KLM’s World Cup tweet runs afoul of one very important reputation rule

After Delta took a beating on Twitter for its World Cup tweet, you’d think that other companies would learn from their lesson.

I guess KLM was at lunch, while the rest of the world took offense, because, after the Netherlands beat Mexico in the World Cup, it posted this to Twitter:

Now, I’ve said this many times before, but I’m going to type it really slow, so that it sinks in 😉

It’s not your own audience that you need worry about offending, it’s everyone else.

Time and time again, we see companies that post something that I’m sure the social media team thought, “hey, our fans are gonna love this,” only to then face a huge backlash. What they forget is that we live in the age of being offended. While I am sure KLM believes its Twitter audience is made up of mostly Dutch fliers, currently celebrating their team’s come-from-behind World Cup victory, it forgot how quickly a retweet can send the message to everyone else.

So, to recap: don’t post something that you think your audience will find funny, if there’s even the slightest chance that others will be offended.