How your brand should respond to negative tweets

Responding to negative comments on Twitter has become something of an art for brand managers.

The best response often is to move the conversation offline, so the underlying issue can be addressed privately. An upfront apology presents an opportunity to make amends with the consumer in question.

Your response is a reflection of your brand’s personality, and each interaction is an opportunity to inject humanity into the equation and develop a deeper relationship with your clientele.

Here are some approaches to emulate:

Smart USA

Smart Cars are petite, and because of the endless number of jokes made about their size on Twitter, Smart USA’s PR team decided to make a change. In an effort to cement its image as an irreverent, fun-loving brand, managers adopted a “humor our haters” approach.

The approach showed that they aren’t afraid to play along and ended up turning a slew of insults into an opportunity to have a little fun:

The next day, @adtothebone blogged about the brand’s response—calling it the “best social media response ever.”