Social media outlets enable not-for-profit (NFP) organisations to communicate with their target market more directly, frequently and cost-effectively. However, this handy marketing and communication tool can quickly become a double-edged sword if your organisation doesn’t have a strategy for dealing with negative feedback or comments posted on social media pages.

The following tips will help your organisation to address negative comments professionally and to hopefully convert disgruntled individuals into loyal supporters.

1. Detect negative comments quickly

In order to be able to effectively respond to negative comments, you have to be able to quickly detect when someone has mentioned your organisation. The most efficient way to do so is to set up automated notification systems using tools such as Google Alerts. Simply enter the key search terms you wish to monitor, such as the name of your organisation, to receive email updates when that search term is mentioned online. Some social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have settings that notify you when somebody mentions your organisation in a post or tweet.

These automated tools save your organisation from having to constantly monitor websites for negative press and ensures your organisation is aware of negative comments so it can take steps to address them as soon as they are posted.

2. Resist the urge to delete negative posts

Regardless of how unwarranted you feel a comment may be, you must not delete it. This action would be akin to hanging up on a customer service call when someone is making a verbal complaint. The person who posted it will know you have deleted it, which is likely to cause them to vent their frustration even more publicly and profusely. Furthermore, it’s likely that people have already seen the post and may even agree.

Responding professionally to negative comments is a chance for your organisation to put a positive spin on a negative situation, demonstrate superior customer service and improve your reputation by showing that you value every one of your members or customers.

3. Have a designated complaints person

To streamline the process, it is a good idea to make someone in your organisation responsible for responding to negative comments. This will ensure the problem is addressed and resolved efficiently, appropriately and consistently. It will also help reduce the risk of duplicate/contradictory contact being made by different members of your organisation, which would serve to further undermine your reputation and potentially further anger the disgruntled individual.

4. Maintain composure

Although it may be tempting to passionately defend your organisation’s position, it is important to be composed and deal with negative remarks as you would any other customer service complaint. Stay calm and show a commitment to resolving the issue.

5. Take it offline

Try to take the complaint resolution process private as soon as possible. This can simply be done by apologising that the person who made the complaint was unhappy with a particular aspect of your organisation and inviting them to talk to you in person (via telephone or email). This will show that you are dedicated to ensuring the satisfaction of your members or customers and reduces the risk of further negativity being brought up publicly during the resolution process.

6. Follow up publicly

Once the issue has been resolved to a level that the client is happy with, it’s important to notify your other members or customers who may have read the negative post by publicly resolving the issue. This can be done by returning to the forum in which the negative comment was made and writing a small post that indicates that the issue has been resolved and you are back on good terms with the client. For example, ‘Hi [insert name]. We’re very happy that we have managed to help resolve your problem. We look forward to your continued support.’

7. See the silver lining

As contradictory as it may seem, negative comments can actually help your organisation. In line with the saying ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’, social media enables you to keep tabs on what people are saying about you and gives you the opportunity to make amends with unhappy members or customers and rebuild a positive relationship with them.

In addition, negative feedback can hold some truth, highlighting areas that your organisation may need to consider changing. Although only one person has vented their frustration publicly, many others could hold the same opinion, so it is important to take criticism on board. Use it to strengthen your organisation and gain more supporters.