#AskJPM? ‘Bad idea.’
JPMorgan opened up a Q&A session on Wednesday via Twitter and invited questions for its vice chairman, Jimmy Lee. But by the end of the day, the investment scrapped the idea in what turned out to be a press relations fiasco.
The Q&A was supposed to work like this: if you had a question, tweet it with the hashtag #askJPM. But the investment bank didn’t get questions, so-much as a stream of snarky, negative, and sometimes inappropriate tweets.
Adrian Blake, CEO of Social Media Contractors in Omaha, says businesses run into trouble when they use old media PR strategies on new media.
“The way that large corporations traditionally interact with the world outside, is through controlled environment where they are dealing with reporters and media companies,” Blake says. “It’s a very different model asking for questions from anyone.”
Patrick Ruffini, president of the digital marketing agency Engage, said JP Morgan’s campaign could have worked if they were looking to have real, and sometimes uncomfortable, conversations. He cites New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and businessman Mark Cuban, both of whom invite controversy.
“They’re actually organically interacting with people on Twitter. Getting into arguments and actually replying to critics,” Ruffini said.
And instead of tarnishing their image, he said Twitter has made them appear more human and accessible.
Check out some of the best #AskJPM tweets here.
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