Today’s Social Media 101 lesson comes from Boners BBQ, as they (allegedly) learned the hard way that abusing customers on Facebook and Twitter isn’t a smart strategy, even if the customer (allegedly) didn’t leave a tip or posted a less-than-sparkling review on Yelp.

If you care to read the story, here’s a link that will tell you all you need to know, but remember that everything you say in social media can be permanent (thanks to screenshots like the ones below) and used against you in the court of public opinion.  And thanks to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and Reddit, public opinion can spread like wild fire.

On the one hand, Boners has never had so much press.  On the other, there IS such a thing as bad press.  Provided this isn’t a manufactured publicity stunt by Boners BBQ (and if it is, it’s not a good one), the chain had every chance to make “Stephanie S.” a happy and more loyal customer, but someone was clearly drinking too much BBQ sauce and not thinking clearly.

While being authentic and transparent is important, we talk with clients all the time about the importance for brands to have a clear, consistent voice and a true social media strategy for growth, customer service, and satisfaction.   Boners BBQ now needs to hire someone to handle crisis management – there’s a clear way out of this mess, let’s see if they find it.  Either way, we now have a new social media phrase:  Don’t be a boner.