One of the Fastest Ways to Destroy Your Brand on Social Media

In a modern day, social media grants us the ability to expand our reach, increase our brand awareness, and ultimately reach our business goals (when used correctly). Social media can obviously do so much more for us, but at the end of the day each and every business owner wants one common thing – for their social media fans to turn into real live customers. In a perfect world, every brand would excel online and social media would help everyone shift into this new way of business. In a real world, things tend to work a bit differently. Last week we talked about brands who are definitely steering in the path of online success. This week, I want to shine light on brands that are doing just the exact opposite.

It can take a long time creating and establishing your brand on social media, especially as a small business owner. To destroy it? It can happen over night.

Let me start by saying that abusing the power of social media can backfire in a way that you wouldn’t even begin to comprehend. If you don’t believe it, why don’t you ask the owners of Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro from Scottsdale, Arizona. Chances are you won’t find them interacting any more on Facebook (It’s an empty page now), or any social media platform for that matter. Some say that is with good reason, others want them back just for the entertainment.

Backstory

Amy’s Baking Company is the 16th episode of the six season of (wait for it..)

That’s right, Gordon Ramsay’s legendary show Kitchen Nightmares. The episode alone is worth watching for the reason that the audience saw Gordon do something no one saw coming. For the first time in the show, Chef Ramsay walked out of the restaurant with no intentions of coming back. The problem wasn’t even the fact that Amy was rude, or that Samy was known for lashing at his customers. It was the simple fact that Gordon could not help those who didn’t listen. What came next, was what Forbes would call a poster example of how NOT to react to negative comments as a business on social media.

Epic Meltdown

When news spreads around like wildfire, leave it to the internet to have their say in it too. As a business, it’s imperative to never take anything personal, for if you do, things can get out of control…FAST. Samy and Amy obviously missed that memo.

Keep in mind anything you take into social media is now contested territory.

Keep in mind you represent your business and all caps never HELPS THE SITUATION!!

As it turns out, they were found to be taking some shortcuts, and they addressed that too.

Never, ever, challenge social media or the internet itself. Neither you nor your business will win.

Their page received so much negative attention that any other business would have (and should have) just stopped responding. Samy and Amy on the other hand drove their brand right into the ground all night using inappropriate and obscene language. Long story short, it came to this.

Just kidding, they kept going. In fact, for a slight second there they even thought they could control the situation at that point by forbidding people to talk about them on social media or anywhere else on the web. Unfortunately for Samy and Amy, things don’t work that way around here (or anywhere for that matter).

When you want your business to excel, social media can be a great tool to help you accomplish that. But when you start to abuse it and think you have any control of it, it can backfire so quickly that you won’t have time to stop it from going viral. This is why social media management is important in business. There’s no going back once the damage has been done. Not even if you realize the fatal mistake you just made the morning after. As for Samy and Amy, blaming hackers would not repair the massive damage they brought upon their brand.

This is such an amazing case study because here is a company with an unbelievable opportunity, both online and off, and they have managed to mess it all up. The good that has come from this, is that we can now teach people what not to do on social media.