No matter how hard your company strives to create quality products and/or services, by belonging to a competitive market that lives in digital media, you are not exempt from learning how to handle negative comments or criticism on social media.
In this article, we will give you some tips so you can learn how to do it correctly.
Nowadays, dealing with negative comments on social media is usually a common practice, since consumers are becoming more demanding and more difficult to satisfy their expectations 100%.
Keep in mind that social media are a bridge that connects brands with consumers, so they are a safe space where they will go to make their complaints and, therefore, an important letter of introduction for your company.
Leaving comments on social media or references on search engines is a way for consumers to get your attention and do something to change their experiences as customers.
Since inbound marketing and other business philosophies exist that motivate companies to justify the quality of their products and services to consumers with valuable content, success stories and growth statistics, you should not be surprised to find consumers expressing their discontent, by not having said information.
On the contrary, you should consider their comments as the impetus for a new process of reflection, analysis and monitoring of the processes that are being carried out in your company, to evaluate which actions are being executed poorly or, failing that, which should be changed to Don’t make the same mistake again.
Hubspot studies reveal that 79% of consumers trust more in the comments they see on a website or social network about a product or service and 77% of them review the comments of a product or service before making a purchase. buys.
The good news is that in most cases, a negative customer experience could turn into a positive milestone if the complaint is well handled and resolved.
That is why below we will give you some tips to deal with negative comments or criticism on social media without publicly damaging your reputation, or that of the client:
Tips for handling negative comments on social media
1. Respond in a personalized way
Regardless of the negative comment or criticism that has been made to you on your social media, always respond by addressing the person by name and mention the account within the comment.
You can start your response with: “Hello Jhon! Thank you very much for your observation” and at the end, mention the user.
This shows that while there was a lack of interest from your company in pleasing their needs at some point, at least you are doing it now.
The person will be able to take your response better and appreciate that gesture, which makes them feel visible and taken into account. Let that person know that, although his comment is negative, it is important that he made it for the growth of your company.
2. Be smart with the emotions to transmit
When responding to negative comments or criticism on social media, first think about what emotions you want to convey and evaluate which ones are best for you to express.
It is normal to be bothered by negative opinions from third parties, especially if they tend to be offensive. However, the important thing is to stay calm and be emotionally intelligent by not allowing those angry feelings to dominate you and make you make mistakes that you will not be able to take back.
Never offend a customer, even if they have done so in their comment. Resorting to verbal violence will not help solve the problem.
On the contrary, it can be a point from which other customers can rely to stop purchasing your products and/or services.
The truth is that no one wants to buy from a company that publicly treats and humiliates its followers or buyers.
3. Hold your entire team accountable
For example, if it was your community manager’s mistake to have made a spelling mistake in a post, apologize on behalf of the entire team and do not make public the name or position of who made the mistake.
By having a company that supports a group of people, you must be responsible to them and not expose their mistakes.
If you do, your company will end up being an organization that discredits the work of its employees and depending on how serious the error would have been, these are circumstances that can be solved privately if it is assertively communicated to the person responsible.
4. Reward those affected
If ultimately your company made a serious mistake with one of your clients and they express it on your social media, making a negative comment or criticism on your social media, use it as an opportunity to apologize to that person by giving them a promotion or discount on their next purchase.
This is a responsible and person-friendly way to apologize. Thus, the client feels that there was a reward after all and that his opinion was heard.
Your other followers can see those actions and recognize that you are trying to be responsible despite having made a mistake.
5. Don’t delete anything
Presumably, the easiest way out will be to eliminate the negative comment on your social media, since this allows you to minimize damage to your reputation, damage your reputation and have to publicly confront that opinion.
However, if this is a demanding consumer whose complaint they consider quite important, your action may end up being somewhat offensive to them. So much so that he can comment on your posts again and in this case, with two different annoyances.
Making your clients invisible will not help anything, nor will it improve your situation. Try to see negative comments or criticism on social media as an opportunity to correct in time a bad practice, strategy or habit that is being used incorrectly.
Be consistent with your mistakes and make the most of them. An intelligent action is to overcome obstacles and see learning in each of them. Therefore, we hope that our tips on how to handle negative comments on social media have been of great help to you.
