According to one survey , 92 percent of U.S.companies now claim that social media marketing is important for their businesses . Fashion designer Kenneth Cole took advantage of the trend in 2011 by posting the following tweet : " Millions are in uproar in #Cairo Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo -KC . " Kenneth Cole was criticized on social media for capitalizing on the strife of the Egyptian revolution to promote his website . The offensive tweet was deleted , and Cole apologized by tweeting : " Re Egypt tweet : we weren't intending to make light of a serious situation . We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment -KC . " Most marketers would not make the same mistake twice . However , in September 2013 , as the United States deliberated military action in Syria , Cole tweeted the following : " Boots on the ground ' or not let's not forget about sandals , pumps and loafers . #Footwear . " To justify this action , Cole told Details magazine , " Billions of people read my inappropriate , self - promoting tweet . I got lot of harsh responses , and we hired a crisis management firm . If you look at lists of the biggest Twitter gaffes ever , we're always one through five . But our stock went up that day , our e - commerce business was better , the business at every one of our stores improved , and I picked up 3,000 new followers on Twitter . So on what criteria is this a gaffe ? Within hours , I tweeted an explanation , which had to be vetted by lawyers . I'm not even sure used the words I'm sorry - because I wasn't sorry "