Social media provides businesses the opportunity to listen and engage with their customers on a 24/7 basis. While social media gives businesses an entirely new way to market themselves and build relationships, it can also lead to disastrous results if used incorrectly.

Below are a list of “Do’s” and “Don’ts” when it comes to engaging with customers on social media and avoiding an embarrassing customer fail service fail.

DO- Monitor Your Employees

Each of your employees has their own microphone on social media and its best that you listen to what they have to say. Whether employees post about your company or clientele in a negative way or post personal opinions that reflect poorly on your company, both of them can do damage.

Employees should be trained to know what is inappropriate on social media and employers should keep an eye on their employees’ accounts regardless just in case they don’t listen. The last thing you want is an employee posting disparaging remarks about your customers and then your customers somehow see the post. Out of many mistakes that brands make on social media, monitoring employee use is often overlooked and can bring disastrous consequences.

DON’T- Post Inappropriate Content

The easiest way for a company to get themselves in trouble on social media is to post something inappropriate. A good rule of thumb is that anything you think may be inappropriate is most likely inappropriate.  Avoid any potential embarrassment and discard that piece of content. You can always find something that is safer to post and spare yourself the backlash.

DO- Know Your History

One of the worst things a company can do is engage their audience with inappropriate content at inappropriate times. When Paramount Australia tweeted out a poster for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 2014 it had the four heroes jumping out of an exploding building. That design alone wouldn’t be a problem for most action movies, but when the release date for the movie happens to be 9/11, it suddenly becomes a lightning rod for negative reactions. In addition, you should never exploit tragedies, current or historical, as a way to sell your product.

DON’T- Ignore Negative Comments

In the past, when businesses received negative comments, they’d be postmarked and mailed to corporate or done over the phone. Now, complaints are completely out in the open and everyone can see them. The worst thing you could do is ignore or dismiss negative remarks.

Use this opportunity to rehabilitate your image with the user and the people who are reading the comment. The quicker you respond, the more people see your attempt at resolving the situation, so make sure to act fast and monitor your accounts at all times.

DO- Keep Private Things Private

A doctor should not be asking personal questions about their followers’ health in a public forum and expect public responses. Encourage users to direct message you when discussing touchy subjects. Also, anytime contact information is involved, it should be done in direct messages. You don’t want customers to feel that all of their information is right out in the open where anyone can take advantage of it.

DON’T- Set Yourself Up for Negative Remarks

When McDonald’s launched their #McDStories campaign in 2012, the world famous burger empire was likely expecting tons of positive comments. In reality, they ended up receiving snarky, to downright nasty, comments from millennials on Twitter. McDonald’s quickly stopped using the hashtag and yet it still lives on today. A luxury company with a sterling reputation could get away with this, but a fast food company who has served billions of people will have millions of negative stories in their history.

BONUS: Treat Your Customers with Respect Outside of Social

Just because an issue arises outside of social doesn’t mean it won’t soon appear on social. More people than ever before are going to find out about any mistake your business makes so everyone must be on the top of their game at all times.

These are just a few suggestions for your brand to follow while you put forth social media efforts. Have a nightmare story about how social media backfired on you? Leave it in the comments below!