If you are active in social media, then, you know what I am talking about and even if you are not, still this would be good information.

Here are few tips on handling negative comments: -

1) Distinguish between comment and a rant – Comments are worth listening and responding to and can help in alleviating negative buzz about your company. Rants, on the other side, are just rants so get your drinks and enjoy the playoffs.

2) Quick response on the same platform – The reason I use the word “quick” is because the timeliness is as important as the accuracy of the response. People expect near real-time response in social media. It is critical to do a fast response or else it loses it’s validity and impact.

3) Improvement Opportunity – The negative is as essential as the positive and provides opportunities for improvement for your company. You should acknowledge the comment and respond back with your action plan (considering your suggestion our next product release, next year, some standard PR response etc.) Again, be honest and transparent.

4) Patience is a virtue – Be patient and see if your supporters/advocates might chime in to protect you. The beauty of social media is that not all responses have to come from you.

5) You’re NOT the only one – Believe me, yours is not the only company that gets negative comment, so neither get defensive nor overreact to the negatives. Look for the comments that are worth responding and make sure you can respond fast.

6) Prepare for the negatives – Lastly, as someone wise said “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.” Yes, you can’t be prepared for all the negative comments, but, some of them can be expected like:

• when a company makes a policy change or
• new government legislative that affect your industry
• change in pricing/product features etc.

Public communication team can help you prepare some answers so that you are in a much better state than being caught off guard.

Let me know your thoughts.