As modern learning, the World Wide Web and AI slowly penetrate into the various aspects of our day-today living, businesses are also not spared from being impacted.
To adopt to the new ways and immense scope of this scheme, now ecommerce stores have emerged enabling door-step delivery and thus maximising consumer convenience.
In the same way social media has now become the fastest medium for maximum outreach in case of almost all industries.
Social media is today the simplest and one of the most affordable ways to not just boost engagement with the current audience but also reach the potential leads.
But more often than not, the conversation turns negative with angry customers and complaints on these platforms.
Both the large and small businesses (with even minimum social media presence) have already experienced this and chances are high to go through this soon if you already haven’t confronted with such a situation yet.
How to handle this kind of negativity!
Negative comments can trigger a sense of embarrassment and frustration, but remember that it is how you respond and deal with it that your audience will remember.
Here are some ways to help you respond to negative comments.
• Respond As Soon As Possible–When an angry customer posts something on your social media page, it is evident that they want to be heard. The last thing they want at this point is being ignored. When you respond to adverse comments immediately it shows that you care about what they say.
You can alter their perspective about your business by addressing their concerns in a direct way.
Your prompt response also shows your other audience that you acknowledge these problems and care about them. It shows that you are willing to correct things if they have issues.
The opposite is conveyed when you ignore them. You will come across plenty of airline companies and ecommerce platforms to respond proactively to unhappy customers who have experienced delayed or cancelled flights or whose order did not reach them timely or in the perfect condition. In the former case very little can be done, but addressing their concern actively can subdue the tension to a great extent.
• Don’t Delete the Comment – It can be quite tempting for you to get rid of the negative comments but you can end up creating an even bigger problem that way. The commenter is going to know that the comment has been deleted and this can create further problems.
The commenter can get tormented because of this and can continue to post negative comments on this specific platforms as well as other social media channels. What could have just been one complaint can now convert to multiple issues.
However, there is just one exception to this which can occur if the commenter uses illicit, profane or offensive language. In that case, the post is deleted and the user is blocked and removed from the platform.
• Try to Keep Your Cool –It is not common that an internet toll or an irate customer is looking for an emotional response to their post. So you must see to it that you do not take it personally or challenge it negatively.
Keep it in mind that this is being made in public and you are being judged by not just the poster but also your other followers. So act like you are dealing with an angry group of people. So your end goal may not always be about just being right.
If the comment is clearly an attack or is instigating, it is better to let go.
• Don’t Get Defensive – This is one of the biggest mistakes that you must avoid. Keep in mind the fact –“Customer are right always!”.
By giving excuses you actually make an irate customer more irritated. So there is high probability that they will never return to do business with you. So as a response, you can apologise first for their bad experience and then tell them how you are planning to resolve it.
• Take the Conversation Offline - It is always suggested that you take the conversation offline or away from the public eyes as soon as possible. After addressing a negative comment you should not continue to converse on your page.
Instead encourage the user to change the conversation to a
more private place like use the direct message or private chat of the social media platform where the complaint was posted.
You can say something like “Really sorry to hear about your experience with our service/product. Can you kindly private message us regarding the details of your trouble and your contact info so that our customer care executives can reach you and we can deliver you with a solution at the earliest?”.
This will move the post away from prying eyes.
Some people are going to complain just for some attention. But when you move the conversation to a private setup this will keep them from drawing more negativity to your site.
These are some of the best ways to respond to negative social media comments. These are suggested by the experts of reputed digital marketing company who have been in the industry for a long time and know how to safeguard the reputation of a business in the digital world.
Thanks a lot for reading along.
Before you leave, also check out our next post on the 5 easiest ways of making money from your Facebook account.
Author Bio: Sawoni Chowdhury is an aficionado of writing. She is an expert writer and blogger and shares her views and opinions on a range of topics such as Lifestyle, Business, Entertainment and lot more.
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