03/12/2014

Bad Steers, Bad.

Oh my word. Steers is so awful. Steers didn't want to help the firemen. Steers are the devil. We should go and boycott Steers because they suck so much. I hate Steers. #BRANDFAIL



Please.

It's time we reevaluated this whole #BrandFail business. Society has happily started swapping out brands and their content managers willy nilly.

Yes, that content manager has been hired to be the "voice" of the brand and it's their job to do it properly. But when it's convenient to cause an uproar, when it adds excitement to the days of those bored on Twitter, and when it gives us an "evil" to go and attack - we seem to forget that there is a person sitting there. A person who can make a mistake. Does Steers really hate the firemen? No. Obviously not, don't be flipping ridiculous. Does that content manager hate the firemen? Again, I'd say not. Did that content manager make a dumb mistake, oh yeah baby.

But let's be honest, their biggest mistake was the fact that they didn't spot it in time and delete it. Because how many of us have done that before?

I run plenty social media accounts and I like to think I am pretty good at my job. That said, the amount of times that the wrong account has tweeted about being hungover is astounding. I just catch it before anyone sees it. (Sorry bossmen, don't hate me).

Social Media is a dark and scary place. It's a place where real and imagined becomes blurred. It's a place where people hide behind their phones and computers demanding attention (and freebies, and money, and anything they can get their hands on) from whoever will give it. And it's the content managers who bear the brunt of it.

STOP MIXING UP BRANDS WITH THEIR POOR CONTENT MANAGERS. AND VICE VERSA, STOP MIXING UP CONTENT MANAGERS WITH THEIR POOR BRANDS.

Content managers don't deserve to be shouted at. They aren't the ones who effed up your order, messed up your phone signal, put a frog in your salad, or caused load-shedding.

And brands aren't the ones who tweet dumb things.

Get off that high Social Media horse, and let's be real.