Blog post by: Melissa Ignasiak
This past week has been filled with many Twitter mishaps by big brand names such as Burger King, Jeep and MTV. All three Twitter accounts were hacked within a day of each other and although some of the tweets were inappropriate and vulgar, it may not have been all bad press for the brands. In the first 30 minutes of the hackers’ takeover, Burger King had gained over 5,000 new followers and despite what could have been a catastrophe, Burger King was able to turn it into success.
Around noon on Monday, the Burger King Twitter account was hacked, had its avatar name changed to McDonald’s and began tweeting “We just got sold to McDonald’s!” For the next hour, the account was filled with more than 50 unauthorized tweets, including some with racial and drug references. Although significant damage had been done, in just one day, Burger King’s Twitter account had gained close to 60,000 new followers.
Thankfully, Burger King’s social media team did a great job handling the situation. They took something that is a one of a brand’s worst nightmares and tried to make the best of the situation. By Monday night, Burger King tweeted “Interesting day here at BURGER KING, but we’re back! Welcome to our new followers. Hope you all stick around!” Burger King is even looking for new ways to keep their new fans. There have been rumors of incentives of free fries if customers bring in a receipt from McDonald’s, but nothing has been officially released.
The next day, Jeep and MTV were the two newest victims to Twitter hackers. Visitors to Jeep’s Twitter page saw content that was very similar to Burger King’s page including vulgar and inappropriate tweets and tweets announcing the Chrysler division had been sold to Cadillac. The fake content was on the Twitter site for more than an hour before Chrysler regained control of the page and tweeted “Hacking: Definitely not a #Jeep thing. We’re back in the driver’s seat!”
As far as MTV’s Twitter hack goes, it turns out it was just a joke and an attempt to take advantage of all the publicity surrounding the hackings. MTV and BET, two Viacom properties, staged the fake hack of each other’s Twitter accounts. Each switched their profile pictures and sent competitive tweets back and forth for an hour before MTV tweeted “Catfish-ed you guys. Thanks for playing!” (Catfish is an MTV show where people discover whether their online heartthrobs are real or fake.)
The week of Twitter hacks has brought with it social media lessons for all brands. Because social media is a newer marketing tactic, companies do not always have the necessary policies in place to protect themselves against social media hacks. After this week, Twitter has been receiving most of the bad press and is under pressure to develop new ways to protect its users.
In these types of situations, it is important for brands to over-communicate and to be honest and straightforward with fans in order to prevent the spread of rumors. Situations like these also prove the importance of having excellent social media teams to take advantage of the additional publicity and turn it into a positive for the brand.
Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/burger-king-seizes-spotlight-twitter-hack-233316123.html
http://news.yahoo.com/why-corporate-twitter-accounts-hacked-135414070.html
http://www.csoonline.com/article/729194/jeep-joins-burger-king-on-twitter-hacked-list-inspires-mtv-bet-to-fake-breaches
http://mashable.com/2013/02/18/burger-king-twitter-account-hacked/
http://adage.com/article/digital/brand-chatter-chart-twitter-hack-burger-king-a-boost-social/240027/
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