SOCIAL MEDIA HAS endless potential for marketers to communicate a good brand message to huge audiences. But what happens when the customers use the same platforms to hit back?

Businessman Hasan Syed did exactly that, by buying a promoted tweet to shame British Airways into finding his father’s lost luggage.

Unhappy with the way the airline giant were failing to deal with the problem, Syed did what most people would do–he took to Twitter to vent his frustration.

But he didn’t stop there. Putting money where his mouth is, Syed used the social network’s self-serve ad platform to target tweets to British Airways’ followers in New York and the UK.

Mashable spotted the unusual promotion by Hasan’s Twitter handle, @HVSVN.

The tweet simply said:

Don’t fly @BritishAirways. Their customer service is horrendous.

Mashable Mashable

BA weren’t too quick to pick up on it, sending an apologetic response 10 hours after the promotional tweet went live.

In a statement later released to the Herald Sun, the airline said:

We would like to apologise to the customer for the inconvenience caused. We have been in contact with the customer, and the bag is due to be delivered today.

But reclaiming the bag by these unorthodox means didn’t come cheap. Syed tweeted the full cost and metrics of the campaign so far, with 76.8K impressions costing $1,000.

Twitter / HVSVN Twitter / HVSVN / HVSVN

So was it worth the expense? It would seem so, as Syed later tweeted his satisfaction with the campaign.

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