10 Tips For Handling Negative Social Media Comments

We live in a time of ultra-connectivity. Consumers connect daily through multitudes of social media avenues and business channels.  Each channel has its own unique way of interacting with its users. And because of this, businesses are more directly connected to customers than ever before.

Social Media channels furnish us with an avenue to not only connect with, but engage our customers and establish trust. In fact, consumers today expect businesses to engage with them. Today, social media management is as much about managing customer’s opinions as it is putting your message out there. 

Social Media Management is an extension of your customer service.

There was a time when a disgruntled customer would talk about a bad experience with friends, but you, as the business owner, might never hear about it. This was word-of-mouth advertising, positive or negative. And it definitely goes both ways. 

With the advent of the internet, people began to post reviews online and on sites such as Yelp. Now, we have social media. This still happens, only now, people also jump right onto social media and state their grievances for the entire world to see. The review, or comment, could potentially reach thousands more people than the ten closest to them. 

Before a customer would have to go to that site (Yelp) and actively look for a review on a particular business. Now, we don't have to go looking for a review; the review comes to us. Social media is a push medium, meaning each channel's feed pushes messages out to the consumer. I may not have been looking for a comment, review, or complaint about a business, but it may still roll across my feed so I can see it.

It doesn't matter how awesome you are, how amazing your product is, or how sweet your staff is. If you run a business, it’s practically inevitable you’ll get a disgruntled customer who turns to social media to vent.

Every year, Bright Local conducts a consumer review survey to measure how customers review businesses and interact with other reviews about businesses. 

 In 2019, the survey revealed that a full 91% of consumers read business reviews online at least occasionally. And more than a third will “always” read reviews about a business. But maybe even more important is that 97% of those that do, read on to see the business’s response.

In this behavior lies a silver lining. Look at your Social Media channels as an extension of your customer service. This avenue actually encourages a dialogue between the customer and the business. Social media allows us a platform to be more engaged with our customers. We have a direct line between each customer, the happy ones and the upset ones.

Negative social media affects some businesses more than others.

Consumer’s reaction to negative comments on social media can be very different depending on the type of business. For example, people tend to be used to, and ultimately more forgiving of, bad reviews about a restaurant experience. Especially if there are also a lot of good reviews.

They are psychologically willing to consider any number of causes for the bad experience. Maybe the patron had a bad experience because they are too picky. They could’ve expected a certain level of service that didn’t go with the type of restaurant they were in. Or maybe they just went on an off day.

For the most part, they are almost always willing to give a restaurant a second chance. Unless of course these bad reviews stack up and the establishment is doing nothing to remedy the situation.

On the other hand, consumer’s reaction to bad reviews about other types of businesses can be less forgiving. When consumers see bad reviews for retail and service-oriented businesses, it leads them to tread with a bit more caution.

They weigh these negative experiences when considering whether to take a chance and do business with the company. People do not want to risk their hard earned money and possibly have a bad experience.

But, having a few bad reviews can actually be good for your business.

Negative social media can also create an opportunity.

Having a mix of some bad reviews among all your good reviews lends to their credibility. If all you have is a bunch of reviews gushing about how great you are, people get the impression they are fake reviews. They make you and your business real. And it helps customers imagine what their worst-case scenario might look like and weigh how much that would matter to them. 

The silver lining is that the dialogue is publicly displayed for all the world to see. This gives businesses an opportunity to show ALL the followers their colors. How you handle this situation can ultimately turn a negative situation into positive word of mouth about your integrity and company values.

In addition, if consumers see you’re making the effort, it can positively affect their overall impression of your business. They see you’re trying to understand the customer who had a bad experience. And they see you doing what you can to remedy that situation. It shows that you’re a compassionate business owner who really cares about your customers and what they think.

It’s important to understand that social media management provides you a direct line to your customers. It’s what you do with that connection that will determine your success.

Now that you’re ready to jump in and get your feet wet, here are a few tips to help you navigate the waters:

10 Tips To Productively Handle Negativity

1. Do not ignore negative comments.

2. Before you react, try to get to the core of the problem.

Take a minute to consider what the complaint is really about. Are they dissatisfied with your services or a product they bought? Did they misunderstand what they thought they were getting? Or did you misrepresent what you had to offer? If this is the case, it might mean rethinking your advertising, brochures, and descriptions. You may need to review the benefits listed in them to see if they could be construed differently than you intended. Maybe the problem is not with the product but with a part of the sale that is out of your hands, such as delivery. It is imperative to understand the core issue so that you can determine the best way to handle the situation.

3. Put yourself in their shoes.

Try to see the situation from their point of view. Make every effort to understand what happened to them, the inconvenience it caused them, and how it can be remedied.  Keep in mind that most of the time they don’t want to hear excuses as to why something went wrong. Unless this “excuse” will definitely lead to the customer seeing your side (rare) it is better to apologize and assure them you will help them rectify the situation.

When a customer complains it’s because they feel slighted and they are speaking up because they want to be heard. They are looking for confirmation that they have the right to be mad. REALLY listen to the complaint.

4. Take a deep breath first, then respond

You must be in the right frame of mind to respond to the comment.  It isn’t doing anybody any good if you are feeling attacked and respond with a heated comment. Make sure you take the time needed to calm down and reflect on the situation and come up with the most constructive way to handle it. Keep in mind that when it comes to the internet, there are no take backs!  Comments will live on long after you’re gone (even if you think you deleted them). Nobody said that handling negative comments would be easy. But it will get easier with time and become a regular part of your social media management game plan.

5. Time is sensitive so monitor channels regularly.

Take a moment to get right, but don’t wait too long! The next tip is to respond in a timely manner. This is a perfect opportunity to show people just how responsive to your customers you, and your business, are determined to be.

But that’s not the only reason to be on top of it. The longer you wait, the more chance you’re giving this problem to pick up momentum. As other customers see the post, they may choose to chime in on a similar experience. And the longer this goes on without any notice from the business, the more it can become a freight train you can’t stop. You want to nip it in the bud before it has a chance to get out of hand.

6. When you’re ready, respond with a stance you can stand behind.

 The strategy here is to make sure you are making a point that you believe in. You must decide if you need to admit fault and take steps to remedy it. Or decide if you should stand up and stand behind your company’s actions. Either way, remember the main goal is to remedy the situation. You don’t want to seem like you're saying “this is how we do business, so deal with it!” instead, it might sound more like: “this is how we do business, or this is out of our hands, but what can I do or offer to help remedy the situation anyway?”.

When apologizing, make every effort to be (sound) sincere. Don’t simply post a standard ‘sorry’ message with your customer service number. It will end up just looking like, well exactly what it is, a standard response. And that will never sound sincere. Saying sorry is sometimes difficult, but it’ll go a long way to smoothing ruffled feathers so a more constructive conversation can begin. This might mean offering free shipping on the next purchase, even though it was FedEx that delayed their current shipment, for example.

7. Gently move the conversation to a more private avenue.

Social media platforms are not a place for a tit for tat. Which is what it can quickly turn into if the customer feels empowered by others. It may also be harder for them to “ease up” and accept a solution while in the public eye. When it comes to actually working out what can be done to resolve the issue, it is better done one on one.

First, invite them to contact you (your customer service) directly. Give them methods to easily do so, so that you can help them further with the issue. This takes the issue out of the spotlight and creates a more friendly atmosphere to work in. However, be mindful not to make it look like you’re just trying to silence them, but truly interested in helping.

8. Follow up is key!

After you have resolved the problem, post a follow up comment on the social media channel. It’s that extra step that people don’t really expect. It shows you care and that you are thankful you were able to satisfy the customer. A quick follow up post with something like “Thanks you for bringing this to our attention. I am happy we were able to resolve this for you.” will suffice.

9. Don’t take it personally, but do.

Look at negative feedback more like constructive criticism. Keep track of the types of comments and complaints you see. This can give you the opportunity to take a good hard look at your policies and use the situation to grow.  If it wasn’t necessarily something a staff member did wrong, take a look at your business procedures and processes and see if they need updating.

We are all not perfect, sometimes we do things that are not really “us”. Use this time to reflect on how you handled a situation and consider how it could have been handled better.

10. Turn it into opportunity!

Remember, this customer wants to like you! They had some amount of brand loyalty to buy from you in the first place, and now they’re just bummed because something went wrong. By making it right, you are giving them permission to like you again. This is an opportunity to let your customer know that you really do value them. Let them know you are listening and you HEAR them. And because of that, you want to make every effort to immediately make it right. These formerly hurt customers can end up becoming your biggest advocates! Customers love to tell how they were wronged but how far you went to take care of them. They may end up being even more loyal afterwards then if nothing ever went wrong in the first place! And guess how far that word-of-mouth advertising will go in your favor!

Bonus: You may gain the trust of brand new customers.

How you handle your disgruntled customers could potentially help you gain even more loyal customers. When potential customers see the exceptional customer service you provide, it’ll help to ease any trepidation they may have had about using your services or purchasing from you. So when creating your social media management goals, make sure listening to your customers is just as important as talking to them.

Social media platforms are where you really learn your customer’s persona.

Social media isn't solely a place where you push information to your followers. It's also a great place to observe your followers and learn. People don’t leave bad reviews to get back at you. In an interesting study, Trustpilot found that only 16% of people surveyed said they left a bad review to get back at the company.  

Why do people leave bad reviews? Overwhelmingly, more than half said it was to help consumers make a better buying decision. And that was quickly followed by hoping to help the company improve their product, service, or policy. Including customer service as an integral part of your social media management strategy will help you do both.

Remember, failure is an opportunity to learn from what went wrong so you can do it right the next time! 

And a negative social media comment can also help you learn what your customers want and/or expect. Which in turn will contribute to understanding your customer’s persona. Maybe you hadn’t even considered that! This gives you important information that you can apply to your business model to make sure you are giving customers what they need.  But maybe even more beneficial than that, it could very well be what sets you apart from your competition. Welcome feedback and use it to step up and come back stronger!

At MonerePay, we take supporting our clients seriously. In fact, providing quality customer service along with tailored solutions is part of our core values. Feel free to head on over to MonerePay and let us know what we can do to support your business success.