It’s never nice to see people saying bad things about you. And it’s even worse if it happens on social media. Everyone can see it and read it, so that can’t be good for a business, right? Well, not exactly. If you don’t handle it the right way, it will have a harmful impact, for sure. But, if you know what you’re doing, you can use negative comments on social media to boost your sales.

That’s right, and it’s not as hard as you might think. Follow through with everything we tell you today, combine it with the best marketing techniques, and the sky will be the limit for you.

But before we dive into all of that, let’s see why you shouldn’t be afraid of bad comments in the first place.

Why aren’t negative comments bad for your business?

We all can agree that positive comments make your brand more prominent and credible. However, negative ones do the same thing. To explain what we’re talking about, let’s take reviews as an example.

If you’re looking at reviews on any site, you can’t expect them all to be five-star ones. As a matter of fact, people hope that they’ll see at least a few bad ones as proof that the good ones aren’t fake. So, only if you collect both types will you see your conversion rate going up.

And things work in a similar fashion when it comes to comments on social media. On top of that, users now consider social networks a good place for leaving their complaints. Hence, it only makes sense for you to get some negative feedback here. Luckily, these are a lot cheaper to resolve than the complaints that go through the call center.

So, negative comments on social media will help you become more credible, and they’ll save you money. Not to mention that you’ll learn things from them, so you’ll be able to up your game and service. No matter how you put it, you win. And to secure your victory, here are the things you should know about dealing with these.

Respond as quickly as you can

If you want to manage your negative comments on social media like a pro, you must respond as quickly as possible. Almost half of the consumers expect a response within 24 hours, while the other half expect it to happen within an hour. So, you need to do it, and there’s no way around it.

When people want to buy something, they research a few companies that have it. Most of the time, the first one to respond will get the sale. And it’s the same if we’re talking about unsatisfied commenters. The quicker you get back to them, the more chances you have of winning them over. This is one of the best ways to be more engaging on social media, so make sure to respond to comments promptly. Not all brands think about it that way. So, this is an excellent opportunity for you to outperform them.

Prove that your customer support is excellent

One of the best ways to use negative comments on social media to boost your sales is to show off your amazing customer support in your responses.

Be sure to always start with an apology, as it can go a long way. People will see that you’re not afraid to take responsibility and that you empathize with your customers. On top of that, thank the commenters for the time they spent giving you feedback, even if it’s negative.

No matter what you write in your comment, highlight the quality of your customer service. Other customers will read what you wrote, and if they see that your customer experience is good, that can be a great selling point.

Go out of your way to fix the issues that come up in the comments and talk to your customers there. Recognize the common problems and reference them in your content marketing efforts. You want to educate your clients about what you do and about how you can help them. The more they know about your business, the more they’ll trust you. And the answers to negative comments are a great place to do it.

Make it personal

Try to avoid canned responses at all costs. Your customers want to see that there are real people behind the company name, and the best way to showcase that is by being honest and authentic. If all your responses look the same and carry out the same message, you’ll achieve nothing but lose your audience and sales.

You don’t even have to do much to personalize the message. Addressing the person who wrote the comment by their first name and signing out with your own will make it seem personal. And if you want to take it a step further, analyze their issue a bit more, and give them an explanation about what’s happening right away.

If you take your time to personalize your customer service, it will show. Your social media followers will see that you take these negative comments seriously, and their feelings for your brand will grow. On the other hand, there will still be problems that you won’t be able to fix just like that. So, let’s see what you should do with those.

 

Take the conversation to a private chat

You should always respond to negative comments publicly. But if the issue your customer has is on a more complex side, ask them to bring the conversation to your DMs. Of course, don’t delete the comment. Let it stay where it is, and the client will feel heard and valued.

With that said, you should feel free to delete any comments that are outright:

• Spam
• Inappropriate
• Irrelevant
• Slanderous

Conclusion

By addressing the issues your customers are facing, you can use negative comments on social media to boost your sales. It pays off to go the extra mile and take care of it as you should. Both you and your customers will come out of it as winners, and that’s all you should care about.

Meta: Learn how you can use negative comments on social media to boost your sales. All the best practices that you should follow and more, all in one place.

 

Photos used:

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