Troll

Another troll? How many are there? Photo by Imamon via Flickr

We’ve all been there at one point or another. You pour your heart and soul into a product, article, podcast, etc and set it free for everyone to enjoy. Then you check back later and see that someone has made a comment. And that comment seems to be the harshest, most critical comment ever. Worse yet, it’s not even true. Not wanting anyone to see such a ridiculous comment go unanswered, you swing into action!

Whoa now! Hold on there for just a moment. I know when your business or personal brand is being criticized, it’s hard to hold back. Most people’s first instinct is to either defend themselves or their product by addressing the commenter’s concerns or to dispute the commenter’s claims. While those feel like the right ways to handle the situation, either one of those strategies could backfire in a big way. So, if you see a negative comment somewhere, whether it be on your blog, Yelp, Twitter or even as a review on someone else’s blog, don’t immediately jump in to handle the situation.

Do They Have A Point?
Before you do anything, you should assess the situation. First off, does the person have a point? I’m not asking if they are being fair or reasonable. I’m asking if there is a grain of truth to what they are saying. Think carefully because this is important. If the person has no point or is just being rude for no purpose, except maybe to get under your skin, ignore them. Don’t lend credence to what they’re saying by engaging with them. If the comment is on your blog, you can choose to delete it. That decision is up to you. Some people will say that you should never delete a comment, but I’ll leave that up to your judgement. Some comments are so over the top that they have to be deleted. Others can safely be left alone.

In fact, a negative comment can sometimes even work in your favor. Leaving the negative comment up shows that you don’t only allow positive comments on your site. That gives people more confidence that you’re not censoring detractors and that they can trust the comments being made about you and your company. And negative comments can sometimes spur fans of your product or service to write a comment in your defense. So, by allowing a negative comment, you might end up with several positive comments that you might never have had.

How Influential Are They?
Now this question makes me sound cold and calculating, but it’s definitely something you should consider. Is the person speaking out against you or your company going to influence a lot of people? Or is this someone unknown trying to gain attention or notoriety by engaging someone that is more well known than them? That’s an all too common way that people attempt to gain fame. If the larger person/company fights back, their audience will then learn who the less known person is. Of course, if that more well known person/company just ignores them, they gain nothing. So, think twice about firing back. You might just be playing into their hands.

Of course, if the person is very influential, you might want to engage with them right away in an non confrontational way. That way you can rectify the situation before it can turn into too much bad press for you. Plus, if you handle the situation right, it could work out in your favor by enhancing your reputation with the audience of the person that made the critical comment.

If They Have A Point
Now, going back to my previous question, if the commenter has a point, you might want to respond. Whether or not that is the case though and how you should respond, depends on the way that you are being addressed. If the person makes a good point, in a way that hurts you or your company, but isn’t necessarily an attack, then you might want to respond directly to them. While you might not like having your faults thrown in your face, it’s the internet and that’s how it’s often done. Plus, the commenter has given you the chance to show that you react well to criticism and that you work to better serve your customers. And they’ve also given you free advice that might improve your product or service. You might prefer they were more discreet with their feedback, but at least they provided it.

Now if their point is a good one, but is said in a disparaging, rude or malicious way, you can always respond indirectly. You might make a post on your blog, mention the resolution on Twitter or discuss the situation on your podcast. Show that you’re addressing the concern of a customer or fan, but don’t call out their name. That way, if they are a well-meaning person, they’ll be happy that you addressed their concern and if they’re a troll, you won’t be enhancing their reputation and encouraging them to further savage you in public to further build their reputation.

If it turns out that they are a troll and they comment back harshly in response to you, you can always choose to quietly remove their comment and block them from commenting anymore. (Not foolproof, but it might slow them down.) Deleting comments and blocking people are both distasteful actions to have to take on the internet, but sometimes that is the way it has to be.

The Bottom Line
If someone wants to build themselves up, let them do it on their own and not at your expense. You worked hard enough to get where you are. People might talk about transparency and engaging your audience, but there are limits. You don’t have to engage people that scream obscenities at you when you walk down the street and you don’t have to leave graffiti that is left on your walls. In the same way, you don’t have to engage with everyone that screams at you on the internet and you don’t have to leave every comment. Just use good judgement when dealing with your trolls. You don’t want them to get too fat.

But just disagreeing with you or having a problem with your product or service doesn’t make someone a troll. You need to have a bit of a thicker skin on the internet and check your emotions at the door. Think before you act and be rational. If you can’t, you’ll be in for a lot of trouble on the internet. You don’t want to feed the trolls, but you also don’t want to shoot the messenger.

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