You’ve done it. You have created a social media space for your business. Now what? Moderation! AKA – Engaging with your fans and followers in a way that positively promotes your brand.
Finding the voice of your company and keeping on brand are the keys to the success of moderation. Setting guidelines for your employees that answer these questions on your company’s behalf and producing processes on dealing with these hard-hitting comments and questions will help for a smooth moderation experience. We have found that moderation is the best way to quickly and efficiently answer all the questions, comments, and concerns your fans have about your business in one place.
Respond to Everything
Answering the positive comments is just as important as answering the negative. When your fans take the time to write a positive review, ALWAYS respond. Let them know you appreciate their business, are grateful for what they had to say, and that they took the time to say it.
Whether it be a 5-star review or a comment on a post saying, “Hey, this is great,” take the time to thank them. Liking is the bare minimum, but using your words and referring to them by name goes a very long way and shows the type of great customer service your business has.
Now, if you are moderating on behalf of another business, take the time to find that company’s voice! Gather questions and put together a mock response that you will send to your client for approval. Keep these as a cheat sheet; it’s OK! Having something to refer back to will set you up for success. With that being said, don’t become redundant. Take what you’ve said before and re-work it to be unique to each response. Being authentic and being human is why you were hired in the first place.
Handling Negative Comments
On to dealing with the negative side of comments. Let’s face it, we all see them, and setting clear guidelines and processes on how you as a business or moderator want to deal with the negatives will set you up for success. When you receive a negative comment on your page, it is easy to go into a defensive mindset but take the time to think about your response. When possible, take the conversation to a private message.
- Be open and empathetic with your customer’s experience.
- Always refer to them by name and thank them for their feedback.
- Use a calm tone and watch your punctuations (all caps or a lot of exclamation points can be received as aggressive and off-putting, further upsetting your customer).
- Try your best to resolve their concern or issue as best you can but always try to leave the conversation as positive of an experience as you can.
- If you are just not sure how to respond, that’s ok. Type up a response and send to someone for approval or to give insight. Dealing with negative situations is a very delicate thing, and you want to provide the appropriate response because you can’t take them back.
You will find a lot of these negatives will become positives by easily clearing up some confusion they may have had about your business or product.
Be a Real Human
Don’t forget to be real! People want to know they aren’t communicating with a computer but with a real person. Keeping these conversations light and responding as quickly as possible goes a long way and shows your followers that your business cares about its customers. Don’t be scared of emojis or turning your positive reviews into content to share on your page. Share what your customers and employees have to say about your business!
Take your time and be as authentic as possible. Being transparent and honest goes a long way with people. Providing your followers with a great customer experience will make them more likely to refer your business to others. Answer the hard questions, turn the negative into the positive, and remember to stay on brand.