6 Tips for Responding to Negative Reviews on Social Media
Have you
ever been the target of a negative comment on social media or the recipient of
a review that’s less than stellar? If so, you’re not alone. Many small businesses are encountering
this problem, especially considering how many customers currently use social
platforms to voice their opinions.
Since you can’t simply delete negative comments on social media, though, you’ve got to focus on what you can do: Respond to them effectively. Read on for six helpful tips.
6 Social Media Tips for Responding to Negative Reviews
1. Understand the Comment
Customers
posting negative comments on social media tend to ramble. It might take you a
few minutes to scan through a given comment to mine the essential grievance.
Take some time to find out exactly what your customers are dissatisfied with —
because you can’t come up with a resolution until you do.
2. Respond Quickly
If you
aren’t personally responsible for monitoring your social media accounts, make
sure someone in your organization is charged with the task. Negative comments
hanging out there with no response can quickly damage your brand. The ultimate
goal should be to respond in one business day or less, as long as you can do so
professionally.
3. Never Respond With a Negative Comment
If a
comment or review is especially derogatory, it’s only natural for you to want
to defend your brand by instinctively adopting the same tone. However, dropping
down to a negative level is not going to produce positive results. In fact,
it’s only going to make you look insensitive, regardless of whether or not it’s
justified.
No matter
how you decide to address each issue, keep tact and respect on your radar at
all times.
4. Explicitly Ask Customers What They Want
This is a
step that many businesses fail to take when responding to negative comments.
There’s nothing wrong with coming out and expressly asking dissatisfied clients
what they’re after. In a lot of cases, there’s no refund or monetary investment
involved — customers just want to know their comments were received and had a
positive effect.
5. Don’t Delete Them
The last
thing you want to do is delete comments or reviews that shine a negative light
on your business. Think about it from a consumer’s perspective. If you check
out a retailer’s Facebook page and find 100 comments that are nothing but
positive, you might get a little suspicious.
Instead,
leave the bad comments there, but be sure to craft stellar responses to all of
them. This way your current customers — and any potential new ones — know
you’re serious about providing high-quality
customer service.
6. Go Over the Top
If you run
a solid operation, you probably don’t get an overwhelming number of negative
reviews over social media. Because of that, feel free to overcompensate when
you do. For example, if you ship an order incorrectly, refund the full amount
plus return shipping charges and an additional 10% of the purchase price — and
mention that you did so in your thread.
If your
customers just want to be heard, throw them a modest gift card as a gesture of
goodwill. This is a great marketing opportunity for your business as it shows
you’re willing to do whatever it takes to correct any errors.
Final Thoughts
In general,
to avoid negative comments on social media, you should review, and if
necessary, revamp your customer service policies. Monitor your team in action,
conduct meetings devoted solely to customer service, and make sure your entire
staff is well-trained.
Properly
responding to negative comments on social media is important, but doing what
you can to reduce them is equally essential.
What other
strategies do you know of for effectively responding to negative comments on
social media?
Mark
Lindsey is a writer and marketing executive with over 20 years of experience
working in the industry. He contributes to several digital and print publications
on topics related to work and life. He lives in New York.
on February 12, 2019 10:35 pm
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