EP #024: What to do when your viral post gets negative comments?

Executive Summary

• Virality and Negative Comments: Going viral on LinkedIn can attract negative comments, but these should be seen as opportunities rather than threats. Engaging with detractors can enhance post performance and authenticity.
• Case Study of a Viral Post: Jeremy Hill, an investor and advisor, crafted a viral post with a strong hook, skimmable format, relatable content, and a relevant photo. His post received both positive feedback and significant negative comments.
• Engaging with Negative Comments: Instead of deleting negative comments, Jeremy engaged with them directly, fostering open dialogue and increasing the post's reach. This approach aligns with LinkedIn's algorithm, which favors active discussions.
• Authenticity in Responses: Jeremy's authentic, sometimes abrasive, responses were on-brand and demonstrated his genuine personality. Authentic engagement, even with negative feedback, can strengthen one's personal brand and appeal to the right audience.
• Impact of Engagement: By engaging with negative comments, Jeremy's post gained more visibility and interaction, showing that thoughtful engagement can significantly boost post performance and audience connection.

Deep Dive

A lot of leaders want to go viral on LinkedIn. One of our clients doubled her following and filled an entire year of pipeline from a single LinkedIn post (full story here).

But there’s one potential - and possibly inevitable - downside to virality: negative comments.

So: what do you do when you get negative comments?

I saw this play out in real time a few weeks ago, and wanted to use one specific post as a case study.

A viral post

Jeremy Hill is an investor and advisor in the US and Canadian lower middle markets. He posts his investment and entrepreneurship advice regularly on LinkedIn.

Earlier this month, one of his posts went viral:

First of all, this is a great post:

1. Jeremy has a GREAT hook. Numbers do well in hooks (the post’s first line). Currency does even better. The hook is surprising (he spends a LOT on his holiday party), and it is specific (he actually put the dollar amount out there).
2. Jeremy makes the post skimmable. I’d encourage you to check this post out on a mobile device. It is very easy to skim. It doesn’t use any text blocks that would intimidate a reader.
3. Jeremy backs off the hook to make the post about gratitude and community. In my view, Jeremy reels people in with a compelling hook, but then switches gear to make this about very relatable (and admirable) traits: gratitude and connection.
4. Jeremy uses a photo. Longtime readers will know that a relevant and original image will get you +115% more views.

So it’s no surprise that this post went viral.

If you read the comments, you’ll see that there are MANY people who applaud this post and are encouraged or educated by it.

However, you also won’t need to scroll too long to see quite a few commenters who violently disagree with Jeremy’s stance.

As I saw this unfold in real time, I learned quite a few things from these negative comments (and Jeremy’s reaction to them).

Engage

I often have people ask me about deleting negative comments. Jeremy did exactly what I would advise a client to do: don’t delete the comment…engage with it.

As Jeremy’s post was going viral, rather than avoid these negative comments, Jeremy leaned in and started to have an honest (and on-brand) dialogue with each commenter.

Here are a few examples:

Bob’s comment is typical of most of the detractors: most asked, “Why mention the specific dollar amount?”

From my perspective, being specific is always beneficial to others on LinkedIn. I LOVE it when people are willing to give a peek behind the curtain.

By engaging with Bob’s comment, Jeremy showed that he was open to a dialogue. The exchange actually goes on for 13 more comments, with others joining in in addition to both Bob (3 more comments) and Jeremy (6 more comments).

In addition to showing that Jeremy is open to a dialogue, this exchange is LinkedIn virality gold!!! We believe that LinkedIn’s algorithm sees an exchange like this and says, “Wow…people are really digging into a discussion here. Let’s show this post to more people!”

Here’s another example:

I saw Jeremy do this quite a few times. He offered to connect with people one-on-one. In one case, a lady complained that she didn’t make that much money in a year, and Jeremy offered to meet one-on-one to brainstorm about her career path.

In my view, this is beyond generous. I try to do this when I can, but I have to be careful of my schedule. I can only imagine this is true of Jeremy as well.

So I really appreciated seeing his willingness to take the dialogue live (and to get to know his audience - even the ones who don’t like him ??).

Here’s one last example:

I’ve followed Jeremy for a while, so I know that his personal brand is direct, no B.S., and sometimes even abrasive.

This is an example of a comment I would never?make…but that’s because it’s not on-brand for me. Jeremy, however, takes no prisoners. So being combative in the comments is definitely on-brand for him.

The ultimate point for me is that authenticity sells. There is a reason that companies seek funding and founders seek advice from Jeremy. By being himself in these comments, he is sure to turn away people like Andrew Barkett…but I’d argue that Jeremy and Andrew would never work together anyway, so Jeremy still benefits from being authentic in the exchange.

Pulling it all together

Negative comments can be hard to read. But - if the person isn’t being an outright troll - you benefit from engaging with them.

I would bet that this post would have hovered around 200 likes (which, don’t get me wrong, is an exceptional post) had Jeremy not started to engage in the comments. I’d wager that his responses (and the ensuing dialogue) propelled this post to close to 1,000 likes.

Want to go deeper?

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And, if you missed it last week, be sure to check out our CEO LinkedIn Profile Checklist and A CEO’s Guide to LinkedIn Profiles. They’re both great (and free) resources).