How To Deal With Negative Comments on Social Media
No matter what social media sites you leverage for your business, you will likely be exposed to negative comments at some point or another.
Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, some people can get really nasty with their comments.
Most people are good at ignoring negative comments, but just because your other followers aren’t saying anything doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect your brand or business.
Negative comments can deter new followers from being your customers or following your page. If they see a negative comment, they have no idea about the reason why the person left that.
In their eyes, you as a business did something wrong, someone complained about it, and you haven’t replied to them.
Do you see how it can look bad to those who don’t know the full story?
The best way to deal with comments is to reply in a non-negative way. Here are some tips on how to deal with these negative comments.
Always Be Nice
Even if you are upset about a rude comment someone left, try to be nice to them. Yes, it’s okay to be annoyed in your head, but don’t let other people know that.
If someone leaves a negative or rude comment, and you reply very nicely, people will respect you for your professionalism.
I’ve seen many cases where I replied nicely to a negative comment, and the person immediately lightened up. Some have even gone as far as apologizing for leaving the negative comment in the first place.
It’s important to stay neutral and friendly when replying to negative comments instead of hitting them with the same tone they gave you.
The old saying goes, “you can’t fight fire with fire”.
Early Detection
Negative comments are dealt with best when they are seen right away. This can be hard to do unless you are monitoring your account.
If you don’t have the time to check your social media accounts every day to do this, you can always hire a social media manager. Another suggestion is to look for a virtual assistant on Odesk or a similar platform.
The longer the negative comment goes without a reply, the worse it is and the more people will see it.
Don’t Neglect Negative Comments
No matter how tempting it is, I encourage you not to delete or ignore the negative comments or feedback.
If you neglect someone who left a negative comment, this will only fuel their emotions more, and they are more likely to comment again.
If someone is leaving a complaint, act on that complaint. If someone is asking a question, answer the question. Replying to negative comments will make it seem like you have great customer service, and it will show that you truly care about hearing what people have to say about your services.
It’s a great way to engage with your followers and it can also improve your business / brand reputation.
You don’t want to be known as the company that always deletes their followers’ comments.
Not to mention if you delete a comment, the person who left the comment could get angry even more and they will likely leave comments like “why did you delete my last comment instead of replying to me?” which reflects negatively on your brand.
Other Options Instead of Replying
If someone left a nasty comment/complaint and you don’t want to deal with them publicly, but you don’t want to ignore them either, there is another option.
You can simply comment back asking the customer to call you or email you. Make sure that you keep a polite tone in your reply. This makes you look very professional to your other customers/followers.
Instances When It Is Okay To Delete Comments
I know I just talked about how it’s not a good idea to delete negative comments, but there are some cases when it’s necessary. If a negative comment is related to your service, business, or products you sell, that should be kept.
However, if a comment has abusive or foul language, you might want to delete it.
If someone is leaving a threat against you or any other individual, you can report that comment to the social media platform you are doing business on.
Be Personal
My last tip when dealing with negative comments is to be as personal as you can be.
There are so many people who leave comments and beat up brands because they think it’s a huge organization run by multiple people who don’t really care about them.
I’ve noticed that people really cool down once they see that they are talking to a real individual person, with a name.
Sometimes it’s better to talk to them as a person instead of as a business owner.
Conclusion
I hope this blog post was helpful and that you now have a better idea of how to deal with negative comments and reviews on any of your social media sites.
If you have any other tips or suggestions, or if you’ve personally experienced this before, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Feel free to share your experience in dealing with not so friendly comments.
