WHEN FEEDBACK TAKES A TURN TOWARD HATE
The bigger your company gets, the more haters seem to come out of the woodwork to troll on social media and give you a piece of their minds. Knowing anything about or having any affiliation with your business or product doesn't even factor into the picture for many of them. It seems like they pop up out of nowhere.
And sometimes they go beyond the ranting and ridiculous, straight into hate speech. So how can you handle these comments?
Don’t leave mean comments unattended. Any negative comment should be dealt with. If the comment is hurtful, ridiculous, or ill-informed, we suggest responding. How you respond is critical. We’ve got some great tips for that in this blog post.
However, if a post is vulgar and straight up hateful, you have three choices:
Hide all hateful comments. The first strategy is to delete or hide all comments that are hateful and block the poster. Some comments do not deserve a response, and frankly, individuals that post such things cannot be reasoned with. This strategy creates a safe online community and prevents the spread of hate speech.
If you’re anything like us, you may feel like you need to educate the commenter or like you have to defend something. But remember, it is not your responsibility to educate someone at the expense of your staff, clients, or even your own mental health and well-being.
Leave hateful comments visible, but reply to them promptly. This strategy leaves hateful comments visible to the public, but involves replying to them in an informative way that promotes dialogue and educates. If you employ this strategy, we encourage you to also remind your followers that anyone who is disrespectful will be blocked.
Reply to hateful comments, but hide them after. This strategy allows you to emphasize your commitment to EDIB (equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging) and educate your audience while at the same time not providing a platform for hate.
So what’s the best strategy for your business? A lot of it will depend on your brand values, resources, industry, and your audience. It’s really up to you to decide.
At the end of the day, we believe that while mild criticism and ignorance can be addressed through a carefully worded educational response, escalated hateful comments really should be deleted or hidden. Moderation of your online community helps shield those who would be hurt by the comments and help thwart the spread of hostility.
The key is to establish clear boundaries before you get your first hateful comment, and then enforce them. You don’t want to be panicking in the moment, trying to figure out how to deal with it. Have a plan in place ahead of time. With a little forethought, you can keep your online community positive and upbuilding, a welcoming space for all.
