How to Deal with Negative Comments on Facebook

We’ve all seen people leave negative comments on Facebook.  If not, Facebook’s experiment definitely put the spotlight on negative versus positive posts and comments.  Negative comments can spread negativity not only across your personal network, but your brand’s as well.

Depending on the severity of the comments, negativity on your brand’s Facebook page can really set a bad mood for your whole community.  In order to best monitor your community and keep good conversation flowing, use the following guide next time you notice a negative comment.

Should you respond, leave alone, or hide/delete?

Once someone leaves a negative comment on your page, your first instinct may be to hide or delete the comment.  Don’t act on that instinct right away! Let’s walk through some examples and determine how to react.

If you receive a negative comment, question, or misinformation regarding your brand that you can resolve, respond.  The user may be misinformed or unaware, but this is your chance to defend your brand and repair a relationship.

Post: We love bacon!
User: You don’t carry turkey bacon so I don’t like you.
Potential Response: Turkey bacon is also delicious, we’ll have to keep that in mind for future products! Thanks for sharing your feedback.

Does the comment have little to nothing to do with your brand?  Many times users will post something related to your topic, and you may feel like you need to respond.  Example:

Post: We love bacon!
User: Bacon promotes animal abuse!

Now you could respond to this user and try to defend your brand, but how far do you think you’ll get?  Some comments are best left alone, especially if there is potential for the situation to escalate.  No need to hide the comment though. Your core audience can identify off-topic conversation.  If the comments continue, then you can politely ask the user to refrain from posting repeatedly and ban if needed.

Is the comment spam, full of profanity, or offensive?  It’s ultimately up to you, but here is where you should make the call to hide the comment.  You should set your profanity filter on Facebook to high to automatically hide profane language.

In addition to monitoring for negative comments, you may want to consider adding your own posting guidelines in your About section on Facebook.  Let your fans know that you do monitor comments to ensure a safe, fun community so they are aware before they post on your page.  And if they do not read your guidelines, just point them there if they start to become disruptive.