The 10 Biggest Social Media Marketing Fails Of 2013

There are some good corporate social media accounts out there. Oreo churns out cute ads based on current events, and the British cell provider Tesco Mobile caught the Internet's attention with charmingly sarcastic tweets that even trolls can't resist.

But there are at least as many fails going on in the marketing social sphere as wins, and the fails are often epic. 

A common element to all of these mishaps is that the social media team was not listening. And listening does not just mean talking to customers. It means being aware of the company's place in the Internet's culture and knowing that customers do not appreciate mass-produced responses.

The following list compiles the year's best of the worst, in which a brand's social missteps became magnified for the world to see through nonstop sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit — and sites like us, Business Insider.

10. Strip club chain Spearmint Rhino's Melbourne team thought they'd be naughty and have Facebook users guess whose baby picture they uploaded. It didn't take long for users to look at the VHS sceenshot's time stamp and realize that the future stripper was now only 14 years old. Spearmint Rhino "liked" its own post.

9. Kmart was excited to reveal they would be open earlier than ever this Thanksgiving and would stay open through all of Black Friday. So when customers complained about the ethics of the decision, a stumbling Kmart social team responded with over 100 caveman-like statements.

@jennbrazen Kmart is staffing w/ teams & seasonal associates when possible, giving them opportunity to make extra money during holiday.

— Kmart (@Kmart) November 6, 2013

@nuggetfan4life Kmart is staffing w/ teams & seasonal associates when possible, giving them opportunity to make extra money during holiday.

— Kmart (@Kmart) November 5, 2013

@AnnalisaAlosco Kmart is staffing w/ teams & seasonal associates when possible, giving them opportunity to make extra money during holiday.

— Kmart (@Kmart) November 5, 2013

8. Few things hurt a brand more than an accusation of racism. So even though it's impossible to tell if this tweet from Home Depot was indeed racist or simply stupid, the fact that the Twittersphere was up in arms over it made corporate delete the tweet, apologize for two days, and fire the social media agency responsible.