How to Handle Social Media Comments to Lesser the Impact on Brand Reputation

You may have a great product and a great team behind it, but you may still receive negative mentions on social media. With the reach of social media and the accessibility to various channels, it is almost unavoidable that someone will share a negative comment.

As far as inevitability goes, if you don’t want tweets or Facebook posts to ruin your brand reputation, you should learn how to handle negative customer feedback.

Don’t Ignore Negative Comments

Brands should never ignore negative comments. Otherwise, this will be another reason for the frustrated customer to dislike your brand.

Every comment whether it’s positive, negative, or neutral should addressed in a timely manner. Today, every brand has to manage their public relations, regardless of business size.

If you’re business owner, it may be challenging for you to deal with negative comments, but you have to handle it mindfully.

Apologize Sincerely

“The customer is always right” is still true. Even if you don’t share the customer’s opinion, you should still acknowledge their frustration and apologize. This is the best first step to take that leads to a successful resolution of the conflict.

If the situation became a full-blown crisis with multiple negative reviews and negative media coverage, then the company should issue a public apology, ideally handled by the CEO or founder.

Provide an Explanation

Consumer behaviour and expectations have changed significantly over the past decade. One of the biggest mistakes companies make is that they do not give explanations to their customers. This leads to additional frustration from consumers, as they want to know their feedback was heard. You should provide an explanation as to what exactly caused the problem and how your company addressed it. Show the company’s commitment to right their wrongs. This will help you turn around negative mentions.

Take it out of the Spotlight

After acknowledging negative feedback and addressing it, move the conversation from social media to a non-public medium. Offer the customer the alternative to contact you via email, direct message, or call the customer support.

Whenever there is a negative comment or feedback, as a brand you should aim to deflate the tension. If you want to save the image of your brand, you should discuss the problem one-to-one and avoid a public flurry of replies.

Generate Positive Comments

While it’s impossible to avoid negative comments on social media, you can minimize their impact on your brand reputation. Keep an overall positive image online by generate more positive reviews that outshine the bad ones. This way, a negative mention will have a much lesser impact on your brand reputation.

To get more positive coverage, your brand needs to take a proactive approach. Create high-quality posts to boost engagement and get more comments. Reply to every positive or neutral comment and try to build a relation with your loyal customers. Use humour, add value to online conversations and you will slowly build up your online reputation as a customer-friendly and approachable brand.