But there are times (see below) when it can also work against you, and in situations like these you will often lose out if you don’t try and see the funny side. If you do, social media can work to your advantage even when feedback or sentiment is negative.

The example below shows Thomas Cook missing out on what could have been an easy PR coup, and worse still, having that opportunity snatched from them by another company, which reinforces the idea that social media is never the right platform for a sense of humour failure.

It’s a shame for Thomas Cook that they either didn’t see, or chose to ignore, the golden PR opportunity that presented itself in their namesake’s request for a free holiday. Sure, it’s probably a line they’ve heard countless times before, but in the grand scheme of things, a good bit of PR can be worth more than the cost of giving away a free trip to Paris.

On the other hand, their competitor saw the opportunity and went for it, garnering themselves some great free publicity in the process. And while I won’t be rushing out and changing my name to lowcostholidays.com in the hope of winning a free holiday anytime soon, their approach has definitely won me over.