UPDATE: It turns out that Kyle Kinane and everyone else on the internet who followed the Pace story has been had.  Comedian Randy Liedtke established and ran the @Pace_Foods account for months before this ever occurred.  The outcome is hilarious, so make sure to read the full backstory.  

Is there a moral here for companies?  Yup. Pay attention to social media, even if you don't have an account on a particular network.  Someone else might have one in your stead.

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Corporate social media gaffes can be entertaining– for everyone except the marketing managers who have to deal with the fallout.  Remember the errant Chrysler tweet that insulted the brand’s home city? Or when Amy’s Baking Company imploded on Facebook?

Today, there’s a new one to add to the list of “how NOT to run a corporate social media account,” courtesy of Pace foods, makers of Pace Picante salsas.

It all started yesterday when comedian Kyle Kinane noticed that tweets he had made insulting the Pace brand several months ago were getting favorited by the company's account, likely thanks to the application of a rogue tweetbot.  Seeing the opportunity, Kinane pounced and made a few more tweets at the company’s expense.

Exhibit A:

Then Pace's social media team stepped in.  And that's when things got interesting.  Below are screenshots Kinane posted of a direct (private) message conversation between the comedian and the Pace Twitter account, with different Pace brand representatives jumping in and out throughout the conversation:

The fiasco ended with Pace tweeting a mea culpa and deleting their Twitter account:

Ouch.  Rough day at the office for the Pace folks.

Nobody wants to deal with public embarrassment, so if you're in charge of a corporate social media account, here's what you should learn from Pace's error:

1. Policing other people's social media comments only makes your brand look defensive.
   The Pace issue could have been avoided if they had simply unfavorited the Kinane tweets, issued a mea culpa and carried on with their day. They could have even direct-messaged Kinane and said they were sorry he thought poorly of their brand.  But by requesting that he take down the offending tweets, the brand tried to muscle a social media user into being nice, which never ends well.
2. Direct Messages are not the place to handle issues.
   When you encounter complaints on social media, the appropriate venue to handle the situation is not Twitter Direct Messages, which are character-limited just like regular tweets.  Take the conversation to email or phone so that you can communicate more clearly. 
3. Appoint a single person to handle communication on each issue.
   Whether you're dealing with ribbing from a famous comedian or simply taking care of a customer service issue, keep communication simple by appointing a single person to represent the brand.  Things got confusing when Pace signed their posts as different people.
4. Keep a positive attitude.
   Ultimately, the line between good social media response and bad social media response is drawn between a positive attitude and a negative attitude.  Adopting a negative tone or allowing yourself to become angry, critical, or hurtful is detrimental to you and your brand. Keep a positive attitude, and you'll likely stay on the right side of social media management.