WHY SOCIAL MEDIA & PR TEAMS NEED TO TALK

The relationship between PR and Social Media is strained at best, and tumultuous at worst, yet the two modalities should be working together in tandem, towards the same goal:

To effectively communicate with a brand’s ideal clients and customers.

Sadly, the reality is that in-house teams and external agencies tend to work against each other rather than with each other and it can cause the wheels to fall off publicly, which is never a good look.

Take fast-fashion retailer boohoo as a prime example.

Last week their social media team got it wrong. They attempted to weave humour into a news article that, quite frankly, has nothing to do with their business.

After the news broke that Manchester United had parted ways with Cristino Ronaldo, the retailer shared the news on Twitter but put their spin on it. Yet the words they chose to use have done way more damage than they could have anticipated.

I’m guessing that’s because the social media team thought they were on to some winning ‘bants’ that their audience would lap up and didn’t think about the impact their tweet would make.

The offending words?

“No need to watch the footie now girlies xxxxx’

As a consumer, I’m not boohoo’s target audience. At 39 years old I’m probably not in their desired age range, but on the flip side, boohoo isn’t a retailer that I’d buy from, for many different reasons.

As a business owner, their tweet makes no sense. It smacks of sexism and low-blow ‘bants’ that have no doubt caused more harm than good. Although, in reality, their target audience may have found it hilarious. It may be those of us who don’t agree with the morals of the brand that were outraged by the tweet.

Then of course you could argue that the tweet has created a media storm, with more people now talking about the brand, therefore increasing brand awareness. Yet the age-old adage that no publicity is bad publicity is as outdated as it is ridiculous.

Yes, more people will be talking about your brand, but not favourably. Therefore it will not be driving more traffic into your business, attracting a wider audience and increasing sales.

Has 'disruptive marketing' gone too far?

Since the inception of ‘disruptive marketing’, brands seem to think it’s ok to say what they want and behave how they want because it gets people talking about them, regardless of the impact and wider consequences.

Do I now think differently about boohoo? Am I now rushing out to buy their clothes because more people are talking about them? Hell no!

Going back to my original point, this is the exact reason why PR teams and social media teams need to be working together, collaboratively, to ensure that all communication from the brand is consistent.?

There’s no way on Earth that boohoo’s social media team sought advice from the PR team. They didn’t stop to think about the negative impact their post could be making or the detrimental effect it could be having on the brand’s reputation.

Maybe the employees don’t care. Maybe they’ve been told to be disruptive to get more people talking about them. Maybe they didn’t think to speak to a female member of the team to sense-check how it would be received.

The post from Boohoo caused a stir and it got people talking about them, but at what cost?

If any brand is being disruptive, intentional or otherwise, please run your ideas past the PR team first, because while you may feel as though you belong on separate teams, you’re sure as hell going to need them to get you out of a hole and fight some fires when the shit hits the fan.

As the famous quote from Warren Buffet says:

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently"

I’m not suggesting that every single piece of content needs to be approved by the PR team, that’s not what they’re there for, but please, teach your social media to have awareness of the consequences of their post.

Brand voice is a reflection of brand values

As the Founder or CEO of a business, it’s your job to uphold the reputation of your brand and set the tone of healthy team culture. If your social media team thinks these types of posts are acceptable, you may want to re-think who’s customer-facing within your business.?

As with most posts on social media, the controversy disappeared just as quickly as it appeared, so maybe it doesn’t matter.

Or maybe, just maybe, the social media team at boohoo got away with it because the team at Tampax got it oh so wrong too.

Did you see either tweet last week? If so, what were your thoughts? Reputation suicide or disruptive marketing at its finest?