One person can build a following. A team protects a brand.

Social media has changed the way companies communicate with customers. A CEO, founder, salesperson or marketing executive can post something in seconds and potentially reach thousands—or millions—of people.

That immediacy is powerful.

It is also dangerous.

A recent controversy involving furniture company Lovesac provides a timely reminder of why companies should think carefully about who represents their brand online and, more importantly, how many people should be involved before a corporate social-media post goes public.

The lesson isn’t that CEOs shouldn’t use social media.

The lesson is that no single person should have unchecked control over a company’s public voice.

The Lovesac Example: When Humor Goes Too Far

Lovesac recently found itself at the center of a social-media backlash following a viral video from comedian and social-media creator Deric Cahill about assembling a Lovesac sectional.

Cahill joked about the difficulty of assembling the couch, which reportedly arrived in 24 boxes and took roughly five hours to put together.

Instead of simply acknowledging the customer’s experience or engaging with the humor, Lovesac attempted to turn the situation into a social-media marketing opportunity.

The company’s response included a video featuring an employee putting a couch section into its cover accompanied by language making fun of a “grown man” needing small gloves to assemble the couch. The post was intended to be humorous and culturally relevant.

It didn’t go as planned.

The post generated significant attention and criticism, with Inc. reporting that it accumulated more than 442,000 views on TikTok. CEO Shawn Nelson subsequently became personally involved, including posting a response and addressing the controversy through the company’s social channels.

What was intended to be a clever marketing moment became a conversation about the company’s judgment, tone and response.

And that’s the important distinction:

The problem wasn’t necessarily that Lovesac tried to be funny. The problem was that the brand didn’t appear to have enough distance between the creative idea, the executive response and the final corporate message.

Then Wendy’s Entered the Conversation

Here’s where the story becomes even more interesting for marketers.

Wendy’s, a fast-food company, jumped into the conversation.

In response to Lovesac’s continuing social-media controversy, Wendy’s commented:

“If u put together my wayfair couch for me ill help u with your social media. Its a fair trade.”

Suddenly, Wendy’s—a company that sells hamburgers and Frostys—was participating in a conversation about assembling furniture and corporate social-media strategy.

And it worked.

Why?

Because Wendy’s already has a recognizable social-media personality. The brand has spent years establishing a voice that is witty, sarcastic and willing to engage with other companies and consumers.

Wendy’s isn’t selling couches.

But Wendy’s was selling personality.

That is the power of a well-managed corporate social-media team.

Inc. specifically identified Wendy’s among the companies joining the conversation and noted the brand’s comment on the Lovesac controversy.

Wendy’s Didn’t Accidentally Build This Reputation

Wendy’s social-media success isn’t simply the result of someone sitting at a computer and writing funny comments.

The company has historically invested in a social-media team and developed a recognizable brand voice.

A Forbes examination of Wendy’s social strategy found that its social-media operation included an in-house team working alongside its agency partner. The team worked closely with brand and insights personnel and even collaborated with Wendy’s culinary team to understand the products they were representing.

That’s an important distinction.

The personality may look like one person. The capability behind the personality is a team.

That’s exactly what more businesses should be building.

The Risk of Making One Person the Brand

When one executive becomes the primary voice of a company online, the company can become dangerously dependent on that individual’s judgment.

Consider what happens when that person:

• Posts something offensive
• Misreads the tone of a conversation
• Responds emotionally to criticism
• Makes a joke that doesn’t land
• Accidentally reveals confidential information
• Responds to a competitor without understanding the implications
• Makes a political or controversial statement
• Gets into an argument with a customer
• Posts from the wrong account
• Deletes something that has already been screenshotted
• Says something that contradicts the company’s official position

The internet doesn’t distinguish very well between:

“The CEO said it.”

and

“The company said it.”

That is the danger.

A CEO may believe they’re speaking personally.

The marketplace may believe they’re speaking for the company.

A Social Media Team Creates a “Second Set of Eyes”

The biggest advantage of a team isn’t necessarily creativity.

It’s judgment.

Before a potentially controversial post goes live, someone should be able to ask:

“How could this be interpreted differently than we intend?”

That’s an incredibly valuable question.

A strong social-media operation might include:

1. The Brand Strategist

This person asks:

Does this reinforce who we are?

Every post doesn’t have to sell a product. But it should contribute to the company’s reputation.

2. The Content Creator

This person understands how to create content that people actually want to consume.

Not every corporate post needs to sound like a press release.

3. The Community Manager

This person monitors comments, conversations, competitors and emerging issues.

They’re often the first person to recognize that a conversation is beginning to move in the wrong direction.

4. The Subject-Matter Expert

Technical companies especially need this person.

If a company sells cybersecurity, networking, AI, medical technology, industrial equipment or financial services, the social-media team needs access to people who actually understand the subject.

5. The Executive Voice

This is where CEOs and founders can be incredibly valuable.

Executives bring authenticity, credibility and personality.

But they shouldn’t necessarily be the only voice.

CEOs Should Be Amplifiers—Not the Entire Broadcast System

There is nothing wrong with a CEO being active on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, TikTok or other platforms.

In fact, executive visibility can be extremely valuable.

Customers want to know there are real people behind companies.

Employees want to hear from leadership.

Investors want to understand the company’s direction.

Partners want to see the leadership team.

But there is a difference between:

“Our CEO is active on social media.”

and

“Our CEO is our social-media department.”

The first can be an advantage.

The second can become a liability.

A CEO should be able to say:

“Here’s what I believe.”

while the corporate social-media team can determine:

“Here’s how the company should communicate it.”

That separation creates accountability without eliminating authenticity.

The Bigger Opportunity: Social Media Can Expand Your Market

The Wendy’s example demonstrates something else that businesses should pay attention to.

A good social-media team doesn’t merely promote products.

It inserts the brand into conversations.

Wendy’s sells food.

Yet a conversation about a couch gave Wendy’s an opportunity to appear in front of an entirely different audience.

That’s marketing leverage.

Imagine a cybersecurity company commenting intelligently on a major data breach.

Imagine an IT reseller commenting on a viral technology failure.

Imagine an automotive company joining a conversation about a transportation innovation.

Imagine a networking company participating in a discussion about a major internet outage.

The company doesn’t have to be directly involved in the story.

It simply needs to have something relevant, intelligent—or occasionally funny—to contribute.

That can put the brand in front of people who may never have encountered it otherwise.

Social Media Is Now a Team Sport

The traditional corporate marketing model was relatively simple:

Marketing → Advertisement → Customer

Social media changed that model.

Today it looks more like:

Company → Content → Conversation → Community → Customer

The company isn’t simply broadcasting anymore.

It is participating.

And participation requires monitoring, judgment, speed, creativity and consistency.

That’s difficult for one person to manage.

The “Two-Person Rule” for Corporate Social Media

Companies don’t necessarily need a department of 20 people.

Even a small company can establish a simple rule:

No potentially controversial corporate post goes live without a second person reviewing it.

For larger organizations, the process can be more sophisticated:

Creator → Reviewer → Brand Approval → Publish → Monitor → Respond

For routine posts, the process can be much faster.

For sensitive posts, it should slow down.

The objective isn’t to create bureaucracy.

It’s to prevent a five-second decision from creating a five-week reputation problem.

The Real Cost Isn’t the Social Media Manager

Many companies look at the cost of hiring a social-media professional and ask:

“Can we afford another employee?”

The better question is:

“Can we afford one bad post?”

A single viral post can generate:

• Negative press
• Customer complaints
• Lost sales
• Employee dissatisfaction
• Competitor attention
• Investor questions
• Search-engine reputation problems
• Screenshots that live forever

And once something becomes viral, the company can’t simply turn it off.

The cost of prevention is usually dramatically lower than the cost of reputation recovery.

The Winning Formula

Companies should encourage executives to be visible.

They should encourage employees to become brand advocates.

They should create authentic content.

They should respond quickly.

They should even have fun.

But the company should maintain a team-based social-media strategy behind the scenes.

The best model is not:

One person speaks for the company.

It’s:

A team builds the company’s voice, while individuals bring it to life.

That’s what makes Wendy’s particularly interesting in this recent Lovesac episode.

Wendy’s wasn’t selling furniture.

It wasn’t trying to become a furniture company.

It simply recognized an opportunity to participate in a cultural conversation—and its established social-media personality allowed it to do so naturally.

Meanwhile, Lovesac’s attempt to manufacture a viral moment demonstrated how quickly a brand can lose control of the narrative when humor, executive involvement and corporate communication collide without enough strategic distance.

The Bottom Line

Your company’s social-media presence is no longer just marketing.

It is part of your corporate reputation.

Treating it as the personal megaphone of one executive, founder or employee creates unnecessary risk.

Build a team.

Give that team a defined brand voice.

Let executives participate.

Create approval guidelines.

Monitor conversations.

And most importantly, give someone permission to say:

“Maybe we shouldn’t post that.”

Because the best social-media teams aren’t the ones that prevent companies from being funny, controversial or bold.

They’re the teams that know when to push the button—and when not to.