Wooo doggy, Diva is in some hot water. To give you a little background, Diva is a line of jewelry, popular with teenage girls, that recently announced that they were introducing a new Playboy line with jewelry and accessories that include the iconic bunny. Oh that made some mothers mad.
But what has made it worse is the lack of response. Their Facebook Page has become a place where people are posting their commentary on society and everyone is saying nasty things to each other. It’s not pretty. A new Twitter hashtag #boycottdiva has cropped up. Petitions are being signed. And fake Facebook Pages have been created to mock the Diva line. Yikes.
Not only are they not responding, they are claiming that they are going to start banning the people who add their voice to the commentary. Oh that’s not good.
Every company’s nightmare is to have some scandal be played out in the social media space. That’s why many companies don’t want to have a Fan Page or if they do, they want to close the comments. But I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to worry about these negative comments and potential scandals. Let’s talk about what you should do and what you shouldn’t do about negativity in the social media space and how you can use it to your advantage if it happens.
1. Negative comments are rare. Big brands are more likely to attract some negativity but if you are doing a good job in your business, you typically won’t have anyone coming to your Facebook Wall to say bad things about you. Also know that if they aren’t saying it on your Wall, they are saying it somewhere else. At least this way, you know what’s being said!
2. Don’t close your comments. Social media is about the conversation. If you want to just broadcast your message, get a billboard not a Fan Page. Moderate the conversation, respond to negative comments if they come but don’t preemptively shut down the conversation.
3. Don’t delete negative comments. Instead respond. This is your opportunity to show your community that you are listening. If someone is taking the time to come to your wall and give you feedback, thank them and tell them you are working on it. If they get completely belligerent and nasty, take it off line. If they don’t respond to your attempts to play nice, THEN you can delete the comments and ban them.
4. Have a response plan. Bad choices can get made. Customers can get mad. But have a response plan. If you are the target of some angry customers, then you need to respond. Diva should be on their Facebook page responding and thanking people for their comments but having a consistent message about their choice. When people see the consistent response, the conversation will die down. Tell the loudest people that you are going to take it off line. Have a Facebook Page policy in place so people know that they will get banned if they participate on the page in a way that is not consistent with your policy.
5. Use it to your advantage. When people see a company responding to negativity, they know that the company is listening. Diva may choose to keep their line and claim that they serve a wider audience, not just teenagers. But whatever they do, they need to say something – not just talk to the hand.
What do you think? Are you afraid of getting negative comments? Let me know in the comments below – but don’t be negative or I’ll ban you 😉
Great post Andrea (and Grandma), I found the response that Diva made about people being offended and that not being cool rather patronising. All the Mums were offended and voicing their opinions and were ignored.
It seems that Diva were more than a bit silly about how they managed the episode and damaged their brand and product.
As a mum I can steer my kids away from what I don’t want the kids to have. Other kids are persistent little pests and I feel for the mums that know this is wrong but will have a daughter that want the items and will get them come hell or high water. I don’t like the way they informed the dissenters of their “new” policy and any company that treats their customers that shabbily doesn’t have my money.
I agree Sarah! I think if they just came out and said, “look we cater to a wider audience and we know you can make the choices that are appropriate for you when you visit our store” then it would all be good. But so far they’ve just been treating their customers and their fans on their page like idiots. Not good.
Loved this post. You are so right, it’s very simple – with social media growing rapidly, being defensive is simply damaging. An intelligent response is required which shows you are listening, you are reacting and trying to solve the problem. Gradually the extreme views will become marginalised by voices of reason. In fact, in the media we used to say we weren’t doing our job properly if we hadn’t been complained about!
Excellent article GrandMa Mary – I think that maybe their page has grown over time and they haven’t truly understood the power of social media and rather than as you say “deal with the problem” they are heading for the hills as they don’t know what to do.
Have you offered to help them resolve this problem – cause I feel they need your assistance.
Cheers Donna
Great point Fiona! Some times it’s ok to stir things up but that doesn’t mean you can’t be reasonable in your response to the complainers!
I think you are right Donna, they may not know what the heck to do about this. Excellent point, they may need a little Grandmotherly advice 🙂
I have had the experience of being the one posting the negative comment and then having my post removed. It happened after when I went to the FB page of a local hotel/ club and commented on the bad service and meal I received. What I thought was interesting was how quickly they responded by removing the post, rather than addressing the complaint, in which by the way, I also made sure to compliment them on certain aspects of the business, so it that wasn’t a comment that was all bad.
They sent me a private message explaining they felt that my post would be “detrimental” and “harm” their business. To which I replied, that the service and meal I received was ‘detrimental’ to their business, and that now I was annoyed enough to send a written letter to the general manager of the hotel and the restaurant manager; which I did do the next day.
Eventually, they offered me a free meal (which I really wasn’t looking for) and apologized. I think they really dropped the ball by removing the post. After all, if I go to a FB business page and see nothing but rave reviews; without one slightly negative comment, I really have to question the honesty of the business..It simply doesn’t make sense that everyone will be totally satisfied with a particular business….I like to see more mixed reviews that reflect the real world…
Interesting article in the WSJ…Jeff Bezos of Amazon explains why he allows negative comments on his site… http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203914304576627102996831200.html?mod=WSJ_myyahoo_module
This is a really important topic. Even when I don’t like what someone has to say there is always a kernel of something to it. Your 5 pointers are really solid and though I’ve heard as long as people talk about you –both good and bad –it’s good. Truthfully I didn’t know about all of these. Thank you. Good stuff.
Thanks Alyse – yes the “there’s no such thing as bad press rule” could be coming into play here! Thanks for saying hello!
I think negative reviews are good and help people make purchasing decisions but not responding to people angry about your business is a whole nuther can of worms 🙂
Crazy! I think your article about Amazon does show exactly what they should have done. Keep the comment, respond and apologize for the bad service and say we’d like to have you back in for another try would do a boatload of good for people looking at the site. Are you going to get perfect service every time at every restaurant? Probably not! But if customers see that the place cares and is trying to make sure people have a good experience, they are going to give them a try! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Love this post and I couldn’t agree more! As someone who runs the social media account for a local business, I’m in the process of teaching everyone else who has access to the company’s Facebook/Twitter accounts what we should NOT be doing when we receive a negative comment. The one thing I would add is that just like in blogging, we should not feed the trolls. We can acknowledge their disagreement and negative point of view but there is a right and wrong way to go about it. Thank you for writing this up. I am going to forward to this to our company’s management team!
Great point Nicole! Yes, there have been some bad cases of people getting into a huge arguments with people who just want to be nasty. Don’t do it. Thanks for saying hello!
Awesome post, Grandma Mary! When dealt with properly, a social media crisis can be transformed into such a positive experience for your company! Just look at Boingo, The Red Cross and so many others who came out of a crisis that could have gone one way, but they actually came out of the situation with MORE happy and loyal customers than they had going in! Talk about an opportunity! But you need to be ready!
I have a blog that I write daily and only on social media crises and helping companies protect themselves against them. If anybody is interested in learning the right ways to protect their company, they can find all the answers over there! It’s MelissaAgnes.com.
Great post!
Melissa from MelissaAgnes.com