The keyboard era has really helped a number of people in the world; journalists, entrepreneurs, students among others. For instance, most users of social media want to be heard in one way or the other through what they post.

Being a powerful tool for brands of all types, social media helps them connect, engage, and establish trust with current and prospective clients, increase brand awareness, website traffic and ultimately increase sales.

Sometimes things go awry and negative comments start popping up on your brand’s Facebook page or Twitter feed?  How would you address this? It doesn’t matter how good you are, how positive you are and how well you associate with you followers online; there will always be individuals who will attack your reputation in one way or the other. Some will troll you just to get the better of you, to demean you and make you look useless in the presence of the many that respect and follow you.

I have been attacked by some individuals on social media some time back. It wasn’t easy facing the claims of which most were contrary to who I really am. But do these critiques even care? Most don’t even know you more than just your social media picture and name! It’s just that some people were born on the left side of life, filled with jealousy and hatred though there’s a group that do criticize for a good course;  because they want to see you grow out of the criticism.

Your critiques will always keep watch of you to see how you will respond to the situation. Your response will depend on their reaction too. I found out some ways you can use to handle critiques as discussed below.

1. Justify your humanity

As a human being, you are prone to mistakes. No one is perfect enough never to go astray. Find words that you can accompany your justification that can be a little humorous about of your actions as criticized so as not to sound rude with a “Don’t care attitude.” Ensure that you don’t overdo it. Some might think you are too proud to even listen to them. Do with a short and precise wording.

2. Use the “Keyboard Courage”

This can work through creating a unified message that engages you or the brand with the customer accordingly. By using the keyboard courage, you will push away emotions. You will let the keyboard do the reaction and not your emotions to drive you to respond with bitterness and anger.

The worst kind of response you can ever make is when you feed the critiques with what they want, that is engulfed with bitterness. Do not feed the beast by firing back with angry messages. That will certainly give them room to attack more.

3. Stay factual and professional

Sometimes it is really hard to stick to professionalism when reputation is being smeared with mad and you know that’s not what it is. You might be a good entrepreneur selling natural hair products let’s say Zene Naturals hair product, Passion Oil, which enables hair growth in volumes then you come across some ladies who will disown it and calling you a liar of what you are selling.

You might try all your best to explain to why you give the product a boost which the clients may not take it lightly. To protect your professionalism, you will have to send them a factual link that they can go through to check on the ingredients and some examples of individuals who have used it to give a positive remark.

4. Be thankful

Not all criticism is bad. Some is actually there to grow your brand. Appreciating the critiques will make them feel like they achieved something. Criticism is good when it seeks to correct a behavior, improve a brand and not attack reputation. Appreciation can end up making some of your critiques friends to your brand.

5. Recognize their efforts then correct them

Most people want to be recognized when they criticize others. A victim of criticism can respond by recognizing them for the fact that they have seen a problem in your brand. Secondly, you can follow up with well detailed information to keep them on the right track on why the brand has to do what it does. Make them feel comfortable.

6. Stand on criticism

Gather the courage and bravery to rise above the criticism. Don’t follow the criticism that can lead you to the slaughterhouse. Only you know yourself.  A number of people have killed themselves because of cyber bulling. Why? Because they said yes to the criticism, they bowed to be criticized and said yes, that’s exactly what they
are.  

Attitude is what you think, what you do and what you feel about yourself. Wear the positive attitude towards the criticism. Change the way people around you think about you buy simply being the sole judge to yourself. You have the heart positive attitude to rise above the criticism.

7. Admit, Apologize and give a solution

For brands, handling complaints via social networks are the same as dealing with them face-to-face.  If customers were standing in front of you with a complaint, you will never ignore them, walk away from them, or simply apologize without offering a resolution. So why would that approach be acceptable via social media? Answer: It’s not!

Criticism corrects. When you find out that the brand has been doing contrary, be bold enough to admit that you are aware of the mistake then apologize by simply giving a solution to  fix the problem as identified by your followers and customers of the brand if it it’s a business.

8. Ignore the criticism

Once you encounter negative criticism, pretend that you didn’t read or heard of it. By responding means you have given them the attention to troll you. Some individuals who throw negative words to you simply want to lower your self-esteem. Do not give them the attention they need. They might go on hulling insults that can break you to pieces.

9. Take the conversation private

You have to choose your battle wisely. You can encourage your critiques to send you a private message. As much as it’s important that people see that you respond to every inquiry and you’re interested in your people’s opinions never discuss your problems in public. Deal with it behind curtains.

10. Take Action

Sometimes you will be forced to take the post down once the matter is resolved. Avoid engaging in a chain of response using social networks when the matter is complex in nature. Take it offline. Alternatively, you can look to leverage customer service support via phone or email.

If the insults are unhealthy, report the message or simply unfollow, unfriend or block when necessary.

Conclusion

Taking in criticism needs a lot of courage. Responding to criticism needs a lot of knowledge and wisdom on how to choose words to use and foreseeing the reactions from the critiques. Ironically, one unhappy customer or follower can be converted back into a loyal fan of your business can be far more influential in the word-of-mouth driven world of social media than one happy customer ever can be! So go ahead, embrace comments negative or otherwise you might just win some more fans!

Otherwise, what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas.  Let what happens online stay online.