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In this article, we will be understanding how to manage your online reputation management and how to deal with negative feedback online, especially when your content backfires. Let us look into the different ways you can handle negative feedback in the best manner possible.
Here are the different ways how you can handle negative feedback, especially when content backfires:
Develop process and policy
You need a professional approach to managing the community around your content. That means creating a policy and process for handling feedback on all types, not just the negative stuff. Your feedback needs to be passed along to the proper people, which takes into consideration and responded to. You need to understand the documentation that states who handle what type of feedback, and who exactly is accountable for generating the response, which continues the engagement with the individual. You also want response times clearly defined, which makes the process run much more smoothly.
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Setting parameters for your commenters
An audience-facing policy also needs to be created that sets boundaries for your readers and lets them know what is acceptable, what kinds of activity earn them a boot, and how you handle comments. Having a policy is a start, but it’s a simple and passive approach. When they hit submit, you want to be ready with a response that goes beyond simply deleting comments.
Responding to negative feedback
You can effectively go through reputation management tips and books, to understand in greater detail how you should publicly respond to every comment, especially the negative ones. You can easily your brand in a positive light and manner because others will be able to see how you handle situations.
Consider alternative approaches
Dealing with difficult comments can drain energy and be a huge time-suck, especially when you get caught up in a back and forth. Here are some additional strategies for dealing with negative feedback on your content:
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1. Comment moderation
Most content management systems and comment platforms give you the ability to turn on various degrees of comment moderation before a comment goes live.
You can also further require registration for comments, require individual comment approval, or grant automatic approval for future comments once the respondent’s first comment goes live. The biggest benefit of moderating comments is that you can easily catch negative feedback before it goes public. You have the best opportunity to respond to the individual privately, and even provide an email if required
2. Delete comments
Disgruntled comments and people trolling are other stories, and deleting comments that would be out of bounds might be a good strategy to take. The same goes for comment spam. Delete the comments which do not provide any feedback, but solely exists to criticize.
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3. Ignore ’em
If they do have a complaint that you can address, discuss that specific issue, and ignore the rest of the ranting and insults. Keep your responses short and don’t engage beyond providing a solution. That will just pull you away, waste time, and could potentially spiral into a worse issue.
4. Take it offline
When you get negative feedback from someone, even constructive criticism, you don’t really know what it could turn into. Any conversation stemming from negative feedback has the potential to spiral out of control, especially if other commenters jump on board. You may want to consider just responding to people privately through email or through a direct message on social media.
In conclusion:
These are a few ways on how you can effectively handle negative feedback, especially when your content backfires. We hope you found this article informative and helpful. Good luck.
Thanks for reading!
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