The winner has been chosen in the BizSugar “Tips For Dealing With Online Haters Contest!” Check out the post to see all of great suggestions provided. As always, we’d like to thank everyone who participated by leaving their tip in the comments section of the post.
Without further ado, the winner is:
Christina Giliberti of CG Online Marketing ~
“When it comes to social media it’s important to have a plan in place to deal with negative responses. It’s a two-way conversation, completely transparent and publicly shared. You can’t convince yourself that only sunny comments get tweeted or added to a post all the time. This is the real world and real people have a spectrum of opinions.
The most important thing you can do is deal with them as they happen, and refer to your plan. This is particularly important if you work for a large/multinational corporation, as your comments affect the brand image and other members of staff. As each commenter could be a brand ambassador, client, customer, partner or influencer.
Tips: Consider the repercussions. Read through the comment and break down the response. Try to stay as unemotional as possible and think as they would. It’s understandable if they have had a bad experience. Perhaps you posted an update, tweet or blog that was thoughtless, offensive in some way or incorrect. Understand where the response came from and why. Show your line manager and discuss the best way to tackle it. Respond promptly, be honest, apologise if it warrants it and provide an action or next step IE ‘I will look into this further and contact you in 24 hours’ , ‘I have checked the terms and you are indeed correct. Can I call you now to discuss?’
Never be afraid to move discussions offline, BUT do respond at the scene so that they and others can see that you have or are taking action. Never leave a negative comment unanswered. Never apologise if they are wrong. Be tactful and honest. Personal attacks are for children, and you are not. So don’t attack back. Don’t call on your friends to, BUT do ask them to offer support if needed. No’one can argue with logic – use it, defuse, settle, move on.
Don’t hold onto your emotion. It will ruin you. Scream if you have to to dispel it, rant to a friend, then move on.”
Congratulations to you Christina!
We’d also like to thank moderator, Amanda Stillwagon of MyFindsOnline, for her assistance in helping to choose the winner.
Congrats Christina!
Great advice, Christina.
Meanwhile, how not to respond to negative comments…two words, Paul Christoforo.
What a great way to deal with it. I wholeheartedly agree with taking the conversation out of the public eye. Not because we need to sweep it under the rug but because often times there are illogical people that can really cause quite the fuss. Awesome awesome play by play in how to deal with this.