Every once in a while, there can be a wild-card comment on your social media post, which can make it very difficult to figure out how to respond appropriately. Never fear, Jeff Bullas (link) had some great tips in a recent blog post that I wanted to share with you today:
First, instead of reacting to it with shock, it is best to prepare a way to address comments such as these ahead of time. The best way to deal with these commetns is as follows:
- Monitoring: Monitor all of your social media posts closely and read all of the comments on a regular basis. Identify which comments you need to respond to immediately and which can wait – but always make sure that you respond to all of your comments.
- House Rules: Post the rules of what types of comments you will and won’t tolerate on your page. For example, you could state that you will remove any comments, photos, or videos that are indecent, inappropriate or offensive.
- A Response Plan for Wild-Card Comments: If there is malicious, offensive or false comments posted that broke your House Rules, remove the comment and explain that it breached the rules. If there is a comment that is a red flag indicator of crisis, take a screenshot of it immediately and then escalate it to your manager, legal team… or in extreme cases, the police.
Overall, it is best to address all comments – no matter whether they are positive, negative, or neutral – within 24 hours. For wild-card or negative comments, the sooner you respond the better, as you want to ensure that the situation does not escalate into a PR disaster that requires even more damage control.
I’d love to hear about any experiences that you had with strange or wild-card comments on your social media, blog or on review sites. How did you handle the comment?