Social Media Fail

Oh wow. I didn't even know Starbucks were evading taxes... The professional in me forebodes me from bashtagging them though.

Still, they go through all the hard work of not paying taxes and still think they can get my order wrong at the drive through? Never again!

I sense Instagram wont be tweeting very loudly for a while too.

Haven't been to Starbucks since I found this out a few weeks back, used to go a three or four times a week. Wouldn't be so bad if they didn't claim to be so ethical.

The coffee junky in me when Christmas shopping with the wife and the offer of seated salvation cause me to have a selective memory.

G

Eventually companies will learn to take responsibility proactively instead of reacting to the social mob.

Initiatives like this always carry a risk because social media belongs to the people, and is not under anyone's control. If any business is engaging in business activity that might be controversial in any way, they will hear about it - doubly so if they're trying to get a hashtag going.

Businesses need to be ready for this when it happens - it's all about reputation management. They can release a statement: see how Instagram tried to fix their own misstep when they updated their ToS yesterday and left some of the language too vague, leaving it up to misinterpretation. Or you can engage on social media. If so, you must be honest, but ready to apologize if necessary to show you care about the customers and their opinions (as well as their business).

We've all made mistakes, and it's the passionate users that will let businesses know what they're doing wrong. Quite often, it'll be the same users that applaud them once they get it right as well.