Barenblat believes that a brand's response should be completely transparent and not tippy-toe around the issue at hand. "It may not be a lengthy response, but it should at least acknowledge the person's comment and then provide some sort of helpful resolution," he elaborates.

"Honesty is the best policy," adds Carr, stating that it's imperative a response communicate three basic points: (1) you've identified the problem, (2) you're sorting out how to best solve the problem, and (3) you're in the process of implementing the best solution.

Zimmerman concurs that your response should be transparent -- especially if what's being said about your brand is true -- but it should also be responsible. A "responsible" response, according to her, would likely provide factual information about the issue at hand, as well as direct consumers to other helpful resources -- preferably through multiple channels. "You might tweet about it, directing them to a microsite," she elaborates. "You might have a search program; you might have somebody in-house in the company who's considered a credible expert, or in a senior management position, blog about it, directing them to further information."

"To make it work, you can't hide the bad stuff," stresses Carr on being transparent. "You've got to put it all out there, because otherwise people are not going to trust you, and they're not going to rely on that resource." He gives the example of a client with a pending lawsuit in which details of the case, many less than flattering, were leaking out over the internet through various social media channels. "What we did there was make the company the source for all information that was coming out," he explains. This allowed the client to exercise more control over the information and helped add to its credibility, since it was the party releasing the information -- both favorable and unfavorable.