Who Knows You Better Than Yourself? Pinterest.

Actually, maybe not. In the morning of Sept 3rd 2014, some female users had received an unexpected email from Pinterest to congratulate on their new marriages. This was a warm and caring act on Pinterest, except the fact that these ladies were all single.

Image from BusinessInsider.com

Apparently, these users ,such as Taylor in the image, had recently pinned many wedding-related stuff into their boards. As a marketer, I totally understand the good intention of Pinterest to connect with them on a personal level. However, it seemed that the company had made too much assumptions this time round. While some of the users took this incident in a light-hearted way, many were not too amused about it.

When people have an opinion, they take it to Twitter. Indeed, these single ladies did. Although these words were not as extreme as some of the hate tweets you might have seen on Twitter, they certainly reflected negatively on Pinterest. It also reminds me how social platforms are preying on my private information in today's world. Even though this issue on privacy of personal information is the norm, no social platforms would like to rub it in this way.

Screenshot of Tweets from HuffingtonPost.com

In Pinterest's defense, they were quick and effective to respond, I would have to admit.

            "Every week, we email collections of category-specific pins and boards to pinners we hope will be interested in them. Unfortunately, one of these recent emails suggested that pinners were actually getting married, rather than just potentially interested in wedding-related content. We're sorry we came off like an overbearing mother who is always asking when you'll find a nice boy or girl."

Response from Pinterest on the night of the incident

So what are the takeaways?

• To all marketers, some GOOD HUMOR would not hurt, especially in this case.
• More importantly, Pinterest LISTENED on their social media channels.They were quick and transparent with the issue. It was responded on the very night.
• Once an issue surfaces, be TRANSPARENT and be SORRY if you are wrong. In today's digital age, there's nothing you can hide.
• Before your social media team schedule your next post, have an external party to take a SECOND LOOK. Image yourself receiving the email or seeing the post. Pinterest could have avoided this entirely.

One final note to marketers when social media goes wrong: DO NOT leave everything to the Public Relations department. 

As a savvy digital marketer, it is your responsibility to monitor all your social media channels, not the PR team. An incident such as this one could spiral out of control if not responded quickly (That means within 24 hours). When the unanticipated inevitably happens, work with the PR team. Being a marketer, you understand your customers and users the best. Being the PR team, they understand how to handle crisis most effectively. So, get a friend in PR team now.

While every brand and social platform attempts to understand the consumer before they themselves do, proceed with caution.

Yuwan: I hope Pinterest knows what I'm thinking about...

Thank you for taking another bite!

James