Regardless of whether you’re a digital marketer or just a blogger, managing comments on social media is part of the job. Eventually, every social media manager has to go through the dreaded negative social media comments.

Dealing with these negative comments can be tricky, especially if you’re managing responses on behalf of a client and it’s their reputation and yours on the line. Since there is always at least one disgruntled consumer who has to be dealt with, you need to know how to tactfully and politely respond. And that’s where digital advertising agency Fusion 360 comes in. With their infographic, titled How To Manage Negative Social Media Comments, they guide us through 6 simple tips for handling negative social media comments.

Why should you care about how you handle negative comments? Because of the public nature of social media, it’s too easy to turn a complaint into a disaster. Take a look at the infographic below for tips on how you can better handle marketing-related crisis.

How to manage negative social media comments

Every time people write negative social media comments about your product or services, your whole social media audience can see it. From there, you’ll be judged on several criteria, including: how quickly you respond, what was your reaction, your customer’s reaction and how it ends.

Learn from what’s taken place

Even though social media distances us from the people hiding behind their profiles, harsh and negative social media comments can be difficult to deal with—even for the most seasoned of digital agencies. So, instead of going on the defensive or starting a comment war, read the negative comment a few more times. Perhaps you might see things from the commenter’s perspective and come up with a genuine way to help.

Avoid the temptation to delete

Just because something’s been deleted, doesn’t mean that its gone away. There are plenty of stories of movie stars, musicians and athletes who’ve come under fire for something that they’ve said weeks, months and even years prior. If you remove a real comment from an upset customer, you can be sure they’ll come back louder, angrier and more frustrated.

By leaving up the negative social media comments, it can show that you’re a true, honest brand. Choose to tackle the issue head-on, as top-tier agencies always do. Direct messaging options also help to make this kind of resolution a private matter and are extremely helpful.

That being said, inappropriate comments will need to be deleted from time to time if they’re profane, racist, contains explicit sexual content or anything else of the sort. 

Respond in a timely fashion

All marketing agencies should understand the importance of deadlines; without them, accountability ceases. Therefore, the sooner a problem can be addressed, the better. And social media is all about a quick reaction and swift response. People present on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram literally live there. Therefore, if you decide to have a business profile, you need to be ready to do the same. 

In fact, studies have shown that active social media enthusiasts have come to expect a response within an hour of an initial engagement. When negative social media comments are deleted or ignored, audiences may feel that something is being hidden from them.

Respond in a calm, collected manner

In an ideal world, all social interactions would be filled with glowing reviews and words of kindness. Seeing as how they aren’t, a change in perspective is often required to put a positive spin on negative social media comments. Negative reviews should be seen an opportunity to transform an annoyed customer into a happy one by providing as much information as possible to help bring about a solution.

Source: http://www.fusion360agency.com/how-to-manage-negative-social-media-comments/