Although JP Morgan helped underwrite Twitter's IPO, it also suffered from a Twitter backlash at the same time. JP Morgan's Twitter account asked "What career advice would you ask a leading exec at a global firm. Tweet Q using #AskJPM . . ." Afterwards, it became obvious that JP Morgan should not have scheduled such a public relations activity so soon after paying a large fine with regards to the London Whale trading loss. Indeed, an Atlantic editor tweeted with "What's your favorite kind of whale?" with the hashtag AskJPM. Many more tweets with the hashtag were worse, and JP Morgan cancelled its question and answer session.
The Financial Times described this as a case study on how not to use social media for marketing. This is because it is hard for companies to control the conversation on social media. The #AskJPM fiasco is an example of a social media campaign going viral, which is usually what companies strive for. However, in this instance, the viral campaign was negative.
The lesson from this example is to know the temperature of the general public. When you ask for comments or questions from social media, anyone can respond. As Bloomberg.com notes, it is not a good idea for the banking industry to solicit comments on social media after what has happened over the last five years. If you are in an industry that has had lots of negative publicity in the recent past, it might be a good idea to interact with potential customers in a manner that is more private than social media.
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