At some point, you will have to deal with negative comments on your social media networks. What do you do when that happens? How do you go about responding? What’s the best way to manage negative responses?

These comments could be trolls, people trying to take over the online conversation or out of context remarks. While some negative social media comments could be passionate advocates who care deeply about your brand, products, and services.

A successful social media strategy incorporates how you address comments to manage your brand’s online reputation and perception. It is import to improve and maintain your branding online. When you see a negative comment on social media, you may get angry and respond hastily with a response to “get back” at the person who made the comment. A rushed, hurried, and lack of thought comment in response doesn’t work and it is not a fundamental of good customer service. Your comments will be judge by not only the person who you respond to but your entire social media community.

How to deal with negative comments on social media

To come with a strategy and approach for your team to respond to negative comments on social media, Digital Giants put together a step-by-step process to responding to each negative comment. Having a well coordinated approach to negative comments is critical to having a social media crisis plan and strategy. Actions such as don’t delete the negative social media comments because you need to stay transparent with your engaged social media audience. Remember your entire audience can view your reply. And make sure you don’t write anything you wouldn’t say face to face. Timeliness is key because most social media users expect a response with a hour.

This infographic below provides more tips on how to deal with negative comments on social media, including how to respond calmly and quickly with a sincere apology, if necessary.

This infographic was created by Digital Giants.