Handling problems on social media is one of the biggest challenges that marketers have to face – information spreads fast, and it’s important to handle drama before it explodes into a wildfire of negativity and damaged sales numbers.

Early yesterday morning, information about one of Xbox’s new consoles (which we now know to be the Series S) was leaked. And no matter where you stand on the console debate, the way Xbox handled the leak was a masterclass in social media marketing.

Let’s dive in:

• In the early morning hours yesterday, information about the new Xbox Series S was leaked. The details hit tech blogs within minutes. At this point, Xbox had to make a choice about how to approach the situation.
• Less than 3 hours later, Xbox tweeted out the Awkward Look Monkey meme. You know, the one where the puppet monkey is giving an awkward look to the camera, then looks away? It was a hilarious first step to acknowledging the leak.
• About an hour after tweeting the meme, Xbox tweeted an official confirmation. And, just like clockwork, the Xbox team put together an official announcement on Twitter. No use ignoring what’s already out there, right?
• A couple hours after the confirmation, Xbox tweeted even more details. To capitalize on the hype, Xbox announced more details about the console in a tweet about 12 hours after the initial scandal.

Why is this important? Xbox used humor and honesty to confront the console leak, which generated hype on social media and no doubt gained some respect in the gaming community. If your brand is on social media, it’s important to understand to know how to approach unexpected situations like this one.

Oh, and also: we summarized our breakdown from Jack Appleby’s thread on Twitter. He’s a creative strategist at Twitch, and his thread is definitely worth checking out – you can do that here.

Take notes, marketers!