A Step By Step Guide For Handling A Negative Comment

Regardless if you’re a brand or just a regular schmegular person, hearing negative feedback can suck.

Let’s keep it real, not only does it hurt your feelings, it hurts your reputation. So you have to be careful about how you respond because as the musical stylings of Chris Brown puts it, “It can get ugly, before it gets beautiful.”

Next time you and a customer or fan don’t see eye to eye, before you go out preparing Rocky Balboa Style, take a gander at our Step By Step Guide To Handling Negative Comments.

But to make things interesting, let’s pretend your company is selling a product, let’s call it Product A, that guarantees you’ll lose 10 pounds in 7 days. Now let’s imagine you’re scrolling, doing your thang on IG and you get a notification from @Fitness_Guru882 that reads:

“10 pounds in 7 days? What a Joke! I’ve been using Product A for 2 weeks now and I hardly lost 3 pounds! What a ripoff!”

Tip 1 - Message Received

Uh oh, “ripoff” is every brands worst nightmare. This can send many into defense mode. But make sure you read through the message carefully.

See what the root of the problem is and how you can help. Here, it looks this fitness guru person just wants to know why he wasn’t getting the promised results. Maybe he’s not following all the instructions, or maybe he received an outdated bottle, it happens. Dissect the comment as much as you can before taking action.

Tip 2 -Turn It Into A Learning Situation

Ever hear the phrase “every situation is a learning situation?” It’s a good idea to take a screenshot of the message. You can use it later for training or show it to a coworker who might want to follow up.

Now it might sound pretty appealing to just delete the comment right? I mean you don’t want an image of a ripoff soiling your brand! As much as you wish you can just delete all of your problems away you can’t, it’ll be best to remain transparent in the situation.

Tip 3 - Don’t Delete

Deleting something rather than replying to it makes it seem like you have something to hide. Besides, you want to prove to the rest of your audience that you’re open, friendly, and no where near a ripoff.

Tip 4 - Timing is Everything

Most social users expect to see replies within an hour. If necessary consult the right departments to give the consumer a satisfactory answer.

Tip 5 - Keep Your Cool

What good is it when you just respond back with negativity? Negative energy is a like a wildfire. If you fight fire with fire you’ll end up making a larger one, and fires don’t care who gets burned along the way. Start by drafting your response, and don’t forget the basics of customer service. You’re response won’t only get judged by Fitness Guru, but by the rest of your followers as well.

Tip 6-Respond!

When sending a response, try to offer an apology and solution. This is your chance to turn a disgruntled customer into a brand evangelist!

“ Hey, @Fitness_Guru882, We think you might have gotten an old shipment. Don’t worry, we’re sending you a new shipment now. For free.”

“Thanks, I would appreciate that I was having a meltdown!”

Congratulations! You have just managed your first negative social media comment! But just because you’ve addressed your customers issue doesn’t mean your job is done! Continue to monitor your social space to track any activity that happened after you’ve done your part.

“Hey, @Fitness_Guru, just got done talking to the big heads at corporate, your new package is being shipped now”

“Thanks, appreciate it guys!”