This is what a social media fail looks like: 900+ comments and no response from VW.

On their Facebook fan page VW was asking for advice for 2012:

“We hope you had a fantastic New Year. Do you have any resolutions and what would you like to see us do more of this year?”

Over 900+ people hopped – probably inspired from “The Dark Side” – on their page and told VW to stop lobbying against climate laws. Despite the 900 comments, there’s not been a single word in response from VW.

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With the explosion of attention businesses have begun giving social media, many are jumping into the social sphere without understanding how to use it the right way.

What can we learn from these social media failures?

• Don’t abdicate responsibility for your social media accounts. When you hand the daily management of these profiles to a third party, you must ensure that they are operating to your guidelines and expressing the values of your brand – example: Chrysler
• Don’t jump on the twitter trend bandwagon to get more attention for your brand. At best it cheapens the brand and makes it look like it needs to piggyback a hashtag for attention – example: Kenneth Cole, Habitat
• Don’t exploit controversial situations to promote the brand – even if you think it’s funny, others won’t – example: Gilbert Gottfried
• Don’t post anything to anyone via social media that would reflect poorly on the brand if it was retweeted or shared online – example: Bob Parsons, Vodafone

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The voice of the customer has changed – it can influence the actions of even the biggest companies.

When Bank of America announced that it would begin charging debit card users a $5 monthly fee, 22-year-old Molly Katchpole got mad and started an online petition.

Her petition eventually gained more than 306.000 signatures and that started the movement that later forced Bank of America  to drop its decision to impose monthly fees on debit card users.

Here’s a quote from Bank of America’s co-chief operating officer David Darnell:

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Many global marketing companies are “sitting on the sidelines” looking for opportunities to “commercialize” social media.

But sometimes brands don’t do this the right way. Sometimes brands get things wrong.

But there are preventative measures brands can take to lessen the likelihood of these mistakes happening. And if they do happen, there are also ways that brands can remedy the problem before it becomes a crisis.

If your company values its brands and consumer relationships and you don’t have a rapid social media recovery strategy, please learn from the following:

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