Social media has changed the world, especially if you have a gripe. Now you can broadcast your complaints far beyond your immediate circle of family and friends. But what's the best way to complain via Twitter, Facebook or other online forums?

To find out, the Watchdog turned to Twin Cities and national "reputation managers."

Businesses can't afford to ignore crabby tweets anymore, said Christopher Lower, co-founder of Sterling Cross Communications in Maple Grove. If a complaint becomes widely disseminated before the company responds to it, the company may be perceived as not caring about the customer.

Tweeters and posters often end up in a preferred position, as the staff that handles social media in a company tends to be at a higher level than regular customer-service agents, said Ken Condren, vice president of technology at C3/ CustomerContactChannels, which tracks social media for Fortune 500 companies. In fact, Condren recommends going directly to social media with a complaint, rather than trying to talk to a store manager or calling the customer-service line first.

Here's the experts' advice:

Be specific. Merely saying that the company made you mad will not necessarily draw a response. Explaining the situation in some detail will interest those who see your complaint and make it more likely that they send the story on to their own contacts.


"The most important thing is that it's tangible," said Mary Lower, president of Sterling Cross and a partner in Social Media Breakfast -- Minneapolis/St. Paul, which holds events where marketing, public relations and other professionals get together to learn about social media. "If someone said, 'I had an awful time,' do you mean that you had a 45-minue wait, or do you mean that the server tripped and the food fell and he picked it up and gave it to you?"

Or give them a preview. Give the company a break -- at least initially -- by posting something like: "I've got a situation here; can you tell me how to contact you so I can tell you about it offline?"

Include acceptable resolutions. Tell the company what would make you happy. And don't go overboard -- no restaurant is going to feed you free for a year just because you had one bad meal.

"Tell them what it takes to keep you as a customer," Condren said. Maybe it's a refund or a gift card for a free meal.

Spread it around. Put your complaint on as many platforms as you can find: Twitter, Facebook and blogs that are yours, the company's and the brand's; general review sites such as Yelp and; industry review sites such as and You also can email somebody in the executive office at headquarters -- top-drawer email addresses can be found by searching for the company's name plus "investor relations," or by looking for the company headquarters online.

Use sites created specifically for complaining. A new one is, a social media platform that delivers your message to any company and asks for a response. Some member companies: Verizon, Home Depot, Walgreens, Orbitz. Dave Carroll, the site co-founder and author of "United Breaks Guitars: The Power of One Voice in the Age of Social Media," says companies are learning to monitor social media sites carefully.

If they don't, companies run the risk of a small number of customers having a huge negative effect on their brands, Carroll said. He should know: His 2009 YouTube video in which he sings about how United Airlines broke the neck of his $3,500 guitar went viral, getting 5 million hits within six weeks.

Calm down. Don't swear. Don't exaggerate. Sound rational, rather than emotional. Don't threaten.

"What motivation do they have to fix my problem if I'm doing nothing but screaming at the top of my lungs?" said Peter Shankman, author of "New Rules for Customer Service in a Social Media World." "You're saying ... I'm rational. (I) was really hoping to have a good experience. Make it easier for them to fix your problem."

Use key words in your complaint. Media-savvy companies search for: "sucks," "complaints," and the Twitter hashtags #fail and #facepalm (describing someone smacking his hand on his forehead).

Show them the evidence. Armed only with a phone, you can take pictures of dirty hotel rooms and videos of malfunctioning rental cars.

Make your complaint compelling. Your chances of going viral increase if other people can hear and feel your story as if it were their own, said Carroll, the Gripevine co-founder.

Follow up with a positive review. If the company responds to your complaint by doing the right thing, tell people. That makes companies more likely to make complainers happy.
