In light of recent NYPD #FAIL twitter campaign I've decided to highlight couple of important how-tos about Social Media marketing, Twitter specifically.

First, to recap the actual story of the NYPD's not-so-genius or thought-out marketing efforts: In attempts to connect with their fellow citizens and further promote the efforts and popularity of New York's finest, on Tuesday, the department initiated a Twitter social media campaign asking users to post photos with officers around the city, tagged with #myNYPD. Despite their actual intentions of gaining a positive outcome, the campaign completely backfired and turned into a public backlash on police brutality and misconduct. In fact, it became so popular that users quickly organized other #my__PD campaigns in other cities.

To analyze the situation, for the non-millennials, the concept of social media marketing might be uncharted territory, and millennials themselves might be too naïve or inexperienced to foresee the possible outcome. But, regardless of the reason for the failure, social media marketing, just like any other marketing efforts, requires some foresight and analysis.

In hopes of not following in the footsteps of the NYPD, here are few things to consider before organizing a social media campaign.

  • Before launching any efforts, run a Possible Negative Outcome Analysis (PNOA) on your idea.
  • Determine your desired target audience and compare that audience to your selected social media channel.
  • Based on the selected social media channel, run an analysis on the types of tweets or posts the channel has experienced in the past.
  • Consider, based on your industry, if information flow should be censored or at least reviewed before going public.

Marketers should realize that the average individual is 10 times more likely to say something negative about any issue then to communicate something positive. Consider that Twitter has 58 million daily tweets, with the average user falling between the ages of 18-34 and 1 in every 13 tweets containing a curse word. Marketers should think about whether or not providing a fast, non-censored common channel for communication will actually benefit you in a long run or not.

I would imagine that on average, despite the actual reasons, no one is happy when having to deal with a police department or an individual officer. Considering this, it's probably much safer to limit marketing efforts to channels that limit negative press. That is, unless you're actually willing to crack down on the issues of police brutality and misconduct once they are brought up by the public.

Photo credit: @TheRealKeori

  • Mobile Market Share 2014

  • Google Analytics Makes New Changes