My first full time job was as a project manager in the marketing department of a small engineering school called Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. Prior to that I was doing part time work managing the social media account for the Flint Farmers’ Market. I enjoyed working for the Market but managing social media was not what I wanted to do. I do not have the personality to be a good social media manager, I barely use my own. So when I was hired as a project manager I thought it marked the end of having to manage a social media account. I was wrong.

About one year into my position our comm guy quit to go work for MSU and instead of hiring a new person, they spread his responsibilities out and since I had social media management on my résumé I was handed this responsibiilty despite my protests. So now on top of my other duties, I was Kettering’s social media guy which meant I was on call for impromptu posts about closures and anything else my bosses thought of. It was during this year that I made my biggest mistake at Kettering, or at least that is what my bosses made it seem like. I have a different opinion.

I don’t know if you have ever been to southeast Michigan, but it can get cold. Usually the winters get down to around 0, maybe a little below and we get a moderate amount of snow. But the winter of 2014 brought the ‘Polar Vortex’. Temeratures as low as -40 and a ton of snow. One of the worst days brought temps just under -25 causing school closures across the state. Even the University of Michigan shut their doors, something that hadn’t happened since the 1970’s. Only two schools in the Flint area stayed open, Baker College and, you guessed it, Kettering. This came as a surprise to everyone; faculty, staff and students and as such it was important to make sure that everyone knew that school was in session. So that morning I posted what became an infamous FB post at Kettering University.

Seems pretty normal, right? Well, normal doesn’t usually fly at Kettering, it’s kind of a weird place. This post prompted considerable backlash from the student body and spriraled into something of an internal PR nightmare in just a few hours. Before I knew it the list of studnet comments was long and unhappy and to be honest I wasn’t exactly sure how to handle it so I did one of the worst things I could have done and not respond which promoted more hate in the form of comments.

I came in the next day ready for the onslaught and was not dissapointed. The President of the university, who was known for watching and using social media had already been in contact with several disgruntled students and had a meeting with my boss. I was not privy to any of those meetings so I only know the result, that the casual tone of my post was a cause of the backlash and from now on I needed to be more formal. Implying that the commenters anger did not come from the decision to remain open, but rather how they were notified. I suspect that this is a load of bulldog s$%t.

What I imagine happened is when the President met with the students to talk about the situation, the students were not prepared to direct their anger at the President (he has an imposing demeanor and is very charismatic) and so needed a new outlet to direct their anger. I imagine the President was able to redirect that anger toward the messaging which brought everyone to the conclusion that my FB tone was too casual, something that was never a probem before. I am sure there was more to the conversation and I don’t mean to say that the President was malicious toward me, I was just a casualty. Regardless, it definitely feels like I was thrown under the bus for something that was not that big of a deal.

The lesson learned is CYA (Cover Your Ass), always CYA. That might mean getting a superior’s approval on something first, having a back-up plan, or asking how a social media message should be phrased. Whatever it is, always make sure as best you can, that should the s&%t hit the fan you’re not going to be the one tied to the road when the bus comes. Hope this helps.