Twitter and other social networks are real-time exposes of a company’s brand. Not only can they air a brand’s dirty laundry and bad decisions in a hot second, but they can influence and dramatically sabotage a brand’s external marketing efforts—resulting in a negative ROI. Yikes.

As evidenced by Wade, of The Brain of Wade, who used Twitter and Flickr to gain support for his own grievance with Henderson & Horning for their sexist advertising campaign, it only takes a matter of days to challenge a brand’s reputation. Wade states that, “the hook with social networks lies in the fact, that before the world of flickr and twitter, I would have been isolated, and have had no where to turn to. Thanks to flickr and twitter, there’s now a place to converse about this issue, as well as a network of support/guidance. A once lost voice, is now heard.”

Now that the challenge is out there, Henderson & Horning will have to do damage control.

Had Henderson & Horning more critically assessed their advertising campaign to ensure it reflected their brand appropriately, or, had they addressed Wade’s concerns when he called to complain, Wade may not have decided to lodge a formal complaint and keep the issue alive—for weeks—via social networking. Everything you DO and SAY matters in brand management. Absolutely everything. And, never has it been more painfully true than now in the world of social networking.

–Jen Travis

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