Insensitive Newsjacking leads to social media firestorm

My friend Jim Stewart who is CEO of a Melbourne digital marketing firm, points us to an example of inappropriate newsjacking.

Recently, Australia has been hit with devastating bushfires. The damage has been especially great in Tasmania. People's property has been destroyed and many are homeless.

Into the disaster jumped SellItOnline saying they would donate electric generators to the victims of the Tasmanian bushfires in return for people who "like" the SellItOnline Facebook page. The company received backlash from many of its 1,500 fans, who accused the company of taking advantage of the catastrophe. This led to people writing about the insensitivity which led to discussion on social networks. The post has since been deleted.

We learned from the Hurricane Sandy newsjacking attempts that negative stories are very dangerous to attempt to newsjack. This example is in poor taste because the company was attempting to use the disaster to gain Facebook "likes". Had they just donated generators to the victims, they might have gotten some positive buzz.

Newsjacking is a powerful tool. But the potential to backfire is large when the story is a negative one.

Image: au.news.yahoo.com

Comments

[Image Masking Service]

I feel so bad to listen about disaster. May god help you, help those of people who are the sufferer. So pathetic.

[Raul]

I see these attempts all the time! Sad part that in s ome places no matter how bad rhe news is people focus om what they are getting instead of being sensitive to the terrible news!

Next time I see something like this I will send your way so you can see where these type of approach has very little risk!

i don't agree or like this approach so it bothers me more when I see oeople sharing it!

[David Meerman Scott]

You're right, Raul. These things happen often. Thanks for jumping in.

[Felix Lee]

That was highly insensitive of them indeed. What made the people at SellItOnline think that was a good idea, I don't know. I agree that newsjacking can be a very effective marketing tool, but it has to be used properly.

[Bruno Babic]

Hi David, I am glad that you've chosen this subject for your blog post because insensitivity is one of the most common mistakes or traps that many inexperienced online business owners fall into because they are either not able to or don't want to regard their prospective customers or fans as human as they are.

In my opinion the consequences of this insensitivity are especially damaging or harmful on social media sites like facebook where the lack of the responsibility for leading a genuine social conversation quickly raises the dust and alarms on something negative going on.

And, the simple reason for the latter is because the human social interaction aspect of marketing used responsibly by genuine businesses is the key to a business communication success on facebook and similar social media platforms.

This is my 2 cents.

Thank you.

Bruno Babic