Negative Post Advice

Eventually, it happens to all of us.  Your Facebook site is going great, there is plenty of interaction from enthusiastic fans and great material posted.  Then it happens.  You open up the page one morning, and there is a very negative comment on your page for all to see.  Before you hit the "delete" button, remember that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and there are good reasons why you want to leave the comment there (at least for the time being).

Take a moment

Stand back and take a few deep breaths.  Be calm and think through your response.   The person may have been very upset when they wrote the post, triggering the attack.  Never respond with an attack of your own. 

Evaluate the post

Decide if you want to engage publically, privately or not at all.

What is the person angry about?  Is it something that you can help them with? Often, a person simply wants to know that their complaint was heard.  Contacting them privately through email to ask how you can help can go along ways towards resolving the issue.  Be sure to make a follow up post about the resolution, or it may seem that you are unresponsive.  Other times, your community members will step in and help out (if you are lucky).  Can you request help from another department? It's possible that someone with more expertise in the subject matter can step in to resolve the issue for you.

There are occasions where you do not want to respond.  This would be in the case of a person who is chronically angry on social media platforms or has a history of stirring up trouble.  Check their profile to see if they consistently post negative material elsewhere.  Sometimes people can be just plain mean.  The best action in these cases could be to block them from your page.

If you feel that a situation may be getting out of control, contact University Advancement & Marketing for assistance.