Twenty years ago Gerald Ratner described the jewellery his stores sold as ‘crap’ at the Institute of Directors annual conference. Days later his organisation had seen £500m wiped off its value. It’s reputation unsalvageable. Had Gerald made the same faus pas today his company reputation would have been destroyed in minutes due to the instantaneous sharing of news, information and off the cuff remarks through social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube et al.

Social media has revolutionised the way that individuals, organisations and brands communicate with each other. Life is never going to be the same again. But while there are so many positives, potential disaster lurks around every social media corner. In the last year alone we have seen brands such as Dell, United Airlines, Chrysler and Domino’s Pizza fall foul of social media, so why do so many ‘marketing and communications professionals’ get it so spectacularly wrong in the social media sphere?

To coincide with the official launch of the Social Buzz Awards 2012, The Drum will be running a free to attend workshop at SMWF with social media experts and past award winners. The panel led session will be looking at examples of where brands have got it wrong and how they could have used social media platforms to avert disaster.

Audience members will also get the opportunity to pose questions and participate in the discussion, so come armed with your questions and opinions.

Speakers:
• Paul Fabretti, Brazen PR
• Chris Jones, Social Media manager, BBC
• Dave Coplin, Director of Search, UK at Microsoft
• Jane Botros, Head of External Communications, Pizza Express
• AC Muir, Owner, Illegal Jacks
• Richard Draycott, Associate Editor, The Drum

When: 1-2pm on 28th March at the Social Media World Forum
Where: Olympia, London

To attend the free workshop just click here to register for your free exhibition pass which will give you access to the SMWF exhibition and the other free to attend Marketing Tech workshops.