What NOT to do on Twitter

"Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at..."

Believe it or not, this is what Kenneth Cole, a U.S. based international clothing company, tweeted to promote their spring line. They took a serious situation occurring in Egypt and tried to use it to their advantage. As a result and rightfully so, they began receiving several messages from upset Internet users. Kenneth Cole, the man himself, who actually sent the tweet, apologized on Facebook.

Cole probably didn't understand the impact of social media on consumers and the power of just one tweet. One tweet can reach thousands of people, and adding a hashtag in front of a popular topic allows the tweet to be seen by even more. When he first got the idea to tweet this, it should have been a no-brainer that this would offend people.

There is a rumor that this was all "planned," touching on the saying "All publicity is good publicity." While this may or may not be the case, it was wrong to do. But I can't say that it won't end up working in his favor after all is said and done. Sad as that may seem, he could apologize to the right people, and ultimately win some people over, gaining recognition for his brand. This is where public relations takes over.

Success vs. Failure in Social Media Campaigns

Disney and Pixar succeeded in its social media campaign to promote Toy Story 3. Releasing viral videos including fake, vintage-style ads featuring the new characters sparked interest in children as well as parents, who could "reminisce about their own childhood toys; a sentiment entirely in line with the Toy Story brand," explains Mashable blogger, Zachary Sniderman in his article, "5 Winning Social Media Campaigns to Learn From." They also ran an iAd on the iPhone 4 and created a Facebook page complete with a built-in ticket-buying app. This app gave ticket buyers the option to share with friends that they had purchased tickets, promoting the campaign's idea that "no friend gets left behind," which is a play on the movie's tagline, "No Toy Gets Left Behind."

This campaign was successful due to its involvement of both children and their parents. It created excitement for both groups, and something for the two to share with each other. In addition, the brand was maintained throughout the campaign by basing the entire idea around the movie's tagline.

A not-so-successful social media campaign that comes to mind is the Celebrity "Digital Death" campaign put on by Alicia Keys to raise money for her charity. She gathered a group of celebs including Usher, Lady Gaga, Ryan Seacrest, Kim Kardashian, Justin Timberlake and more to go quiet or "die" on Twitter and Facebook, until $1 million was raised. Photos were posted of the celebs in caskets to promote the campaign. While Keys saw some results, the campaign was moving a lot slower than she had expected. The campaign was saved when a billionaire donated $500,000 to the cause. One article said of the campaign, ""It's the worst mismanagement of star power I've ever seen in my life." The motivation just wasn't strong enough. Having the stars online or not is not THAT big of a deal to people, thus the campaign didn't get as much recognition and word-of-mouth promotion as Keys wanted.

This Is Our Future People! - How Social Media Affects Your Future Career

One of my absolute biggest pet peeves is stumbling across photos on Facebook of someone with a beer in their hand partying it up or finding some other way of posing for the camera inappropriately. Even with Twitter, students will post vulgar comments that they would never say in front of a potential employer. Many students cannot seem to grasp that employers are using our favorite social media sites to check out our backgrounds. Everything posted on the Internet can and will be seen by several people. I've talked to a couple of my friends who don't seem to understand the importance of keeping their social network profiles "work appropriate" and believe it or not, they're not concerned. I suppose they think they'll just delete things once they graduate and are looking for employment. What they don't realize is that once something is posted to the Internet, there is always a way of finding it, even after it has been deleted.

BUT, social media can be used to our advantage. Like Dan Schawbel explains in his article, "How To: Leverage Social Media for Career Success," our online identity through blogs and social networks is how people discover and connect with us (http://on.mash.to/mCwkn). This includes employers. If used correctly, social media can establish a personal brand that can easily be recognized by others. Facebook, Twitter, and other sites should be used as promotion tools - and free promotion at that! The Internet gives us a chance to market ourselves and allow employers to discover us. It all comes down to how you want to represent yourself online, because it could potentially make or break your future career.

Social Media: Fad or Fixed?

Before I say this, I want to make sure I have your complete, undivided attention (insert pause to clear mind). Okay, here goes...SOCIAL MEDIA IS HERE TO STAY. Whoever said it was just a fad obviously does not understand the direction human communication is taking. We, college students, basically use texting and Facebook as our primary means of communication, with an ocassional phone call or e-mail here and there. Studies have even shown that we are likely to experience withdrawal symptoms and anxiety from lack of social media. One study, done at the University of Maryland, challenged 200 students to abstain from social media for only 24 hours. After this time frame, students admitted to their addiction and spoke of the negative feelings that spawned out of being separated from their online social presence (http://wapo.st/bmNt7a).

Just last year, I watched a video in class called "Social Media Revolution." In this video, several stats were thrown at me about social media, but the one that stuck with me was that if Facebook were a country, it would be the seventh largest country in the world. Recently, I watched the updated version of this video (proof that social media is constanly changing), and the statistic now claims Facebook would be the third largest country. Point blank: if this many people are engaging themselves in social networks and the number just keeps growing, how can social media possibly be just a fad?