Never let The Critics and the Naysayers Ruin your Online Business
Though the rule may be that the customer is always right, you cannot expect your company to meet every person's needs every time. In other words, there are always going to be people you cannot make happy. The question is what in the world do you do about them when they visit your Facebook page and leave you with anything but good comments? How can you handle critical comments.
YOU ARE BUILDING A BRAND
Here's the thing. You are in the process of building your brand. With the use of a Facebook page, you are going to work on building more brand awareness than ever. However, there are two important truths to keep in mind about this process.
1. There are always going to be people talking about you. Sometimes it will be good and sometimes it will be bad. The good news is that they are talking about you.
2. Every business of every type makes mistakes or lets down customers some of the time. The difference between the good and the bad is that the good businesses remedy the problem and they do it right away.
Keeping those things in mind, realize there are steps you can take to handle criticism in a positive way. In fact, you may find that this type of attention can actually help you to win over customers (even if it is not that one) who visit your page and want to work with your business.
ALWAYS RESPOND TO IT
Good or bad, you should never ignore or just remove negative feedback from your Facebook page. Here's the thing. If you just pull them down, someone is going to notice and come back asking why you just remove such ads. In the few minutes these negative comments are up, potentially hundreds of people will see it. They will also see that you pulled it down. That's not good PR.
If you ignore the problem, you look as though you are simply not valuing it. You are ignoring it in the hopes it will just go away. You are just not dealing with it. That's not something that customers want to see from someone they are supposed to trust.
TALK PRIVATELY
If someone visits your page and interacts with you through it, try to engage that individual in a private manner. You may want to leave a note on the comment on your page that you've sent them a message in the hopes of fixing the underlying concern. That way others know you are dealing with it.
At the same time, you should deliver a very heartfelt message to the upset visitor. For example, just saying that you are sorry and saying thank you for the feedback will make the day of the individual. More so, the problem they had becomes a non-issue. You were a real person who engaged this person and you fixed the problem. That's going to win them back over to spread good things about your company.
THE MOVE TO BURY THEM
Another step you can take is simply to bury the comment in a lot of talk. On the comment made by the person, leave a note requesting more information and requesting that the individual contact you. Then, start posting. Post a number of good posts that get people's attention and take them away from the negative talk. On your Facebook page, this information will be pushed down the page as new information moves up. That makes it very easy for you to bury such comments.
PUT A POLICY IN PLACE
Since this is your Facebook page, you do have the right and the ability to lay down some rules to those who will comment on it. You can leave a note on your page about your posting policy. In fact, you should do this if you plan to delete any type of content from the page.
If you do plan to delete information, this policy protects you from any type of negative action others may decide to take. However, there are going to be times when you will need to pull down information. For example, someone may make a derogatory comment about another person. Someone may make a prejudice statement. They may make a racist remark.
In these situations, you want the ability to remove the information. You should police your page for such comments and remove them. The last thing you need is negative PR from such an incident.
Be honest with your Facebook community about removing information. If you do have to remove something, you may want to leave a note in the comments that such information isn't tolerated. Of course, you should also list what types of comments you plan to remove.
ENGAGING THE PROBLEM
One of the things you can do when you are facing a negative comment about your business or product is to engage the person who made the statement. Perhaps they are completely out of line and they are really pushing hard to get a reaction. Here are a few things to keep in mind in these situations.
• Know the troll and avoid the troll. A troll is someone who is just there to make people mad. They get thrills from doing so. If this person doesn't have a leg to stand out, don't waste your time trying to defend against it.
• If the points are valid, decide what you need to do to fix the problem. Then, make that decision public. Showcase the reasoning behind your decision, too. For example, if someone complains that the shipping is too expensive, explain why that is. If someone complains about the product being ineffective, find out what they did wrong and tell them about it.
• Make it a teaching moment for all of your followers. For example, if an individual is having problems with using your service because they don't have the basic, foundational experience they need, you may want to write a blog post on this. Explain that you are giving away a short guide to getting started with your product to improve this problem. Be sure to use the negative comments you get to foster improvement in what you are offering.
WHAT NOT TO DO
You've got a few negative comments you need to deal with. What's the worst that can happen? Look at these problems you may run into if you are not careful.
• You ignore the problem. More will show up. People will post a second or a third time demanding information and ads. They may even make their own posts about your business in a negative light. That's not good.
• Don't get angry and show it in your comments. You've worked hard to build your business and the last thing you want to do is to tear it all down because someone is being stupid or ridiculous in their post on your wall.
• You keep coming back to the same problem every time to deal with and you deal with it in the same way. Is there a lack of information? Is there a problem related to the product? If numerous people are complaining, you need to deal with the underlying cause of the frustration.
• You push it off for someone else to deal with. Guess what? They are not as passionate about your customer as you are. They may not respond or may not deal with it fast enough.
• You keep fighting the same person. Sometimes, the same person will have a problem with you over and over again. Don't engage these individuals and, if you have a policy in place, remove them instead.
The bottom line here is to keep your cool and to handle such problems with a clear mind. If you need to, walk away for a few minutes. Get your thoughts together and then make a statement or fix the problem in the right manner to benefit your company in the long term.
MAKE IT A TIME TO SHINE
Finally, no matter how frustrated, angry, and boiling mad you may be at a comment left on your Facebook page, realize it is a good thing. It gives you an opportunity to educate your followers and to help others to see what you truly have to offer.
Allow this to be the time when you showcase your customer experience. Let's take a look at an example. Which would you prefer if you were a customer.
1. A customer leaves a nasty note that the product didn't work for them and it was a waste of money. You could say, "well if you used it like the direction said, it would work well..." you are going to get negative feedback from this individual as well as others.
2. If the customer leaves that statement and you say, "I'm sorry you are having a problem, but our product is guaranteed to work. How are you using it? Let me help you make this better." You are going to see a significant improvement in their attitude and others reading your page.
Put yourself in this person's shoes. What do they need from you? How will they benefit if you share information with them?
Determining the right way to respond to negative feedback or nasty comments is not always easy. Sometimes, people are just out to get you. This is what social media allows and there's no way you will stop it. However, what you can do is to improve the outcome through careful steps and good customer service.
Do not let negative comments flood your page without you taking action to improve the situation. At the same time, don't let the negative hold you back from engaging the customers who really and truly want to be there and want to benefit from being there.
The good news is that most solid companies offering great products and a good level of customer service are unlikely to have such problems on a regular basis. This isn't something that will flood your day and make managing Facebook a challenge.
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