If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will. Social media is a tool that you can leverage to help your business, but it is also a tool for people to get their complaints heard by the world. A negative comment, post, or review can stay online forever. That is why it is important that you take control of the situation and respond to negative feedback as soon as you see it.
1. Read the message — Take a minute to get yourself in your customer’s shoes, do you understand why they are upset? What can your brand do to fix this?
2. Write the Reply — The same golden rule of customer service still applies to social media, the customer is always right. Make sure your response is sincere and does not contain any snide comments. It is always a good idea to ask for the customer to private message their contact information, so you can personally contact them and keep the conversation out of the public eye. Make sure you respond as soon as you can, prompt replies let the customer know you care.
3. Don’t Delete Negative Reviews — Be transparent with your customers. If you see a negative review, the best thing you can do is reach out to that person and make things right. Your customers will see that you are trying to fix the situation, and will appreciate honest reviews.
4. Stay Level Headed — It can be hard to keep your cool when someone is posting negative, sometimes hurtful, words about your business. Stay apologetic, even if you feel you’ve done nothing wrong. Keep your response positive and polite.
All in all, a negative comment isn’t going to ruin your company image, but it is important to address those complaints. If you need help keeping up with complaints, I offer community management for a small fee per month. This way you will get notified of complaints, and receive a proposed response for all negative comments/reviews!