Classy Social Media #FAIL Recoveries that Dr. Phil Should Learn From

As in all things in life, mistakes happen on social media. What really matters is how you respond when something you post isn't received as you planned. Here's two celebrities that Dr. Phil could learn from on how to talk to outraged fans.

Regina Spektor's Fans Tell Her To Shut Up And Sing

Regina shows a lot of class and thoughtfulness in responding to her (mostly white and southern) fans who disagree with her the George Zimmerman verdict.

 I understand that the Trayvon Martin trial is a hot button issue but this is a Facebook page- it's for writing. If you think I should shut up and sing (by definition an impossible act:-) then perhaps you should just not upset yourself, spare your blood pressure, and unlike this page. Also feel free to only listen to music by people you agree with. It's all good! There's room enough for everyone in this world and moments like these are a great opportunity for people to find some new places to like or unlike.

Her original post....Reactions to her post were generally positive but attracted many critical comments, many directly attacking her...Regina's excellent social media recovery... 

George Takei's Staff Goes Too Far

You're likely to offend some of your fans at some point. Check out the original post and excellent apology from George Takei over using a controversial topic to talk about parenting.And here's his (or his staff's) well thought out response. Notice it gets twice as many likes as the original post it is responding too. Your fans understand mistakes will be made, your job is to listen and respond with candor. 

Dr. Phil Fails to Respond to his Twitter #FAIL

The Twitterverse went crazy over a tweet that Dr. Phil's twitter staff rapidly took down. Their mistake was not apologizing publicly, which instigated a Change.org petition to start circulating.Here's the original tweet:A sampling of the viral lashing he received for it: We'll see if Dr. Phil takes the hint and apologizes to his fans. In case you're reading this "social media intern who just got fired," here's some hints on how to respond in the future.

A Few Hints On Responding to Social Media Fails

• Platform: Typically you're going to want to use the same platform that the original fail occurred on to respond. However, it can be stronger to record a short video or write a longer blog post and link out to that apology to get the audience back on your "home turf" so to speak. If you're considering doing so on your own blog, you might want to turn off comments or monitor them closely.
• Timing: You need to be thoughtful but you also need to do this quick! The internet doesn't forget easily.
• Candor: If you've screwed up be honest about it. Tell your fans what you're going to do to make sure this doesn't happen in the future. Thank your fans for teaching you something. Apologize for making an honest mistake and most of your fans will believe you.
• Don't Give Up: Just because a mistake has been made, doesn't mean social media isn't worth your time. Social media is about conversations and you've just started a big one!

6 Ways You Haven't Used Social Media To Improve Your Blog

No matter how long you've been doing social media for, there are new tricks and tips coming out every day. Tip #1 and #5 were well worth the price of admission for my organization. Here are my notes from Austin Gunter's (Brand Ambassador, WPEngine) presentation on "Developing Digital Marketing (Social Media) In Your WordPress" at WordPress Camp NYC.1. No One Cares About What You Just Said On TwitterThink about your site from the perspective of a first-time visitor, they're looking for a reason to trust you. Stop using the standard Twitter widget to show the last few tweets you've sent (which could be awesome or random rants). Instead reconfigure your Twitter widget to display your account's favorites. Favorite great tweets about your organization and re-label your widget something like "140 Character Testimonials".2. It's Time To Make Sharing Your Content AwesomeUsing the standard Facebook & Twitter share links are LAME. It's time to do some custom development for elegant sharing solutions. Instead of a tiny Pinterest button above every post, Wedding Chicks does an elegant job of encouraging pins. Every image you mouse over has a "Pin It" badge appear in the lower right.3. You Can't Fight On TwitterThere are going to be customer support issues and people are going to complain. You need to take it off Twitter. Generate a support ticket for the customer and email them or reach out another way. 140 characters is not enough to be logical and really help.5. Facebook is for Developing Your Existing Fans, Not First-Time CustomersYour customers aren't going to follow you on Facebook until they've already experienced your brand. Liking a brand on Facebook is akin to putting that brand's bumper sticker on your car. Use Facebook to develop deeper conversations with your biggest fans, not sell to first time customers. Austin likes integrating Facebook with his blog post comments so the comments on his site spread to Facebook too (and vice-a-versa).5. The One Thing To Use Google+ ForGoogle is now using Google+ profiles to determine who is writing what online for SEO with rel="author". People who have been writing quality content for years will benefit from this move (which fights SEO cheating). To do this, follow these instructions to update your Google+ profile with what sites you write for (or guest post on). This will allow your headshot to appear next to your content on search results (which may increase your click throughs) as well as possibly raise your general rankings.6. Turning Twitter Conversations Into Real StoriesYou can use Storify to collect tweets around a topic or conversation. It allows you to comment and expand on what was said. We've seen great summary posts on conference, news events, and locations.Bonus: Check out Buffer for a super easy way to share what you've read online into scheduled posts that are even faster to use than HootSuite.