KLM experiences downside of active social media strategy

KLM - the Royal Dutch airline - is well known for its active social media strategy. As also indicated by our last guest speaker, KLM is the #1 airline in using social media to communicate with her clients. For example, the KLM Facebook team is active 24hours a day, to respond to questions of their passengers. These questions can be of any kind; questions about delays, luggage, service, etc. I know many people who have used this service in order to get answers from KLM, and most of them are very happy with this modern approach of customer service.

Another main aspect of their social media strategy is that they post 'remarkable' or interesting news facts on their Facebook or Twitter account. Normally these posts are innocent and are generally seen as funny or interesting. Last week, the KLM social team made a mistake: after The Netherlands defeat Mexico in the World Cup game, they posted a photo on their Twitter account with a 'Mexican' person next to 'departures', see below:

Many people, especially Mexicans, found this tweet offensive. Both because it has been placed so quickly after the defeat, but also because the mustache and sombrero imagery in the photo raised more than a few eyebrows as it’s not the most progressive of ethnic stereotypes. Many Mexicans were upset, and KLM had to apologize for the tweet and remove it

Posting this tweet had significant negative impact on KLM, although normally they get a lot of credits for their social strategy. Question is if a company should accept the risk that sometimes a social media message can be perceived different than intended, or should companies be more reluctant or conservative before posting anything online (potentially loosing the 'fun moment' by waiting too long)?

http://digiday.com/brands/klm-pulls-controversial-world-cup-tweet/