You can bet that when MAC Marketing Solutions was brainstorming ways to get their name into the Huffington Post, this wasn’t what they had in mind.

The Vancouver-based realty marketing firm is reeling after two of its employees were busted posing as prospective buyers in a televised newscast to boost interest in an upscale Vancouver apartment development.

A wave of media and public backlash has resulted in the resignation of MAC’s Marketing Manager and a black eye on Vancouver’s already highly inflated real-estate market.

While it may feel good to single MAC Marketing out, they are just one of a growing number of brands, celebrities, and politicians who’ve had to defend their reputation due to a media blunder – intentional or otherwise. This is the backlash of rapidly progressing technology in the hands of inexperienced professionals, and we’re seeing it across the board.

Don’t believe me? Just scan any paper and you’re bound to see the same thing: Large reputable companies engaged in PR disasters.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

Most managers can barely keep up with technology themselves, let alone monitor the way their employees are using it. What they’re discovering – many of them the hard way – is that whether you’re lying to a journalist or tweeting recklessly from a business account, the same rules apply: everything you put out into the digisphere comes back to haunt you. Good or bad.

This new reality is causing managers and CEOs to think twice about assigning the company’s communication to an intern or administrative assistant. They’re recognizing that social media is power, and in the words of Stan Lee, “with great power comes great responsibility”.

So, how can you protect yourself in a time when all it takes is a bored employee with a smartphone and a YouTube account to cause irreputable damage to a company’s reputation?

MINIMIZING THE RISK

One way companies deal with this risk is to hire an agency that specializes in social media. Yes, hiring an agency will cost you, but it will also let you sleep at night knowing that your company’s reputation is in good hands and that on the off chance that the excrement does hit the fan, it’ll be taken care of in a professional and timely manner.

No matter how you go about engaging online, it’s important to remind yourself what’s at stake – your hard earned reputation. The reality is that people are discussing your brand online and forming their own perceptions whether you actively participate in social media or not. You’re being discussed.

Take charge and limit the risk by ensuring that those sitting in the power-seat are mature enough to deal with the responsibility, and most importantly have a PR strategy in place in case things go sideways.

Thinking about outsourcing your social media? Get a FREE social media audit, or speak to our social media strategist.