Don't post memes in the midst of a media storm

It smacks of ignorance and it's an insult to your customers' intelligence.

I recently witnessed a South African brand resort to tired "Keep Calm" memes on social media; it amazes me every time they do it. Especially when a media storm is playing out around them and is compounded in customers' negative sentiment underneath the stupid meme.

When your customers have paid you a lot of money for a product or service which you've failed to deliver timeously don't separate engagement on the Internet from how you would address the problem in real life.

Do build a team and address the issues clearly and publicly. Don't take your customers for fools by posting memes to deflect your shortcomings and lack of service delivery. It's insensitive and will only serve to irk paying "fans" even further.

Likewise, don't use social media to tirelessly hammer away at your public spat with a competitor. I witnessed it this week and I had to stop myself from commenting on the posts to ask the brand what the hell they were doing.

Much like a restaurant manager who berates staff in front of patrons, it's awkward and unprofessional, and in most cases your customer will know little about nor care about whatever tiff you're having with a competitor.

The best thing you can do when bad publicity is raining down upon you is take stock of the situation, form a team to help you get the truth out as soon as possible, apologise and commit (publicly) to a solution.