{"id":41277,"date":"2023-10-20T15:12:52","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/does-your-startup-have-a-social-media-bible-if-not-this-might-convince-you-to-get-one-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:12:52","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:12:52","slug":"does-your-startup-have-a-social-media-bible-if-not-this-might-convince-you-to-get-one-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/does-your-startup-have-a-social-media-bible-if-not-this-might-convince-you-to-get-one-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Does your startup have a social media bible? If not, this might convince you to get one – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

A social media team member at British Gas has gained unwanted attention overnight after an awkward tweet that mentioned the one year anniversary of the death of David Bowie.<\/p>\n

An employee known as Paul signed on for his shift answering customer queries about gas services on Tuesday, but before he let punters know about the service\u2019s opening hours, he took a second to reminisce about the departed British icon.<\/p>\n

\u201cMorning all. A year today we lost a pop icon David Bowie, time flys [sic] don\u2019t [sic] it?\u201d he tweeted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here till 10pm if you need anything. Thanks, Paul.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Morning all. A year today we lost a pop icon David Bowie, time flys don’t it? We’re here till 10pm if you need anything. Thanks, Paul #RipDB<\/p>\n

\u2014 British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) January 10, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Customers immediately expressed confusion at the tweet, with some replying directly to it saying they just wanted to know how to change gas meters.<\/p>\n

Others were less than impressed by the reference to the star\u2019s death in a customer service tweet, with several asking Paul to correct his grammar and stop being insensitive.<\/p>\n

\n

@BritishGasHelp A really brazen attempt to hijack a Hashtag that has nothing to do with your business. Paul – you should be ashamed<\/p>\n

\u2014 GrumpyMcGrumpface (@grumpyoldchris) January 10, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

@BritishGasHelp how easy it is to change from meters?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Katie Weston (@klouweston) January 10, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

@BritishGasHelp Bad taste, bad grammar and bad spelling. Very unprofessional from @BritishGas<\/p>\n

\u2014 michelle Benato (@michellebenato) January 10, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Over the following hours a cast of staff members from the gas company jumped in to defend Paul, highlighting that he didn\u2019t intend to be insensitive and simply wanted to pay tribute \u201cto a master songwriter\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul is a good guy and meant no harm,\u201d said customer service representative Georgie.<\/p>\n

\n

Hey, David Bowie meant so much to me. I didn’t mean to offend anyone & I only wanted to pay tribute to a master songwriter & true icon ^Paul<\/p>\n

\u2014 British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) January 10, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, with the British media picking up on the Twitter faux pas, these staff members have been telling customers it\u2019s turned into a busy 12 hours for the gas company\u2019s communications team.<\/p>\n

Paul signed off his shift this morning in what appeared to be high spirits, complete with an Anchorman meme, as customers started to find amusement in how the team dealt with the fallout.<\/p>\n

\n

@BritishGasHelp night Paul xoxoxo<\/p>\n

\u2014 Brojan Reid (@hulkbrogan) January 10, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAll the best, Paul mate,\u201d one Twitter user said.<\/p>\n

Keep a social media bible<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for businesses to be caught out by inappropriate social media moves at this time of year, says social media expert Catriona Pollard.<\/p>\n

But the key is to keep sensitive topics and customer care separate, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue is what people will read into that is that the brand is taking advantage of something negative that happened to somebody else,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile you can talk about popular culture and things that people are interested in, you have to understand the context of it. A death a year ago does not relate to customer service.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Pollard believes it\u2019s an organisation\u2019s responsibility to help protect their staff members by making crystal clear guidelines for social media content, especially if many people operate one account.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need a really, really, really robust social media bible,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things in there would be don\u2019t mix flippant commentary with customer service or something that is a positive brand outline. It\u2019s really critical \u2013 it\u2019s a no brainer really.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on SmartCompany.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and iTunes. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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