Anyone watching “Kitchen Nightmares” starring Gordon Ramsey a few weeks ago in the episode featuring Amy and Samy Bouzaglo of Amy’s Baking Company in Scottsdale, Ariz. must still be shaking their heads in amazement at the social media disaster that has ensued. It seems the owners didn’t think much of the advice proposed by the frequently outspoken Ramsey, but then took to Facebook to start an all-out flame war with their critics, huge numbers of Reddit commenters that descended upon their page, and at last count have left some 45,000 comments. This ended up being a classic lesson in how NOT to do social media. The always stubborn owner Amy, joined in by her husband, opened fire in an epic flaming match with the commenters, complete with salty language in all caps, to boot. There is little doubt they’ll be dealing with this for quite a while, as the vast majority of the comments were, how should we say, less than complimentary. This was an epic social media train wreck if there ever was one.
What not to do on Facebook
In a sober celebration of this meltdown, we thought it might be wise to talk about some the basics concerning how you should comport oneself on a social media site like Facebook.
- Don’t shy away from complaints. Address them, but in a polite manner.
- Be sure to NEVER get into a flaming match with anyone posting on your page. You will surely lose!
- Correct whatever is wrong or misstated, but make sure you keep your wits about you. No confrontations!
- Try and keep a sense of humor. Sharks smell blood in the water!
- Be professional, generous, and watch controversy die on the vine.
- Do not resort to cursing or confronting. If you need to scream a name at someone, hold back until you get in the shower!
- Don’t share a lot of your personal information, but do let your personality shine through!
Amy’s Baking Company is certainly not the first one to go off on with their fans in precisely the wrong way, see Nestle’s big mistake, however evidently this wasn’t their first foray into public mudslinging. They lit into a Yelp reviewer in 2010, and the negative reviews are still turning up!