The Singapore Tourism Board's video of a couple visiting Singapore on their anniversary achieved virality among Singaporeans this evening.

Watch it here:

But it's for all the wrong reasons: Shaky camera-work, poor dubbing, illogical flow of events, an unhygienic surprise gift, as well as portraying a supposedly pregnant lady drinking champagne.

The video was originally uploaded on STB's YouTube channel, as well as the Philippines STB Facebook page.

And in an attempt to quell the negative backlash online, STB took down the videos on both pages barely a few hours later.

Which made the video go even more insanely viral as it pique people's interest even more.

Is this a PR disaster? Can STB salvage the situation? What should they do?

We don't know for sure, but here are three rules STB and other social media marketers should always remember:

1. Do not take down the videos and hide.

2. Do not take down the videos and hide. 

3. Do not take down the videos and hide. 

And here's some other advice social media marketers can use:

1. If you're posting something online, it's going to stay online. Forever.

The Internet is vast and there is an inordinate number of people with too much time on their hands. They will, therefore, save any content you put up so long as it has the remotest chance for entertainment.

It's no surprise the Internet has spawned websites like 4chan and I Can Has Cheezburger.

2. Set the agenda. Clarify online rumours and misconception.

Keeping Advice no. 1 in mind: Do not try to hide the information anymore.

Instead, take the opportunity to clarify public doubts. As the online spotlight is on you, take this time to correct public misconception about you. If you are lucky, you can even highlight your more positive initiatives.

Read how StarHub managed to turned around its mascot adoption scandal by clarifying public misconceptions.

3. If someone picks up your content, engage them.

Taking the videos down without any announcements, or not engaging the people sharing the video lets people think that you are not proud of what you uploaded.

It was a missed chance on STB's part to have a conversation with social media opinion leaders who shared the video:

http://t.co/wYeHPuD3Lv Singapore Tourism Board's cringeworthy video that was deleted from their Youtube channel.

— mrbrown (@mrbrown) April 7, 2014

STB could have given some context to the video and explained that it was pretty well-received by its intended audience.

4. Speed kills.

This was the favourite mantra of the famous Bill Clinton's campaign “war room” in the 1992 US Presidential elections campaign.

In social media, an hour is an eternity.

It has been six hours since the Mothership.sg article on STB's viral video was published.

During these six hours, the issue was already reported in the news outlets:

 Source

Source

Yahoo Singapore reported that it has contacted the STB for more information. But STB was not quoted in the article.

All was also silent on STB's website and its social media platforms.

5. Try not to make the same mistake TWICE.

When STB took its video down, it must have realised that the news was already spreading like wildfire online.

Instead, it decided to make the same mistake again by deleting its post on STB-Philippines page.

6. There will always be some redeeming factor

In fact, before the video post on STB's Philippines page was taken down, it did receive many Facebook Likes and Shares, as well as many positive comments. It was a pity that they deleted that post as it removed all traces of positivity as well.

Lucky for them, the Internet is vast and has many content saving people like yours truly. Check out the positive comments:

It looked like the video did its job, didn't it? It appealed to its intended target audience. Why take it down then?

And finally, one should never claim that your social media account was hacked, or go into hiding and hope that it will blow over.

This will never happen because the Internet will outlive all of us.

Singapore Tourism Board has issued an official media statement about the video. Read it here.

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