How to Deal With Negative Comments on Social Networks

They know the community manager, knows the administrators of Facebook pages, the Instagram account and, in general, professionals who deal with the management of shared spaces available on social networks. Responding to negative comments from users is probably the most difficult issue to address and resolve.

Do you want to know how to handle negative comments on social networks? In this post I suggest you 6 good rules to follow.

How to deal with negative comments on social networks

Managing communities, moderating conversations, answering in the most adequate and effective way possible is a complex activity, but not impossible.

Of course, it’s easier if you have some good rules at your disposal that can point you in the right direction.

1. Call to impulsiveness. First listen and think

Have you received a negative comment and maybe it is also a fandonia that risks affecting your reputation? Whatever the case and situation, you need to keep instinct and impulsiveness at bay.

You need to take a few minutes, listen carefully to what the user has to say, then think about what you have been told, and finally answer. This attitude will allow you to mediate and resolve even thorny crisis situations.

2. Before taking action, consult the Social Media Policy

Before deciding which behavior to adopt, consult the brand’s Social Media Policy.
It is the document in which the rules and rules of conduct are prepared which have the aim of protecting the brand, of providing a guide to the Community Managers and of defining the actions and words allowed and not allowed within the group or on the Facebook page that belong to the brand.

Here you will find all the guidelines you need to understand how to act in the face of a negative comment: how to respond, if and when to eliminate it and when to ban the person.

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3. Find out about the specific case

Today social channels are also used for Customer Care. People contact brands quickly and easily through social networks and demand equally immediate, comprehensive and decisive answers.
When a customer intervenes with a negative comment that can undermine the brand’s credibility, inquire about his specific case (contact Customer Service or those in charge), carefully understand what happened and offer him the most appropriate solution.

By doing this, your behavior will also have a positive impact on the rest of the community which, often silent, actually observes and listens to everything.

4. Don’t ignore

Ignoring is the most negative attitude you can take. It makes people very angry and generates further negative comments, usually even spicier. So what to do before a criticism? Always answer.
Does the person persist and remain immobile on his position? Try moving the conversation privately.

5. Apologize publicly and offer something valuable

Did you make the mistake? It can happen! What matters is how you react and how you act in such situations. All you have to do is apologize publicly so that the whole community can listen to you.

Furthermore, to make you forgive you must offer something precious to the person who has been wronged, something that can lead them to forgive you, that can make them feel important, that can allow them to choose you again, even in the future.

6. Remember the value of timeliness

Various researches have shown that Social users expect to receive a response from brands within 0 and 4 hours after a request. This rarely happens, but remember that timeliness is an even more important added value in crisis situations.

Acting immediately eases the spirits, calms the demands, and calms the nervousness. That’s why there are two activities you need to take into consideration:

You must always have a precise and studied action plan to understand how to act and react quickly;
You must always monitor the conversations in the social spaces of your brand, so as to be timely in the face of requests and criticisms.

How to deal with negative comments on social networks: The Conclusions

Managing negative comments is an activity that requires skills, abilities, time and familiarity, especially when conversations take place on public domain channels such as Social Networks.

Here the messages can go viral and the Brand Reputation can be very exposed.
Having a good plan of action in your hand is a very important strategic move, because it indicates the guidelines to follow, avoids many of the mistakes you may run into and allows you to act promptly.

Have you already prepared your action plan to respond to the criticisms and negative comments you encounter on Social Networks?