As a Social Media Manager, you work hard to establish an excellent image for your company. You take the best pictures with the wittiest captions and target the perfect audience for your AD on Facebook and Instagram because you know your brand must be presented in an excellent light in 2022 online.
But what do you do when you get inappropriate comments on your Social Media profiles?
Unwanted comments come from different sources.
- An angry client could have commented because she didn’t receive their order yet. Keep in mind that statistics collected by HubSpot show that 35% of customers have used social media to shame a company after poor customer service.
- A competitor could have commented a lie to damage your brand.
- A spam bot who posts the same “get-rich-with-Bitcoin” comment everywhere could have added a comment to your post.
Regardless of their source, we all agree the first step is to take action.
We do not want to leave the comment untouched on our Instagram profile because this would damage our brand.
According to the Microsoft 2016 state of global customer service report, 67% of global consumers interacting with a brand for customer service on Social Media expect a response within 24 hours.
You might argue that removing comments is an infringement on free speech or censorship. However, this is not the case. Research shows that 80% of users believe all forms of hate speech should be removed from social media. Also, 79% think content that inspires violence and discrimination should be removed.
But what should we do with inappropriate comments?
We can delete the comment so that the statement is gone forever. However, this might be counterproductive. The commentator likely notices that we deleted the comment and responds with another one, another one, and another one.
Deleting unwanted comments will create a negative spiral and not improve the situation; quite the opposite. The commentator will become more annoyed with every deleted comment and write angrier statements, which we do not want on our profile. In addition, 65% of Americans believe that it’s a free speech violation when brands ban users based on social media comments.
Another point of attention is the handling of reports of potentially extreme events. These are comments from users who take to social media to report being harmed by a brand, its products, or its services.
Such comments are an absolute nightmare for every Social Media Manager, as they require special care. However, deleting such comments is unacceptable, as you could be accused of deleting evidence. In addition, when the comments are deleted, every chance of investigating the issue is gone.
Therefore, we do not recommend deleting any comments from your Social Media page in any case.
But how can you do it better?
We got the perfect answer for you.
You can hide unwanted comments on Instagram and Facebook!
Facebook explains the hiding option as follows:
When you hide a comment from a post on your page:
- The comment will still be visible to the person who wrote it and their friends. Hiding unwanted comments can help prevent more unwanted comments.
- The comment will be hidden from everyone else.
- Replies to the comment will also be hidden. If you want to hide specific responses to comments, you can select and hide each answer separately. If you only hide replies to a comment, the original statement will still be visible to everyone.
As you can gather, the hiding option only brings advantages to your Social Media approach.
The (unwanted) comment will stay on your profile, but nobody can see it except the hater and her friends.
As a result, the commentator will not become angrier and spam your page with even more comments.
Deleting vs hiding inappropriate comments
| Hide | Delete |
|---|---|
| Hide the comment from viewers of the post. | The comment is permanently removed |
| The comment is still visible to the commentator. | The commentator will notice his comment was deleted |
| Social Media Managers can still reply to the comment and take action. | There is a high risk that the deletion will cause a backlash |
You might be wondering how you can best implement the hiding option in your Social Media approach.
We recommend the following action:
- Hide inappropriate comments instantly.
- Respond to the inappropriate comment when you have a moment.
The good thing, when your customer care team responds to the hidden comment, the reply will also be hidden automatically.
The requirement to hide unwanted comments instantly will bring you to the next challenge.
How can you hide unwanted comments as soon as they are posted?
We all have to sleep and sometimes take a break to avoid a burn-out as Social Media Managers.
That’s where BrandFort can make your life as Social Media Manager so much easier and more peaceful.
The Artificial Intelligence of Brandfort can identify unwanted comments and hides them instantly. This approach allows you to respond to the comments later when you have the necessary time.
This approach ensures that inappropriate comments are instantly hidden from your Social Media profiles on Instagram and Facebook so that they can not damage your brand.
In addition, responding to a complaint helps you establish a good relationship with the client and turn the negative experience into good. You must respond to a complaint because a survey of HubSpot showed that 30% of unhappy customers would go to a competitor if the brand didn’t respond.
Even better, if you do an excellent job responding, you can make a loyal customer out of the unhappy one. A study from Sprout Social showed when a brand responds or reaches out to the clients, 70% of people are more likely to use a brand’s product or service, and 65% of people have more brand loyalty.
In summary
Use the hiding option for inappropriate comments instead of deleting them.
This approach will help you to deescalate the situations with angrier customers.
BrandFort can do the dirty work for you and hide unwanted comments instantly. Sign up for the BrandFort – Pro plan today!
Afterwards, you can respond to complaints of customers to improve the situation.