ember studio

There are more than a few ways that social media marketing can go wrong for a company. Nikon found that out last year when they proclaimed on Facebook that a photographer is only as good as the equipment he/she uses. Something that professional photographers who spent years learning the craft and refining their skills obviously took issue with.

Today it’s McDonald’s that is feeling the burn of a social media effort that took a wrong turn. And although in this case there was really nothing wrong with the Twitter marketing effort they chose, this case should serve as an example of how efforts to change the image of a controversial product through social channels can spin out of control quickly.

McDonald’s launched a promotional Twitter hashtag campaign to promote their efforts to guarantee fresh produce in their products. They launched a series of tweets with the hashtag #MeetTheFarmers, and followed that up with a more general hashtag #McDStories prompting customers to tell their own stories of good experiences with McDonald’s food. As reported by the Daily Mail, Critics of the company and their food products grabbed the opportunity to use the more general hashtag to publicly tell their horror stories about the fast food chain, though, and within hours the campaign had turned ugly. Unhappy customers used the #McDStories hashtag to share stories about everything from a fingernail being found in a Big Mac to a food poisoning related hospitalization, and of course the common criticism about McDonald’s food being unhealthy.

I wouldn’t say that McDonald’s really did anything wrong, and from their perspective this was a great opportunity to open up a dialogue about their fresh produce and hopefully change some opinions about the quality of their food. THe lesson learned here should be that a company needs to be willing to acknowledge that their products are controversial and understand that in a global social environment there will be many detractors who will take advantage of the opportunity to share a negative experience. More so than for a company that deals in products that are not controversial. McDonald’s is trying to change their public image and show us that they are trying to improve the quality and nutritional value of their food. But short of shifting their menu entirely to salads and veggie wraps and fruit smoothies and abandoning the Big Mac, the company will always have to contend with a large audience of critics.

This isn’t to say that a fast food company can’t use social media at all, just that they need to tread lightly. Very specific, targeted, timely social media efforts can afford them more control over the topics being discussed, and potentially avoid another widespread hashtag hijacking.

Photo by Sandro Menzel.