists flood Coach Facebook page.”

Coach Logo courtesy of Google

The images that were blasted on the famous leather goods company’s Facebook were of caged and skinned animals. Fans of the site were appalled by the graphic images. Coach began taking the images down and had to disable any image posting on the page. Fans, who wanted to share their new Coach purchases, were very disappointed.

McCarthy compared the Coach/PETA feud to the Greenpeace/Nestle feud that took place earlier this year. Greenpeace began using similar tactics on Nestlé’s social media sites to convince them to stop gathering palm oil in rainforest ecosystems. Nestle, much like Coach, began removing these posts from its Facebook page; this tactic backfired for Nestle after doctored photos of the company’s logo caused the page administrator to lash out against activists. Greenpeace ended out coming out on top in that feud but it doesn’t look like PETA will be quite as lucky.

Doctored Nestle Logo

So what do you do if your company, product, organization, etc. ends up under fire on its social media sites? If you take too much down, you look like your censoring or hiding something and if you leave too much up it could upset current fans or do serious damage to your image.

Sarah Palin’s Facebook page for example, is rigorously patrolled by what one would assume to be a very diligent team of individuals. John Dickerson of Slate talks in depth about the sort of content that is taken down from the fanpage. They found that about 10 percent of posts to her Facebook fanpage were deleted after 24 hours of going live online.

Instead of going censor crazy, Jeremiah Owyang explains that companies should plan ahead for these sorts of issues. Owyang supplied a list of key take-aways from the Nestle debacle. He explains that every company will have critics but with social media, it’s easier now more than ever for critics to merge to plan a strategic attack against a company. He suggests that in order to prepare for a social media attack, have a plan ahead of time and make sure that an experienced communicator is managing during a social media crisis.

I think that Coach has done the right thing, for now, in disabling photos to protect fans and allowing comments only from activists to continue on its fanpage. However, keeping quiet and hoping for the best is not going to keep the masses at bay. I’m hoping that Coach’s public relations team is planning a way to speak out against the accusations in a strategic fashion.

*EDIT: Today, our PR Online Tactics class Skyped with Chuck Hemann of WCG and he made an excellent point on responding to negativity in social media. “When you get a negative comment you want to take it offline,” Hemann said. By offline he means send them a direct message away from the Facebook or Twitter comment feed. You want to address negativity in social media directly with the person having the issue. This could explain why we haven’t seen any public outreach from Coach on its social media sites.

Do you think that Coach is handling this situation well? Does keeping quiet make Coach look guilty, or admirable for taking the high road? Do you think that companies should expect controversy on social media sites?