Building a website or a social media page for your company means you’re opening the door to a wide variety of visitors. Some are fans, happy to tell you how much they love your brand or simply offer constructive criticism. Still others — often called trolls — simply want to make mayhem, as rowdy children would with an open microphone.
Can you recognize the difference between a handful of haters and a real problem worth responding to? And, even if you can, how do you know when to delete and when to respond? It’s a tricky business: Be too restrictive and you’re stifling conversation; be too lax and you’re inviting damage to your brand.
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This is not a question for crowd-sourcing; it’s one for experts. Below, some social media mavens weigh in on handling audience feedback in a way that best serves you and your audience.
Resist the temptation to delete all critical comments. The purpose of your feedback engines and social media is to foster open and civilized dialogue about your mission, not to simply rally the choir. And how you police those platforms will have reverberations.
“How you handle a negative comment says much more about you than the comment itself,” said Shama Kabani, CEO of The Marketing Zen Group. “Removing a comment can lead to others accusing you of censorship and, at worst, can lead to a PR disaster.”
Whitney Haldeman, a media specialist at digital agency Paramore who manages social media for Tennessee tourism, agrees that deleting comments should be a last resort.
“Never delete a valid complaint,” Haldeman stressed. “This could turn into a back-and-forth war of the user continuing to post, and cause your brand to lose credibility with the audience that notices.”
| “How you handle a negative comment says much more about you than the comment itself.” |
2. Be responsive
While it’s a bad idea to blindly delete negative comments, it’s just as bad to let them sit around unaddressed. “When left ignored, users may wonder why the brand has a Facebook or Twitter presence in the first place or if their opinions matter at all to the brand,” said Kristen Berke, a senior account executive at the Web consulting firm Magnet Media. Berke recommends categorizing individual comments into larger issues — like complaints about customer service or criticisms of a particular incident — then responding to that group as a whole in a reply or in a new post.
Katie Creaser, vice president of the PR and social media firm Affect, recommends “posting an official statement or posting status updates that answer the questions being asked most frequently, versus answering every single user individually.”
Haldeman also encourages posting a mass response to show you’ve acknowledged the situation. “Until you do, users will continue to feel the need to speak out to be sure you’re hearing them,” she said. “Plus, it takes less work than responding individually to each comment.”
Sometimes, the simple act of acknowledgement will settle an aggravated commenter. “Most of the time people simply want to know their complaint is being heard,” said Emily Taffel, owner of Mugsy PR, a Miami-based social media consultancy. “By replying through social media, you’re showcasing that your company is listening and responding.”
Responding quickly and publicly is the key, says Creaser. “Keeping that type of interaction public will allow other users to see that the organization is both responsive to and concerned about their needs,” she said.
Trying to have its comment cake and moderate it too, NPR recently decided to temporarily pre-moderate comments from new users — and current problem users — in an attempt to crack down on inappropriate commenting. Once users demonstrated they could behave consistently, their posts were allowed to pass through instantaneously. In an interview with The Daily Beast last summer, Kate Myers, NPR’s product manager for social-media tools, said putting a filter on their front door was a tough decision because of “conflicting goals of encouraging a safe space for people to comment and to have a civil discourse.”
3. Just say no to nasty behavior
You should respond to thoughtful criticism, but comments that are vulgar, insulting or patently offensive require no such respect. They can, and should, be deleted.
“In some rare cases, where someone is clearly over-the-top nasty, responding may just make it worse,” said Michael Fertik, founder and CEO of Reputation.com. “Take them down and consider blocking the user if they’re a repeat offender.”
“If the comment is purely hateful and mean, delete it as soon as you find it,” said Kate Dinkel, Internet marketing manager at CyberMark International. “People will know you’re not trying to seem perfect — because you answered constructive criticism — but that you won’t stand for inappropriate posts or language.”
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4. Have a plan — and person — in place
To protect yourself when you need to cancel someone’s posting license, you need both a clear process and a specific policy.
“Identifying and implementing a response process for negative and positive comments on social media is critical today,” said Amy Marshall, COO of digital marketing agency Fathom. “Social media strategies can be incorporated into an existing crisis communication plan or written as a separate plan, but one of the most critical elements is to ensure there’s one owner to monitor and be responsible for resolving customer posts.” Marshall added, “Respond as soon as possible, but 24 hours or less is a general expectation of the online community.”
Your social media policy — the ‘rules of the pool’ — should be clear and easy to find both on your site and on your social networks. “Posting a quick social media policy via Facebook notes, for example, which clearly states which comments you’ll allow and which will be removed, can help you justify future actions,” said Kabani.
Creaser encourages being “upfront about the types of comments that will be removed. For example, it’s fairly common to remove violent, abusive or inflammatory comments.” She says such rules can be placed on your ‘About’ page on Facebook or on the bio in Twitter.
As models, here are such rules as set forth by The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Mashable and TripAdvisor.
5. Show the Likers some love too
If you want your audience to know you’re listening, don’t just reply to negative feedback. “If you condition your audience that if they complain, they’ll be rewarded, they are more apt to complain,” said Haldeman. “Recognize people who share positive experiences about your brand___ they’re more likely to continue sharing their experiences.”
Dinkel agrees. “You don’t have to answer every single one, but throw in a ‘thank you’ here and there, as well as answer any specific, relevant questions that get asked.”
| “If you condition your audience that if they complain, they’ll be rewarded, they are more apt to complain.” |
6. Take big complaints offline
If a particular commenter’s ire continues after you respond, don’t keep the conversation going. Offer to take it offline, giving your company’s generic email address. (Just make sure to look for it later.)
Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist for Apple and author of APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur said, “If the commenter tries to drag the company into a public battle, the company should publicly suggest taking the issue offline and handling it privately.”
Courtney Kettmann, community manager for the social media service Viralheat, said that by taking the conversation offline, “you’ll decrease the probability of the sentiment spreading to the rest of the public.”
Kettmann also suggests posting links that can provide more information and insight. “Of course, make sure there’s a human touch to each post. A brief response could come off as rushed or uninterested,” she said.
7. Be transparent
The bottom line: Your visitors trust you with their honesty; return the favor by being open about your process. “Transparency is the best policy,” said Caitlin Bergmann, social media manager at The Concept Farm, a digital marketing and production company. “It’s important that your social followers see how your brand or organization works to get a situation resolved — and how quickly it happens.”
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Joel Schwartzberg, essayist and author of The 40-Year-Old Version, encourages you to speak your mind in the comments below.
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