Holidays can provide great opportunities for brands to better connect with customers and boost sales. But this is not the case for all holidays. Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day are two examples where brands have to be very attuned to what the day is about and not be seen as trying to score a profit off a day of reverence. If you come off as tone-deaf, you will receive backlash as many brands have experienced.

When Bad Tweets Happen

Memorial Day is right around the corner and is centered on the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, along with their families. Here are a few fails from some well-known brands:

IHOP: The International House of Pancakes started their Memorial Day tweet off right with a short and simple “Thank you,” but offended many by displaying a tall stack of red-white-and-blue berry pancakes. This made many feel like the company was trying to make Memorial Day about increasing their pancake sales.

IHOP, @IHOP: Thank you. #MemorialDay / Picture of a stack of pancakes

D Mendez, @mendezbuscos: @IHOP @JoeMande international house of pandering

abel trevino, @abeltrev: Seriously, @IHOP, "Celebrate Memorial Day?!" Did your marketing team not research what Memorial Day is in recognition of? #PRFail

Cinnabon:This was another example of a brand trying to shoehorn their product into a Memorial Day tweet.

Cinnabon, @Cinnabon: Take time to enjoy the sweeter things in life today, & to remember those who made the sacrifices for us to enjoy them / Picture of frosted cinnamon buns

Predictably, it backfired.

Elliot Turner, @eturner303: @Cinnabon Leveraging memorial day remembrance to sell cinnamon rolls is in very bad taste, literally and figuratively. :(

Greg Weston, @westongreg: Using Memorial Day to encourage people to eat at @Cinnabon is a pretty lousy thing to do.

Stone Brewing: The brewery company didn’t get a great reaction from its Memorial Day tweet.

Stone Brewing, @StoneBrewingCo: Something to remember on #MemorialDay. It’s a LOT better and a LOT more memorable with #craftbeer! http://ow.ly/i/5Fvcf

Daniel Smith, @Baytiff08: @StoneBrewingCo hey, I love you guys, but to me Memorial Day is already memorable enough because of what it's for. nothing else is necessary

Getting it Right

If you do want to acknowledge days of reverence, you can craft a successful post if you follow a few guidelines:

  1. Do not put your product or service in the spotlight.
  2. Focus on the reason behind the day.
  3. Keep your message simple. Major League Baseball provides a good example with this Memorial Day tweet:

MLB, @MLB: On this #MemorialDay, we salute those who have served and sacrificed for our nation, and those who continue to do so. / Picture of service men saluting in front of a baseball stadium crowd

This tweet works because although the photo was taken at a baseball stadium, the service members take center stage. The message comes through loud and clear – the MLB respects America’s military personnel. 

It’s All about Respect

Days like Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day require more sensitivity and understatement on social media. Always consider your target market when you plan your social media on these days and remember that not every post or tweet has to be about your company or products. By maintaining a deferential and respectful tone, you should be able to strengthen the connection with your customers instead of facing a backlash.