Respect Your Network- Handling Negative Response on Social Media

Social media is all about people and the connections that we make. The best piece of social media advice I can ever give is to approach people as people- be friendly and personable and treat them as individuals. There are many different reasons why people use social media. Everything from catching up with old friends or marketing a business can be done via the social networks available to us today.

However, it’s important that you learn to respect your network, no matter what you’re using social media for. When you treat others with respect, you will gain respect and this gives you more clout and authority in the networks that you are a part of.

Because social media is powered by real people, it can sometimes be difficult to remain neutral during an argument or to remain calm during a crisis. However, when you do so, you show that you respect your network as well as the many different types and backgrounds of people who are a part of it.

How do you respond if someone insults you or your company on your fanpage? How do you handle negative feedback on Twitter? How you respond is very important to your social media image.

Here are Some Social Media Tips to Help You with Negative Response

Your first step when you see a negative response on social media is to avoid reacting immediately. Take some time to read the message in context, consider it and respect it. If it seems to be spam or a troll response, or if it contains hate speech and attacks, you also reserve the right to delete it and/or block the person who posted it.

Be Careful Deleting Negative Comments: While you may be tempted to censor anything negative about your brand or business, it’s best not to censor user content. Let people have the freedom to talk and communicate, even if you don’t fully agree with the message.

Don’t Lie: This sounds like a no-brainer but I bet we can all name some politicians who learned this one the hard way. When you lie, you are bound to get caught eventually and then you (and your brand) will just look stupid.

Don’t Feed the Trolls: The Internet is full of trolls (someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community) and you won’t benefit from arguing with them.

Check Your Ego at the Door: While it may hurt if people attack you, your business or your brand, this is not about your ego. If you truly want to please your audience, be open to their feedback. You may want to lash out or get defensive but this won’t help your online reputation.

Allow Your Community to Help You Find Solutions

When you encounter complaints on your social media, use this as an opportunity to improve your product or service. You can allow your community the opportunity to help you find solutions. Don’t ignore or deny the problem, but respect your community and what they have to say.

Remember that you do not control the message. Sit back and allow people to talk freely; then learn from what they say. Keep your emotions in check when a negative issue happens and remember that most problems can be easily resolved. Let them know you understand how they feel and that you are committed to a solution. Then follow through on that promise.

Have you ever had a negative response on social media? How did you handle the problem? Do you feel you handled it correctly?

Related: Check out “Don’t Lose the Social in Your Social Media”.

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What Not to Do in Social Media Don’t Lose the Social in Your Social Media 5 Reasons To Sync Your Professional Social Media Accounts Building Strong Social Communities through Facebook How Can Social Media Help Grow Online Community? How is Good Writing Important to Your Social Media Marketing Campaign?