If you have been looking for a case study on how to reply to negative (and even a little bit crazy) social media posts about your business.  You need to take a look at BodyForm’s spot on rebuttal of Richard Neill’s ranting post last week.  Richard complained about the deceptive nature of Bodyform’s commercials—noting that in real life, a woman’s menstrual period is not, in fact, a wonderful monthly experience during which she goes parachuting and rides lots of rollercoasters. When he finally got a girlfriend and went through her first period, “There was no joy, no extreme sports, no blue water spilling over wings, and no rocking soundtrack,” he wrote.

Read Richard’s original post then watch Bodyform’s reply below:

See what a gem Bodyform’s rebuttal is!  It is as perfect a comeback as it gets.  It is calm, witty, and totally hilarious.  Even the choice of reply via video was brilliant.  For one it puts your answer on an entirely new platform which puts you in from of more and different eyeballs AND we all know subtle meanings and nuances are easier and more clearly expressed face to face rather than in the written word. 

Best of all for Bodyform their quirky little video reply has been picked up by media outlets all over the world.  They took a very awkward post (which had gotten a lot of attention) and turned into a very successful and memorable media event for them.

Just think of what an epic fail this could have turned into if they had bungled it.  Granted in this instance the original post was meant to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek.   However it could just have easily been something scarily similar written by someone pissed off and disturbed.

What happens on any social network can haunt you and your business forever.  You have to be ready to answer whatever the public (even the crazy trolls) throw at you.  This is a perfect example of how you can take even a terrible comment or complaint and with a little thought (and a video camera) turn it into a  shining moment for your business.