Responding to and dealing with negative comments on social media. Mini social media guide for higher/further education colleges & training providers.

1. Social media guide for higher
education colleges & training
providers on using social media
effectively.
Social media is well… social! Once you’ve
made the decision to get online you also invite
negative criticism that you need to be
prepared to deal with.
Every organisation should have some social
media guidelines as to how they will respond
to social media comments.
You should also be tracking mentions of your college through tools like Google
Alerts and Social Mention. Planning ahead can take the sting out of negative
comments so that you can respond appropriately. Here’s a quick guide to dealing
with negative feedback on social media.
Dealing with negative comments on social media
• First find out who is complaining, what they are saying and where they are
saying it. The process is about listening, much like finding anything using
social media.
• Determine the issue. What did they have a problem with? How can you help
them?
• Reach out and acknowledge them. Most problems get resolved quickly
because they just want to talk to someone
• Respect privacy. Know when to take the conversation private. Upon initial
contact, it’s appropriate to acknowledge the problem in a public channel. After
the initial public tweet, you should reach out in a private channel to really dig
in and see if you can make a difference.
• Offer a personal solution. Don’t pass people on.
• It’s best not to respond to Trolling or Spam. This type of feedback isn’t really
feedback at all.
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2. Responding on social media checklist
These are guidelines, quite often you may need to tailor your response to be human.
Use the responses below as a guide to interacting on social media sites. The chart
shows the different types of responses that might be received and recommends how
to respond.
Interaction Suggested Response Action
Customer service So sorry to hear you’ve had this Email query to:
issue experience. Your enquiry has been (suggest Customer
passed to our Customer Services Team Services and copy
who will respond as soon as possible. If Marketing)
you prefer you can contact us on xxxxxx
Customer service Thanks for your question. Your enquiry Email query to:
query has been passed to our Customer (suggest Customer
Services Team who will respond to your Services and copy
query as soon as possible. Marketing)
Happy customer Thanks for your lovely comments, Email testimonial to:
they’re great to hear! We’d love to share (email suggest
your comments with other customers is Marketing)
that OK? Or we are so pleased that you
like us. We’d be very grateful if you
would submit a review or like us on
Facebook (link to sites).
Solution query You may find this article on [your query None required
keywords] useful: [provide URL to article
content on main site]
Service/Product You may find this product on [your query None required
query keywords] useful: [provide URL to
product page on main site]
Event More information on the [particular None required
/Exhibition query event keywords] can be found on our
website: [provide URL]
Press enquiry Thanks for your feedback, please Email press enquiry
contact our press team on who will be to: (press email)
able to help you
web : www.webyogi.co.uk | call : 07412 139341 | email : info@webyogi.co.uk

3. Resources
HOW TO: Deal With Negative Feedback in Social Media - Mashable
5 Ways to Effectively Manage Your Online Reputation – Social media examiner
How Companies Should Respond To Negative Reviews - Outspoken media
Air Force blog assessment flowchart – David Meerman Scott
Any Questions?
Ready to improve your online marketing? Start now contact info@webyogi.co.uk.
Feel free to get in touch! We offer in-house training & consultancy for social media
projects.
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email: info@webyogi.co.uk
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web : www.webyogi.co.uk | call : 07412 139341 | email : info@webyogi.co.uk