Last week, presidential candidate Donald Trump took to twitter to host a question and answer session under the hashtag #AskTrump, which had some pretty predictable results. While Trump only answered a few of the nicer questions he was asked, the backlash towards him and his campaign far outweighed those positive questions, however he did provide some video answers to questions.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2015
If you want to see some of the more hostile questions posed to Mr. Trump during the Q&A session check out the twitter feed here or the article by US Weekly Magazine here or the Wired Article here.
As someone who used to watch WWE wrestling on a regular basis, my personal favorite was this one.
@realDonaldTrump @TwitterNYC Did it hurt when @steveaustinBSR gave you the ole Stone Cold Stunner? #AskTrump pic.twitter.com/eetvV8NWTA
— Austin Hunt (@AustinHunt) September 21, 2015
Although, all the people asking about Trump's notoriously bad hairstyles were pretty funny too.
So, what went wrong here? Well, as important as it is to engage your audience on social media, it's just as important to understand the mood of your audience before you do so. Take for example, the case of British Gas who in October 2013, took to twitter for their own Q&A under the hashtag #AskBG after raising their prices by nearly 10% just in time for winter. This in a pretty predictable fashion failed pretty badly. If you want to see some of the best responses, check out the article by The Guardian which is located here.
Another failed Twitter Q&A was run by JP Morgan, which went so badly that it was canceled before it even started. Not only was it canceled before it started, it went so badly that someone decided to have actor Stacy Keach do a dramatic reading of some of the tweets. You can read an article on the fiasco here
So, what is the takeaway from all of this? While engaging your audience via social media is a great tool that can greatly boost your brand, it is of utmost importance that you know how your audience will react, and avoid opening yourself up for questioning right after you do something that just might tick everyone off.
First of all, I can't stop laughing. I scrolled through the twitter feed with the hashtag @AskTrump and was not really surprised by the responses. I thought this was an excellent of how presidential candidates use social media (and fail) to be more approachable and engaging with their constituents.
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