Snowmageddon It Right

Many marketers used this week’s East Coast snow storm as a big opportunity to blast their best (and worst) blizzard-related messages via social media:

bonappetit

lord_taylor

notch

There’s nothing wrong with the messages above. In fact, most of them are clever, cute and funny. The obvious problem here is that a funny tweet before a storm can quickly turn into a storm of controversy if people are actually hurt in a natural disaster. But that’s not the only reason to think twice before trying to co-opt the next storm of the century for your business.

Take a look at what the #Snowmageddon2015 hashtag looked like by Tuesday afternoon on Twitter:

list of tweets_1

When marketers outnumber users like that, ask yourself if you’re providing value to your customers and prospects, or are you just making noise? Social media is great if you want to communicate up-to-date business hours, outage information or, like TDS did, even remind customers to make sure they’re prepared to work at home.

tds

But if you have to stretch to make a connection between yourself and the trend, you’re probably reaching too far and you’re clogging up a communication channel that your followers rely on for vital information. If you want to participate in the conversation, your best course of action may just be to share that vital information, not get in the way of it. Be careful out there!

About Kris Prusynski

Kris works on the Commercial Marketing team at TDS Telecom and helps TDS achieve their online objectives through digital marketing and website optimization. She has worked in the digital marketing space for over 15 years, in product categories as diverse as shoes, banking, beds and pig farming supplies (really!). Kris has both undergraduate degrees and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and therefore bleeds Badger red. She’s a veteran blogger on topics ranging from digital marketing to Wisconsin fish frys to the sweet necessity of ugly office sweaters. Nowadays, you’re more likely to find her on Twitter or Google+ trying to decipher the mysteries of A Song of Ice and Fire. In her spare time, you can find Kris kayaking, hanging out at the dog park, or thinking about lawn care.

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