Social Media Crisis — Amy’s Baking Company Bakery and Boutique

Buzzfeed calls Amy’s Baking Company’s Facebook response to a Gordan Ramsey episode of Kitchen Nightmares the “most epic brand meltdown on facebook ever.” Owners Samy and Amy Bouzgalo’s social media management is an example of a social media crisis and how not to handle it.

To set the stage, Amy’s Baking Company received a scathing review on Kitchen Nightmares as Gordan Ramsey deemed them too difficult to work with. This was problematic but in itself not catastrophic. However, the owners’ social media management was the dagger.

A few screenshots of the owners’ absurdity follows:

The owners clearly had no training in social media management — it is unclear whether or not they have have basic manners. They proceeded to insult their customers, use Caps Lock gratuitously, and degenerated to profanity.

If I were in their shoes, I would have made light of the Gordan Ramsey debacle (similar to the Red Cross beer example). For example, posting a Facebook message along the lines “Were thrown off Gordan Ramsey’s show, now if you only saw what he was like OFF camera :)” Rather than insult their customers, they could have created playful banter about their baked goods. They could have even used all of the attention to advertise a sale that may attract customers. Ultimately, they failed in every dimension.