Trolls: Dealing with Negative Comments Online
Over the past months we’ve written about Social Media’s importance as both your portal to the next gen of Customer Service, and as a means for having real conversations with potential customers. Today, we’re going to discuss another very important factor with Social Media for businesses… the dreaded negative comment! First and foremost, It’s extremely important to respond quickly when someone posts a comment online, regardless of whether their communication is favorable or not.
In this article, we’ll address one very unfortunate (but common) phenomenon on the internet known as “trolling”.
Trolling vs. Real Concerns
A “troll” is a user who deliberately posts inflammatory content online for the sole purpose of making people angry. This is not a joke, these people actually exist! It is quite common for trolls to post comments that are contextually irrelevant (e.g. visiting a restaurant’s Facebook page and posting hateful political opinions). The lesson here is to discern between a troll and a customer who may have genuinely had a bad experience.
Investigate All Negative Comments
How do you know if a comment is truly an issue which needs addressing, or a Troll? There are a number of tell-tale characteristic behaviors that will reveal what type of person you are dealing with. A customer who is upset for a valid reason will generally calm down after someone takes their concerns seriously. A troll, on the other hand, will continue posting negative content… often ignoring your responses, or respond to you with sarcasm & insults. If you are met with this type of reply, DON'T TAKE THE BAIT!
How to Respond
Make sure you post a short response (publicly) and ask to communicate with the customer privately. You might, for instance, ask them to send you a private message on Facebook with their phone number. This is done so that, no matter what, you can show "on record" that you responded. You need for people to see that you investigate complaints within a very short time. If a negative comment is a true statement, posting an apology and a promise to swiftly fix the situation with almost always defuse the situation.
If a statement is false, assume that the person made an honest mistake. For example, you might post “Sorry, but our restaurant does not serve that particular food item. We are sorry that you had a bad experience, but it appears that your comment is referring to a different place.” (Obviously, you should be absolutely certain that a comment is false before responding in this manner!)
You may run into situations where a commenter continues to complain after your response. That’s ok—the key is to show a public response in a short period of time. Once you know that you are dealing with a real troll, don’t respond to further comments. Whatever you do, don’t argue! Post your first response and then stop. If someone is just unhappy with their dining experience, they will accept your offer to communicate with them privately to get it resolved. Trolls are not interested in solutions—they just want attention.
Hi, I'm Travis Ford, owner of Rock Harbor Marketing, a Digital Marketing Agency on California's Central Coast. I welcome opinions, helpful critiques and comments of admiration. Leave me one here, Follow us on Facebook, or tweet me and we can chat further. As always... I like to end each post with a long sip on my cup of coffee and an exuberant "Ahhhhhhhhhhh".