Dealing with negative comments on social media

Social media provides a never before opportunity to connect with your buyers, increase brand exposure and generate word of mouth advertising at a fraction of the cost of traditional media. However, social media can turn to be a double-edged sword as businesses are increasingly discovering.

Someone, somewhere, is inevitably going to post a negative comment criticizing your service or your product, opening businesses to a universe of criticism. What’s more, sometimes the criticism is not even based on facts. Somebody can post a negative comment if he:

• Doesnot like your product.
• Is not happy with their buy.
• Is not in agreement with your postings
• Is upset about a comment by a fan

How you and your business manage the negative social media publicity will determine, to a large extent, whether you will geta new customer or drive away a potential sale. If handled effectively, negative feedback can infact be a golden opportunity to gain customer loyalty and enhance your brand’s online reputation. Below are some interesting statistics to highlight the fact that negative comments on social media can infact be a powerful tool to enhance the reputation of your brand.

Tips to Deal with Negative comments

Below are some golden rules to convert a negative comment and the associated reputation loss, into a positive brand experience.

• The first and foremost rule in managing negative feedback is to respond as fast as possible.The faster the response, the greater is the perception that you care and acknowledge the complaint.
• Conduct an openand fair enquiry regarding the event to determine if there is any merit attached to the negative feedback.
• Engage the commenter in a constructive dialogue. You don’t need to provide him an immediate solution but need to provide him an assurance that his feedback is being takenseriously. You can also clarify certain points, or reiterate the context you are coming from.
• Sincerity and transparency in communication while responding to negative criticism goes a long way in establishing a personal connect with your users. There is no point in trying to hide the facts or making excuses, instead you can earn more brownie points with your customers by admitting your mistake upfront, apologizing to them and reassuring them that it will not happen again.
• Provide a detailed explanation supported by facts where there is an issue that customers should know about.
• Keep the communication completely professional even if the person complaining tries to make it personal.
• Social media is probably not the ideal forum to resolve complex or highly sensitive issues. A more effective strategy is to offer to continue the conversation through an alternative channel of communication, be it phone, email or an online support forum. This gives you time to take damage control steps wile parallely resolving the issue with the commenter.
• Finally, if you are convinced that the comment is totally without merit and has been written with the primary intent of creating a controversy, it is best to respond to it once to clarify the inaccuracies in the comment posted. There is no harm in deleting comments, which are totally out of line, if the situation so warrants.

Even if your business does not have an active social media presence, it is still important for you to know the comments regarding your company on other review sites to be vigilant against any negative brand perception. By setting up alerts through Google and other online tools, you can ensure that you are able to respond fast and effectively where required, to prevent any negative build up regarding your brand.