Written by Lizzy Markman
Engagement is one of the most important aspects of building a community on social media. It can feel amazing when followers comment on your posts, but not every comment is a positive one.
When it comes to negative comments on social media, the way a brand responds not only affects individual relationships but also contributes to how all customers view the brand itself. Consumers pay attention to how businesses respond to negative comments. While these interactions can be challenging, they also provide an opportunity for you to put your best foot forward.
In this blog, we review different types of negative comments on social media and best practices for responding to each one.
The Complainer
Whether they are upset over a lack of inventory or had a bad experience with a product, many people head to the comment section to publicly air their grievances. Like it or not, social media is often the first touchpoint in a customer service relationship.
When it comes to the complainer, these are the best practices for responding to negative comments on social media about your product and or business.
Respond to the comment swiftly and publicly
Whatever you do, don’t delete the comment! Deleting a legitimate complaint will just add fuel to the fire and reflect poorly on your brand to your customers. Instead, respond in a timely manner with transparency, sincerity, and kindness.
Listen
Above all else, frustrated customers want to know that their complaint is being heard. Never react defensively or with anger. Instead, validate their concerns and assure them that their experience is important to you. Acknowledge the challenge and let them know you are taking action to prevent it.
Educate
Take their complaint as an opportunity to address this challenge head-on and answer any questions. Provide a resource to help overcome their complaint. Consider redirecting them to a newsletter or a blog post for more information.
Make it right
Depending on the complaint, you may choose to provide a replacement, discount, or refund. When you pair a thoughtful response with a discount, not only will the user feel heard, but other people looking on will also appreciate the sentiment.
Continue the conversation privately
After publicly responding, move the conversation to direct messages to further explore the customer’s complaint and try to make it right.
The Nitpicker
Whether you value women empowerment or eco-conscious design, we know you hold your company to a high standard and fortunately your followers do too.
How do you deal with negative comments on social media that nitpick at your captions, photo, blog, etc for not upholding the values you say you practice? Try these best practices:
Thank them
We’ll reiterate this, whatever you do, don’t delete these comments! Instead, thank them for taking their time and energy to hold you accountable. Ultimately, these users are concerned with making your company and the world a better place and we’re right there with them! Align yourself with these users, not against them.
Address their concerns
Don’t get defensive. Instead, take this opportunity to listen, learn, and admit if you’ve made a mistake.
Edit the post
Depending on the comment, you may want to edit the original post. If so, let the user know that you’ll edit the post accordingly. Consider tagging the user in the new copy to thank them. If necessary, you may decide to delete the post. If so, let the user know in a direct message. Also, consider putting the original conversation in stories or creating a second post that addresses this conversation to let your followers know your thought process behind deleting the post.
Change up your future strategy
Keep these complaints in mind when you create future posts. Don’t make the same mistake twice. Use this opportunity to continue to learn and consider creating a post to share these resources with your followers.
The Troll
Social media isn’t all sunshine and rainbows and some users are unnecessarily mean. What’s the difference between trolls and other negative comments? If you think a comment could make anyone in your community feel bad about themselves, this is a troll. Racism, sexism, and homophobia have no place on your page.
When it comes to bullies, we suggest using these tactics to handle their negative comments on social media.
Delete
This is one scenario where we recommend deleting the post. You don’t want any of your followers to have a negative experience on your page.
Report
Report the comment and or user to the social platform to help prevent comments like these in the future!
Block
Ultimately, you don’t want this person in your community and you should block them from your page.
At Darby Communications, we take the stress out of social media for our clients by creating content calendars for their social channels, managing daily posts, comments, and DM responses, coordinating giveaways with like-minded partners, and social media ad management. If you’re interested in learning more about our services, visit our social media page HERE or reach out to us on our Let’s Talk page.