The Best Way to Handle Negative Comments on Social Media

Whenever you get very interactive on social media you’ll need to learn to expect some negativity. This is a given and in fact if you start getting a couple of negative comments here and there you can probably feel extra special and like you’ve finally arrived. Everything is not always going to be peaches and cream on the Internet. If it is, then you’re not trying hard enough. But, there are ways to handle negative comments that will make you look more important than ever. You’ll come off as the expert that you are, and make new friends in the process.
First, it’s important to take the feeling out of the negative comment. Determine as unemotionally as possible whether the comment is true spam, or if they are saying something worth listening to and commenting on. If the comment has curse words or name calling see if you can cut it and paste it into a word-processing program and remove those parts. Read what’s left. Is the criticism genuine, do they have a valid point, and can you answer that part without attacking?
If you can, then plan your answer carefully. You can answer in text in response to the comment or you can make a video for YouTube.com and post it as a response. It’s up to you. But, do find a way to answer the negative comment in a way that makes you look better. If you can fix the problem, in a kind way, you’ll endear yourself to others. You will have no need to attack the person back because your fans will do that for you while you appear above it all with your right-headed and rational response.
If you do determine that the comment is spam, and you can delete it, just delete it. No need to announce that you deleted it, just do it quietly without fanfare. You may have to also delete replies to the negative comment too, so be sure to look through them so that all comments associated with the spam are deleted too. Don’t let yourself react emotionally to this kind of negativity. While it will feel personal, it’s not. It’s just SPAM and some people love stirring up things to bring themselves attention. Don’t give it to them.
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