Social media is the platform where businesses interact with customers, connect and engage the fans. This is a great way to show the human side of your brand as well as establish trust and loyalty. Every business should be prepared to deal with negative comments on social media and reviews about the company, product or service. This, in fact, can be a good thing as it provides the opportunity to show your care about customer service.

Dealing with negative comments on social media should be part of every company’s social media strategy. As social media admin you can handle negative comments wither individually by sending private messages or publicly by posting general statements. The latter option is preferable for widespread criticism. If many people comment or complain about the same thing it is probably a big issue that does not require individual response. You can post a video or comment from management explaining the situation or offering solutions.

It is important to respond to negative comments on social media immediately.

You are not just dealing with a negative customer but with thousands of other people connected to your social platform who are watching you on dealing with this angry customer.

Below are some options you can best deal with negative comments.

1. Acknowledge. Firstly try to acknowledge the negative comment. It can be very simple but will show your concern about the issue. You can simply say “We have received your feedback. We understand your concern and will try to assist you right away”.
2. Apologize. Then you should apologize sincerely. Try to show the unhappy customer that you are truly sorry for the inconvenience. This is an easy way to be forgiven.
3. Take it offline. You can take the conversation offline by providing a phone number and informing the employee about the issue beforehand so that when the unhappy customer gives a call and person on the other side of the line is already aware of the issue. This prevents the customer from talking about the incident a second and a third time.
4. Create house rules. Some companies create rules for social media and identifying the behavior expected from the community. You can share this document with people you ban from your page.
5. Stay cool headed. Many customers will gain respect for your business if you respond in a pleasant and helpful way. Often your immediate impulse is to set fire to the negative response especially when you understand that the negative feedback is false. When receiving a negative feedback try to sit back and take a deep breath. Do not take the negative feedback personally. It’s not you that customers are dissatisfied with. Take some time to formulate a polite reply and add some human touch.
6. Ban the user. If negative comments persist on part of the customer without merit, feel free to delete the post and ban the user. You may point out the house rules to your users so they know why the person was banned from the page. As page owner, there may come a point when you need to take control of the conversation!

People are looking for humanity and a genuine response online, so a negative review can be a great opportunity to respond in a positive and transparent manner. And that has a good impact on all your customers. Remember that customers are right no matter how wrong they are. Try to deal with them as you could have dealt in person. Deleting or ignoring negative comments on social media is not the best solution. You would not have ignored an unhappy customer you enters your customer service. Remember that you are dealing with real people in social platforms.