3 Lessons From British Airways Twitter Flap

Grindeland said that many businesses turn to social listening software that picks up on negative comments and messages and alerts businesses when there might be a situation they need to address.

2. Be Proactive

The worst thing a company can do with negative posts -- whether on Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere -- is ignore them, Grindeland said. "With British Airways, they didn't respond to the ad or the messages right away, and it made the company look stupid and callous by ignoring the customer, Grindeland said. "That created bad PR for them."

Once Syed's ad started popping up in users' feeds, others replied to him to share their British Airways nightmare story, whether it was a cancelled flight, lost luggage or a downgraded seat due to overbooking. Nipping a situation in the bud helps ensure it doesn't get bigger than necessary, Grindeland said. He commended FedEx for its quick response to a situation, which ensured that the problem not only didn't get out of hand, but was resolved as well.

3. Be Empathetic

In the FedEx video that addressed the package handling incident, Brown stated that the company was disappointed, that the situation was unacceptable, and that it apologizes to its customers for the actions of the individual. Grindeland says that when businesses address a situation on social media, it's important to do so empathetically.

Grindeland described another situation in which a customer was disappointed with a business's customer service. The customer posted a rant on Twitter expressing his frustration and describing his bad customer service experience. Within minutes, the company replied to the customer, apologized to him and invited him to talk offline so they could resolve the problem. Grindeland said that after their offline conversation, the customer went back to Twitter to post about how great his experience was.

"This company used the platform to show concern and not get defensive about the situation or start a fight in the social sphere," he said. "By taking the time to connect with them offline, they were rewarded with an unsolicited post about how great the company was."

Grindeland said that being present, empathetic and proactive will help businesses adjust to the new ways social media is being used for customer service. "Companies really need to understand that social media is part of the business landscape now. They need to have a strategy, escalation and community guidelines, and tell their community managers what to do and what not to do," he said. "Businesses also need to understand the etiquette of social media, and behave within that etiquette. Use the medium themselves as it's being used by their customers."