Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” just been skewered by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection for promoting bogus weight loss supplements. He’d also been ridiculed on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” in a segment that received over 5.4 million YouTube views. Even worse, every social media marketer had seen the #AskJenny debacle, in which former “The View” host Jenny McCarthy had been mocked for her quacky medical views. To connect with the audience, Dr. Oz’s social media team scheduled a Twitter Q&A with the hashtag #OzsInbox. It didn’t go well. In fact, it became one of Twitter’s most epic fails.
When they’re done well, scheduled at the right time, and handled by an experienced social marketing team, Twitter Q&As can be great for a brand. When they’re handled poorly or scheduled at the wrong time, they turn into public relations disasters. Twitter Q&As aren’t a great way to rebuild positive feelings around a struggling brand. If your organization is facing one of these scenarios, you should skip the Twitter chat. [Read more…]