1. Time is of the essence; respond to the complaint as quickly as possible. Set a goal to always respond within a day, or an hour … or consider this: 1-800-Flowers aims to respond within five minutes. Now that’s amazing service.
2. Do NOT post a canned answer. Respond to the customer in a conversational way, with a personal, customized response.
3. Even if the customer’s post on Facebook or Twitter is full of anger, resist the urge to become defensive. You are not here to argue, but to apologize for the issue and then take control of the situation by offering to help and to correct the problem.
4. Ask the customer to send you a direct message with his or her phone number or email address so you can properly discuss the issue—in private, away from the social media site.
5. Do what is necessary to offer amazing customer service and resolve the problem, then return to the original social media channel to follow up. Thank the customer for bringing the issue to your attention and allowing you to correct it. Leave a positive impression.