Asked what their company had done to minimize negative comments in the past, nearly one-half reported having directly engaged with the consumer. The second-most-common strategy was longer-term in focus: trying to improve products and services.

A few respondents had tried to get offending content removed, but that tactic can backfire and cause further negative remarks against the brand. Econsultancy noted that only 12% of companies tried to create their own content to offset negative consumer opinions in search results, and that more could go this route.

Brand monitoring was an important aspect of Twitter usage as well, among the companies surveyed, though publicizing new content was the top activity. About one-quarter of companies were using the microblogging site for customer service or gathering customer feedback.

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