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How to handle a Bad Review or Post on Social Media

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Working your brand on social media is GREAT until it isn’t – ugh, a bad review comes in.

As business owners we are all human, which means we make mistakes.  Perhaps we were late delivering on a promise, or a job we promised to be perfect ended up taking a wrong turn or we have an employee that does something inappropriate – it happens more often than we like, or think.

So what happens when the dirty laundry shows up on social media in the form of a bad review, a nasty-gram post, or the troll that just goes all out and posts everywhere how horrible you are.

Well there is a right way…and a terribly WRONG way to handle it.

  1. Own it. If you’ve done something wrong, if you have an unhappy customer just own it.  Don’t make excuses, don’t blame someone else. As the owner, it’s your role to take the hits 100% of the time.
  2. Understand that most unhappy customers just want to be validated and have you take ownership (see #1).
  3. Address the situation PUBLICALLY – so say, “Annie – I’m so terribly sorry you are upset and this happened to you, I’m sending you a private message now so we can get to the bottom of it”. Of course, pen the response according to the situation.
  4. Take it OFFLINE – you don’t want to get in a pissing match with someone in a Facebook feed. Take it off line – call them, email – whatever it takes.
  5. Get to the bottom of the issue – because we all know it could just be they were having a bad day and a minute little mishap has now turned into catastrophe! If you can – make amends.
  6. If you can fix things – ask them to kindly remove the post. It’s better if they do it versus you deleting it.

And more…..

What if they are a troll just trying to make your life miserable? Delete the post and block them.  That’s not to say they won’t find another place to vent. You can’t fix it all.

What about bad Google Reviews?  Unscrupulous competitors will leave negative fake reviews just to be jerks.  Even if it’s FAKE do the following:

  • Address the complaint and apologize for whatever they are complaining about
  • State you can’t seem to find them in your records as being a customer
  • Offer to fix whatever is the problem, give them contact information to whomever is the “fixer”
  • Flag or report the review as fraudulent

NOTE: *Even if you flagged the review, prospects and customers may still see it, or it may not be removed—this is why you ALWAYS respond.

 The big answer: RESPOND.  100% of the Time. 

 If you ignore or just delete, it’s only going to fuel the fire.  If you find yourself in a bad situation and the complaints are piling up – this of course is a bigger problem.  Turn off the review option on social media and watch Google, Yelp and other platforms like a hawk.  Be honest – “we are overwhelmed with orders and are doing our best to catch up” – etc.

In the end, negative reviews are usually overpowered by the GREAT ones! So It’s in your best interest to get as many 5 Stars as you can. So the best response to a negative response is not to have any in the first place.  Make sure you understand your customer journey, your staff is properly trained and your operations are in check.

Struggling?  Give us a call.  We won’t manage your negative press, but we will get you in tip-top shape!

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Is Google Plus Dead?

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Originally launched in 2011 Google Plus (Google +) was set to be the next big thing in social media with the expectation of overshadowing Facebook. We’d seen it happen before when Facebook overtook MySpace in the social media popularity contest so it was possible it could happen again.

My first introduction to social media was MySpace. Whoa…I think I just aged myself a little bit there but I digress. Anyway, MySpace was the place where you could change your background settings and songs and make your page uniquely you anytime you felt like it. You could shuffle around your top 8 friends daily depending on your mood! How could it get any better? Introduce, Facebook.

Since the inception of Facebook in 2004 the platform has undergone huge changes. While some have been skeptical we all know the only thing constant in life is change and Facebook has never shied away from making changes good, bad or otherwise. So how did Facebook overtake MySpace in social media popularity? I’m glad you asked. According to former MySpace CEO Mike Jones, MySpace was just the introduction to social media while Facebook works to perfect the social media world. One of the biggest differences noted was that MySpace didn’t allow users to use their real name but rather a pseudonym while Facebook encouraged users to post their real names to better to connect with others.

When Google Plus was launched, Facebook had already been active for 6 years with millions of users worldwide making them a formidable social media opponent. There were now personal and business pages, sponsored ads and groups to join. So where would Google Plus fall into the mix? Initially Google Plus was designed to integrate all Google services to allow the users to be more transparent with the people they communicated with the most through a variety of ways including Hangouts and Circles which are currently still active. The idea was that you could arrange your circles to communicate with certain people through posts, videos or blogs etc.

Similar to Facebook, with Google Plus you can check into a location and let your followers know where you have been or what you have been up to. One of the most popular uses was Google photo’s which has since been separated from Google Plus and is its own program. So, in a nutshell, why is Google Plus still active and is it worth it to spend time and energy on?

In a word, yes. While Google Plus may not be the most active social media site the hidden perk is SEO. Search Engine Optimization. When you post on Google Plus you increase your SEO on Google and increased SEO is always a good idea. Key words, photos and tags will help direct traffic to your posts which if linked, will direct back to your website or whatever you are posting about. Talk about a win-win. Facebook may be the leader in being social, but Google Plus is the winner for SEO. According to a Stone Temple Consulting study, 90% of users with a Google+ profile have never posted to the network. So you may wonder, how can it work, how is it beneficial if people don’t post to it? From a study conducted by Statistic Brain 70% of brands have a presence on Google Plus proving that for business purposes it is a useful tool.

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