One of our clients was recently faced with some negative comments on social media. Rather than bury their head in the sand, we assisted with tackling the situation head on. However, having not encountered this before, we looked into the best way of approaching this.
Here’s what we found:
Remain Positive
Reading negative comments about your company, product or service might feel like a personal attack but don’t let it get to you. When responding to feedback, always remain positive.
Respond in a timely manner
How do you find out about the comments in the first place? Unless they come into your inbox, you can’t be patrolling all social media sites day and night on the lookout for comments. However, Google Alerts are your friends! You can set them up so that you receive an email when someone posts a comment about your product/service/company. This is a better option that finding out via a third party a week after the comment was posted.
Type of comment & how to respond
There are generally three types of comment:
- A straight problem – the complaint or comment is warranted. For this you will need to acknowledge the problem/situation, apologise, take the conversation offline and lastly offer a solution
- Half-truth or misguided comment. If the comment is based on some truth but not completely factual, start by acknowledging the part of the error which is true and apologise. You can then go onto correct the misinformation but then go onto taking the conversation offline. Readers will not want to witness a public slanging match. Finally offer a solution.
- Unwarranted/untruthful comment. Still acknowledge the comment and write a general apology for the dissatisfaction that they feel. Once again take the conversation offline and get more information.
Beware of the troll
There’s a fine line between an unwarranted/untruthful comment and something that can be consider trolling or spam. There is no valid reason for the attack and trolls will often advertise a competing service. You can point out that their comments are inaccurate and unfair (provide backup) so that readers of the post get the real picture. However, the best advice is to ignore the comments and try to remove the post/comment where you can.
If you need some assistance with any of the above, please do get in contact:
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