What are the potential drawbacks of leveraging or encouraging dialogue from brand rivals?

Brands often focus their marketing efforts on encouraging fans to engage with them on their web and social media sites. But what happens when fans of competing brands engage with the brand and its fans on its social media pages—sometimes called “trolling”? Brand managers may have heard not to “feed the trolls.” However, recent research suggests that when rival brand fans engage, it provides an opportunity for marketing managers to influence the rival brand’s customers and to strengthen their own brand’s message. The research also suggests that posts from rival brand fans can motivate central brand fans to react in a positive way that increases engagement and positive brand messages about the central brand.