The path to destruction; mindless scaling
Let's face it: Destroying an online brand reputation is harder than ever. Just a few years ago, it was much easier. You could put something offensive on your homepage or just let your domain registration expire, and that would ensure your brand's quick demise. But with CMS systems that control publishing fiascos and 99-year domain registrations, those haphazard days are behind us. That means if you're truly committed to dragging your brand's name through the mud, you'll have to shift tactics. Today's social web necessitates a multi-channel approach to create real, lasting damage to your brand.
If you are serious about losing customer goodwill and squandering brand equity, here are the latest tactics you should put into practice (along with what you should do if you'd like to, for some strange reason, actually protect your brand reputation):
Rinse and repeat... and repeat (and repeat)
You tweeted out 10 links, and got 100 click-throughs -- congratulations! Now that you know you can get attention and traction by sending out Twitter links, you need to scale up dramatically. Upload a bulk file of 1 million tweets with links; you will surely get 100 million click-throughs. Once you have your autofeeds established, take some advice from Ron Popeil -- set it and forget it! This is a quick and easy way to ruination. If someone responds to one of your tweets, just ignore it. You'll quickly show them you don't care and they don't matter to you. Let the bulk feed steamroll any chance for real engagement.
What you should actually do: More is not always better -- sometimes it is just more. You should set up some feeds to automatically cross-post content into different channels. But make sure that automation stays balanced with content specific to the individual platform. If you don't conform to your brand advocates' expectations, they will tune you out, and you'll get zero engagement.
When it makes sense to scale, look to add new channels instead of filling your existing ones even fuller. Your brand presence can extend across many social venues beyond Facebook and Twitter. Being sensitive and responsive to your advocates' communication preferences shows them you value their time and attention.
