While social media can offer an endless amount of educational and entertaining content, it can also be a source of the most negative criticism. You may be focused on engaging and growing your audience when you run into the unavoidable bad comment that criticizes your work.
Don’t feel bad about it, as wise Hannah Montana once said “nobody’s perfect”. Getting negative feedback is completely normal, it’s how you deal with it that matters the most. Today, we bring in some tips on how to deal with negative feedback on social media.
You may read that negative comment and feel very anxious. You may choose to ignore it for a while. That is all okay, however, the longer that comment lingers without being addressed, the bigger the chance there is for it to escalate and become more damaging. By answering quickly to negative feedback, you’re showing that you’re on top of things and always paying attention to your community.
If the negative comment is about your product or service, the best route when answering is to be apologetic. Be just like old and wise Justin Bieber once said, sorry. Even if it’s unwarranted, it is a better look for your brand to hear and accept the criticism as means for growth. And don’t worry, if the comment was unfair or silly, your audience will be quick to understand and will appreciate how nice you were about it.
If a comment offers genuine constructive criticism even if it’s negative, it’s okay to leave it there and show people that you’re able to carry your brand without the need to fake perfectionism. If the comment is just mean and pointless it is okay to delete it.
If the comment you received lacks context and is mostly an angry rant, the best thing you can do is to gently ask the person who commented how you can make their situation better. Once they give you an answer, you can create an actionable plan for the feedback and proceed to help them based on that.
Yes, reacting publicly is important to show your audience that you’re taking matters into account, however, once that first contact is made, it is best to keep the conversation private. When you privately contact directly the customers who left negative feedback, you’re offering them a personalized experience as you solve their issue.
Valuing your audience’s feedback is important as taking actionable steps towards correcting or improving not only your service or product but also the customer experience.
Also, don’t feel disheartened if you continue getting bad feedback from clients with whom you already tried to help. Sadly, some people just complain for the sake of complaining and aren’t interested in the solutions you have to offer. Don’t take them personally.