How to Deal with Negative Social Media Comments

Social media helps companies interact with customers directly and increases their fan base. A fan page or Twitter account lets them share the latest business news for targeted customers. Today’s young audience loves social networks and spends hours in liking and tweeting content shared by their favorite brands. To reap the benefits of social media sites, some brands hire a social media management company and ask them to maintain their Facebook, Twitter and Google+ activities.

Several companies use social media for marketing purposes but unlike print or TV ads, social media sites provide a two-way communication channel. When you market products/services, you are bound to get response from buyers and sometimes they make negative remarks on your wall. A bad quality product or a mishandled customer can lead to huge social media debate between brand and consumers and you must be very careful that things don’t get ugly.

The problem can be even worse if someone starts posting negative comments without any reason just to malign your brand name. If you have enough money to hire a reputed social media management company, then they will take care of the negative comments but what if you don’t have that much money and have to handle your social media activities on your own? Here are some useful strategies to deal with negative comments. Read them and be a Social media optimization expert.

Respond quickly – Some consumers treat fan pages as customer forum and post their grievances. As a page admin, it’s your duty to address those grievances as quickly as possible. Your customer care team may be actually responsible for the problem but customers won’t listen. If you don’t respond for a long time, they will lash out and say that the brand is worthless. Therefore, reply as soon as possible and tell him that you are looking into the issue. Don’t be irresponsible because if a few unsatisfied customers start telling their friends that your company is unprofessional, you may lose hundreds of valuable customers.

Don’t follow a standard script – Act like a human and show your fans that there is a real human being behind the social accounts. Some companies write the same scripted post like “sorry for the inconveniences” and followers get annoyed. Instead of posting the same line for every issue, try addressing the negative comment poster by name and show some sympathy.

Don’t explain, fix the issue – If you were a customer, would you like to know why the problem actually happened? For example, if you are in ecommerce business and promised 2 days delivery, customers will post negative comments if you fail to meet that deadline. Instead of explaining the reason for delay, tell the solution in the reply comment or tweet. See the problem from a customer’s point of view and you will be able to handle the crisis in a more organized manner.

Take it out of the spotlight – Instead of making the conversation lengthy; ask the customer to contact you vial mail or phone. When you discuss something on wall or Twitter or Google+ account, its visible to everyone and may influence some other fans. Hence, always try to discuss customer grievances via other communication media. Solve the problem and request him to post a positive remark about your company on the social media site. This way, your brand image will remain intact.

When it’s your fault, say sorry – For some companies, saying sorry is the toughest thing. They think that if people see them accepting a mistake on a public forum, it will damage their brand value but that’s a complete misconception. When you apologize for a mistake, the fan stops posting negative comments and understands that you value your customers.

Don’t pay attention to spammers – Some companies hire a social media management company just to malign their competitors’ brand image. They post baseless allegations and if you react, they get encouraged and start posting more negative remarks. Therefore, ignorance is the best policy in such situations. However, if you think that people are beginning to believe in that person’s malicious comments, defend yourself by providing genuine information.

Must Read: Role of Social Media in Promoting Business.

As you deal with unhappy customers at office or store, you should be prepared to handle them in social media sites as well. Negative comments are inevitable but when you solve the problems, your criticizers become your loyal customers. Do you have anything to contribute to this article or have a question to ask? Please use the comment form below, I will be very glad to answer your questions. Remember to subscribe t0 my RSS feed.