Top 5 Social Media Wins And Fails Of 2013

So, Christmas is over. You’re still stuffing your face, being generally lazy and making the most of your time off. With that in mind, I decided to write something of a lighthearted blog for the festive period, something you can read while delving into an almost-empty box of Quality Street.

Here I look back at the biggest social media wins and fails of 2013. From a badly timed Q&A to a Twitter account with more attitude than Miley Cyrus on a wrecking bauble, there’s certainly some crackers in here.

Without further ado, here they are:

5) WIN: Nokia’s iPhone 5C Twitter Taunt

In a stroke of genius, Nokia’s social media manager made the most of a rival’s trending topic on Twitter in hilarious fashion.

Following the announcement that Apple would be launching a new “low cost” iPhone 5C in a selection of bright colors, Nokia UK took to the social networking site to mock the obvious similarity to their own Lumia range. They hijacked #Apple with a simple tweet: “Thanks, #Apple ;)”, but it was the accompanying image that really set tongues wagging.

It was a photo of their Lumia phone range in suspiciously similar colors to Apple’s newest venture with the heading “Imitation is the best form of flattery”. Clever!

4) FAIL: Kellogg’s Charitable Tweet Gone Wrong

Cereal manufacturer Kellogg’s landed themselves in hot water with a Twitter fail of epic proportion. In a distasteful attempt at mixing charity with social media marketing, the company sent out a tweet saying “1 RT = 1 breakfast for a vulnerable child” as part of its Give a Child a Breakfast campaign.

This didn’t go down well at all and Kellogg’s faced a huge backlash over the tweet with many users accusing them of using vulnerable children as bait for more RTs and publicity.

Lesson to be learned: Don’t use charitable work as a way to gain publicity.

3) WIN: Oreo’s Superbowl Super-genius

As the power went out during this year’s Superbowl, everyone went into a mild panic, but the social media manager at Oreo jumped on the opportunity and posted an image with the simple caption “You can still dunk in the dark”.

The tweet was arguably more successful than Oreo’s actual television ad during the Superbowl – as it has gained, to date, 15,871 retweets and 6,382 favorites. Reactive marketing at its best.

2) FAIL: British Gas’s Ill-timed Twitter Chat

What do you do when your company announces a 9.2% price hike in energy bills just as the winter nights draw in? Why, invite the entire country to bombard you with questions and abuse during a dedicated hour on Twitter of course!

In case you hadn’t noticed, that’s sarcasm. But it’s exactly what British Gas did in October. Fearing a backlash over the price increase, they decided the best course of action would be to host a sensible, friendly #AskBG Twitter chat giving customers the chance to ask questions about the changes. Unfortunately, they didn’t anticipate how angry their customers would be and the brilliant, but scathing responses that would ensue.

Oh, and they’re still advertising for a Social Media Manager two months later, what a surprise.

1) WIN: Tesco Mobile – what a diva!

My favourite Twitter account of 2013, without a doubt, is @TescoMobile. If you’re not familiar with it, you might find this inclusion slightly bizarre, but its strong personality and humour shines through in every tweet.

Tesco Mobile has a great ability to “troll the trolls”, giving as good as it gets to people who dare treat the mobile network as a joke.

The amount of engagement with followers is fantastic too, giving the brand maximum exposure as it replies to huge amounts of tweets every day. And who can forget this uber-conversation involving Tesco Mobile, Jaffa Cakes and Yorkshire Tea:

So there you go, the Top 5 Social Media Wins and Fails of 2013. I know I missed some out – but I couldn’t include them all! Are there any you think should have been in the Top 5 that I’ve missed out?

Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @BubbleJobs! :)

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/social-media/top-5-social-media-wins-fails-2013-0725670?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=top-5-social-media-wins-fails-2013