How to do social media… really, REALLY badly

**UPDATE**  It has been brought to my attention that the Facebook page ‘Viz top tips’ is NOT anything to do with Viz Comic. I jumped to the conclusion that someone there had accidentally shared something from an unsavoury page, and that was wrong of me. Apologies to Viz Comic for that – I’ve been following the page for months and believed it to be genuine. However, I still think this is an interesting situation from a marketing point of view (and this is a marketing blog after all), so the original post stays but with this update added prominently so there is no doubt that the page in question is NOT run by Viz.

I’ve been a fan of Viz comic for over 25 years. I’ve always found it funny, silly and entertaining. So when I learned there was a Viz Top Tips page on Facebook, I clicked ‘like’ and roared with laughter at most of their posts.

Until I saw this one, today:

As you can see, the cartoon was shared from the Bradford branch of EDL. Cue hundreds of disgusted comments and people clicking ‘unlike’, leaving the page forever.

In the few minutes since I spotted their post, Viz Top Tips have lost well over a hundred likes. In a few minutes. It’ll be interesting to see how many likes they lose over the course of a few hours.

The original post was here, but it seems the post has been deleted. Too bad for them that I screengrabbed it to give you an idea of the sort of comments the post was receiving – see below (click to enlarge).

If there’s a lesson to be learned here, it’s that one error of judgement, one mistake that you may not even realise you’ve made, can cause HUGE damage to a brand on social media. I don’t know if this Viz Top Tips page is actually owned/operated by John Brown Dennis Publishing, but if so I wouldn’t like to be in the shoes of the person that’s going to get their arse kicked for this tomorrow morning.

Brand damaging? We’ll have to wait and see…

Writer's block? Too busy to blog? My clients need YOU!

It’s not always easy to find time to blog. You only have to look around this blog to see how neglected it becomes when I’m busy working on projects for clients (which is most of the time, these days).

If you have your own blog, perhaps you have the same problem. You’d love to keep your blog up-to-date with informative, well-written articles – but work, family or life just get in the way, or you’re struggling to think of things to write about.

If that sounds like you, and you’re based in the UK, I may just have the answer for you.  Continue reading “UK bloggers: my clients need YOU!” »

Sick or treat: not in my back yard

Over the years we’ve imported some amazing things from America into the UK. Like rock ‘n’ roll, for example, which I think is one of the best things ever to have found its way across the pond.

But there is one US import that royally ticks me off every year: the ‘tradition’ of trick-or-treating.  Continue reading “Halloween humbug: why my door stays firmly shut on 31st October” »

My dad and I have a history of giving each other silly presents. It’s almost like a competition to see who can give the silliest present, and one year I played the trump card: a toy hamster that when a button on its foot was pressed, danced and sang “I think I love you” by the Partridge family, in a high-pitched ‘hamster’ voice.

This year we weren’t able to be with my dad on his birthday to give him a proper present, so we made this video for him. Yes, that’s really us (me, Mr Doo, and my daughter) singing, playing the instruments, etc. I don’t think we’re ever going to win any awards for our musical ‘talents’, but we had a lot of fun making this, and who knows, maybe we’ll make another some day.

Hope it gives you a giggle – because every Friday should be fun

Last week, a client of mine forwarded this email to me:

Hi [client name],

My name is Uday and I represent Timgu, the only online marketing company in the UK founded by  ex-Googlers. Between us we have over 10 years experience working with Google and Google products.   Continue reading “Is AdWords data in unauthorised hands?” »

If you’ve ever fancied getting involved in the movie industry, or wanted to do a bit of corporate sponsorship with a twist – but always assumed such things would be beyond your budget – you’ll be interested to know that you can now do both, in one pop, for under a tenner.  Continue reading “How to be a film producer for under a tenner” »

I love Twitter and Facebook. Chatting random crap with strangers all over the world, sharing whatever nonsense happens to be in my head at any given moment, and staying in touch with real-world friends in as many ways as possible were always going to get my vote.

But there are times when Twitter and Facebook – or rather, the people using them – really annoy me.    Continue reading “An idiot’s guide to anti-social media marketing” »

Today is St David’s day, a day when the Welsh celebrate being Welsh, and all things Welsh, and general Welshness.

Google made a very nice gesture, by adding a little drawing of Caernarfon Castle to its search page.

Nothing wrong with that, you might think – after all, you don’t get much Welsher than Caernarfon Castle.

Except, Caernarfon Castle was built by the English king, Edward I, to subdue the Welsh.

As one of my Facebook friends said: “I hope they put an Indian takeaway there on St George’s Day.”

Nice try, Google, but… FAIL!

I recently blogged about preparing to give debbidoo.com a big facelift.  In this post, I said that my plan is to do away with the services I rarely get asked about, and to bring in some new services that I do get asked about.

One of these is web design. Since building debbidoo.com 18 months ago, I’ve since built websites for clients as well as for other debbidoo projects, and for another business of which I’m a director, Petha Ltd.

As web design is something I seem to be doing more of – and something which I really enjoy doing – I’ve decided to add it as a service to clients. And as it’s brand spanking new, I’ve decided to launch this service with a cracking introductory offer… but it’s limited to the first FIVE people to apply. Continue reading “Introductory offer: bespoke websites for £295” »

The services I’m being asked to provide by my clients have turned out to be quite different from the services I expected to provide when I first started my business (no rude comments, please!) so I’ve decided that it’s time my website was overhauled. Time to weed out some of the stuff that I never get asked to do, and bring in the stuff that I do get asked to do. And have a general tidy-up, add some extra functionality, change the look and feel a bit, that sort of thing.

My new site is going to work quite differently. I won’t say too much now – I’ll hang on until release, and mither on about it then instead – but while I’m in the planning stages, I thought I’d ask around and see if anyone has any suggestions for things they’d like to see added, removed, or improved at debbidoo.com. Continue reading “Planning the new debbidoo.com – any suggestions?” »