We know that social networks are one of the most important marketing channels for companies to connect and interact with their customers. This close communication represents a great advantage if you have a good digital positioning strategy; However, it also carries its risks…
The “blessed social networks” were created as a space to promote freedom of expression and discussion between different points of view, but there are still huge legal gaps in terms of regulation, there are increasing questions about the content that is disseminated through these media. you can publish and begin to restrict messages, videos and even delete or block accounts; The recent case of the still President of the United States, for example, is well known.
Now, if we talk about negative comments like the ones you receive from users on your social networks, we must say that you cannot avoid them; It happens to all brands and public figures… what you should have is a plan on how to react to them so that they do not harm the online image of your company.
Although there is no magic formula, here are some simple recommendations to deal with them intelligently:
Understand the problem and review the cause of the discontent. When interacting with your user, you need to get as much information as possible about the issue to know if it is an isolated complaint or a repeating pattern.
Try to identify who comments. There are several types of users, from the so-called haters or trolls, those dissatisfied with your brand to the optimists who always comment positively even if they don’t even know you.
Stay calm and don’t react by snapping back. There are rude or aggressive comments that are not worth responding to. Analyze and identify them to give due importance to each one.
Do not delete them, those who answer do so carefully and respectfully. If you block them, the user can make this action public and escalate the problem.
Give an immediate response in public to leave evidence of the follow-up, but attend to them in private to deepen the communication.
Be empathetic with your users. Put yourself in their shoes and review the reason for their comment, thanking them first for taking the time to provide feedback. Don’t be arrogant, thinking that everyone is looking for a reward when they criticize your brand.
Try to always use friendly, honest language and not give too much explanation that could confuse. Take care of your spelling and do not use capital letters or excessive exclamation marks. It is important that your followers see that there are people on the other side of the communication.
Offer a solution to your problem. Consider that for the same problem, you must propose different alternatives.
Follow up on the solution you offered. Sometimes it will be necessary to reward your user when a specific complaint about your product or brand has been exposed. I recommend that you document this reward so that you can reverse the negative comment, and use it in a later strategy to create loyalty among your users.
The comments of what is said about your brand can be a good thermometer to measure your reputation. It is very important to pay attention to all the good things that you know you have as a company (strengths); but admitting your weaknesses and knowing all the bad things that are said about you (threats), can help you identify your areas of opportunity and improvement.
If, even putting these brief recommendations into practice, you cannot deal with bad comments towards your brand, I recommend you improve your practices and put yourself in the hands of an Aspac advisor to offer you an adequate communication strategy.
Guadalupe Zúniga Elizalde Managing partner of Digitocreativo Publicidad and president of the Sonoran Advertising Association A. C. email: gzuniga@digitocreativo.com.mx