It can be difficult for brands to know how—and how often—to respond to people on Twitter. Some limit their interactions to pressing customer-service needs. Others reply enthusiastically (if sporadically) to praise, while ignoring criticism. Some don't bother replying at all. Australian brewer Carlton Draught seems to have come up with a pretty sound, if somewhat daunting, position on the matter for its @CarltonDraught account: Respond to absolutely everyone, and try to be as friendly and personal as possible about it. This is a decent strategy that the brand seems to have followed for more than a year. But it's gotten tougher of late, as the @ mentions have been pouring in following the YouTube success of the brand's epic new "Beer Chase" commercial below (which some are calling the best beer ad of the year, if not the decade). Things have slowed down since last week, but in the first few days, the brand responded to literally hundreds of messages per day, almost always personalizing it with some sort of quip, and frequently signing off with an amiable "Cheers." This surely goes over well with its target, but is it worth the effort—particularly as the volume becomes unmanagable? How do your brands handle @ replies?
