How to Deal With Haters on Your Facebook Fan Page

How to Deal With Haters on Your Facebook Fan Page

Everybody loves and hates Facebook at times. It’s a great way to build your brand, whether you’re a business, a band, or a worthy cause. You can get fans quickly, spread the word, and create an online community using Facebook’s ready-made platform.

But it just takes one visitor leaving a negative comment on your Facebook Fan Page to ruin your whole weekend and make you hate social media once and for all. People can do a lot to damage your reputation on Facebook, but there are things you can do to save face and even turn it around completely into a boost for your brand. 

Resist the Urge to Hate Back

Your first impulse will be to hit “reply” and put that hater right in their place. It would certainly feel good—but it can actually do worse damage to your reputation. The reason is that you look defensive. Even if you reply with a witty comeback that you know will get your other fans chuckling, it’s obvious that the hater hit a nerve.

Instead, you should take a few deep breaths. Although you need to respond as soon as possible, give yourself the time and thinking space to respond appropriately. Otherwise, you (and your company/brand/etc.) look like a jerk as well.

The Nature of the Hating

How you should respond depends on the nature of the negative comment. Is it an unhappy customer?  Is it constructive criticism?  Or is it just trolling and spamming?  The first step in responding is to figure out where they’re coming from.

If you’ve been trolled, spammed, flamed, or otherwise meaninglessly attacked, delete the comment. No one’s going to miss it. None of your other fans will be shocked that the comment yesterday that said “U SUKK” is gone today. You might consider reporting it as spam to Facebook and banning the user.  If it’s a legitimate complaint, criticism or problem, make it one of today’s high-priority tasks to craft your response. 

Replying the Right Way

I don’t mean to lay on the pressure here, but your response is critical. It’s your chance to turn this negative comment into a PR opportunity that shows your concern for your fans.

When you reply to negative Facebook comments, there are four things to aim for:

• Acknowledge the comment and admit to your faults (if there’s any legitimacy to what they say).
• Offer an explanation to help them understand.
• Show that you’re working to resolve the issue.
• Encourage more discussion from your fans.

Conclusion:  All of these show that you’re concerned about the products or services that you offer—and also concerned about what your fans think. Any combination of these four will create a good response that can turn a negative comment into an opportunity for you.