Getting involved in a conversation with someone writing bad comments about your company on Twitter is a slippery slope. Ninety percent of the time I recommend not intervening. People need to let off steam and they will find a way to do it whether you’re watching or not.
I only recommend you intervene if you believe that there is something your company can do to help. For example if they say “I hate Company X, I will never use them again!” let it go, you will never be able to satisfy every customer. However, if they say “I hate Company X, they excluded me from a deal that they are giving to all of the new customers!” In this instance you may want to participate in the discussion because there is something concrete that you can do to help the situation. In this example, you may want to use their name from twitter and try to find their account and sort out the situation. Then you can go onto Twitter, identify who you are and who you work for and explain that you appreciate their loyalty and you have approved them to receive the promotional deal.
The one thing to be careful about is how you obtain the customer’s information. Check with your company’s legal team to find out what you can and cannot do. If you are not able to get the customer’s information it is best to contact the person via twitter. Let them know who you are and who you work for. Then tell them you want to help anyway you can and ask them to send you their information via twitter message or personal email so that you can deal with the matter more confidentially. It is very important to double check with someone else in your company before you send a message. You can never…I repeat NEVER take it back and you don’t want to fuel the fire.
The most important thing to remember is your image. If you believe that someone on twitter can benefit from you intervening, than it will benefit your image as well. Showing people that you are listening and willing to help will make them feel empowered, which can lead them to tell their friends about your company.
If you want advice about a specific incident happening to your company, leave a message below explaining your situation.