Ever heard of Boners BBQ in Atlanta? Given the name, it may not be surprising, but it turns out the owner is a real boner.

As you’ll read in this article on one of my favourite blogs, UNmarketing, Boners BBQ earned a bad Yelp review. from a customer. I wouldn’t even say it was a bad review so much as a slightly unfavourable account of the experience. The owner of the restaurant took it upon himself to publicly post photos of the customer on Facebook and call her names. If he was looking for publicity, it worked, but I’d wager it’s not the kind of publicity he’s after. Not all press is good press, especially when you own a restaurant and the press is condemning the quality of both your food and service.

Boners BBQ is a pretty wild example, but there are so many ways to screw up social media it’s unbelievable. If you have a few minutes to spare, check out this Slideshare presentation of Social Media Disasters. From a supermarket employee getting into a Twitter dispute with a customer to bored Dominos employees sharing disgusting acts with sandwiches, there are some real “face palm” moments. Even famous fashion designer Kenneth Cole tried to cash in on the Egyptian uprising to market his spring collection. These are all prime examples of what not to do.

Oh, and don’t forget GoDaddy. Well known as purveyors of cheap domain names and impossibly cluttered check out processes, they came under fire in 2011 when CEO Bob Parsons released video of himself shooting an elephant while on safari in Africa. And don’t even get me started on their handling of SOPA. Backpedal much?

It all goes to show how important social media is. A fellow student called social media “the great equalizer” in her introduction post. This couldn’t be more true, and until businesses realize the power it puts in the hands of the people, blunders like this will continue to cause companies embarrassment, poor customer retention and, ultimately, loss of revenue. I see posts telling people how to use social media all the time, so let’s look at this from a different angle. Here are my 5 biggest tips on how NOT to use social media for your business.

• Don’t spread yourself too thin. If you only realistically have time for two social networks, stick to two networks. Great engagement on Facebook and Twitter goes a lot farther than empty, unmanaged profiles all over the internet.
• Don’t sell. Sure, it’s ok to promote specials and promotions, but social media is about humanizing your brand and getting to know your customers. It’s not a constant sales pitch.
• Don’t be rude. It’s true that you can’t make everyone happy. Turn unfavourable comments into an opportunity to impress by responding quickly and being polite. This will leave a much better taste with your followers than if you sacrifice professionalism with a momentary lack of judgement.
• Don’t slander your competition. One of my biggest pet peeves is companies publicly slandering others. Your product should stand for itself and your social media strategies should be promoting your own strengths. It can also make you look pretty stupid – Verizon tweeted about one of their biggest competitors, Comcast, making a “Worst Company in America” list before realizing they held the same dubious honour.
• Don’t gloat. Your clients don’t want to know their money bought you a Corvette. Tell them how you’re investing to provide better services or products to them.

Social media fails to tell us about? Don’ts to share? Comments welcomed!