A NEW KIND OF FAIL WHALE FROM SEAWORLD

I’m still surprised that organizations manage social media under the assumption that they can guide or control the message. A while a go I wrote about how McDonald’s tried just that with their #McDStories Twitter campaign – and it failed miserably. Two years later and we’re still seeing organizations trying this.

#AskSeaWorld – SeaWorld’s Own Fail Whale

Unfortunately for the social media staff at SeaWorld, they learned firsthand that the people control the medium.

In an attempt to adjust the negative public opinion of the organization’s treatment of orca whales, SeaWorld launched the #AskSeaWorld hashtag campaign.  I think the strategy was to paint a picture of authenticity/transparency and appear to be addressing public concerns head-on, but what happened was the exact opposite.

Read the full post at mikemccready.ca