RyanShell.com

Marketing, public relations, social media... and a little of this and that.

How to Handle Negative Facebook Page Comments

By

No one likes to be blasted with negative comments in a public forum such as a Facebook page, but it happens, and how you deal with them is crucial. Do you delete them? Do you allow them to be seen? Let’s talk about that.

If someone is leaving harassing comments towards an organization, they probably fall into the delete category. And I’m talking about comments such as, “Your business sucks.”

On the other hand, if the comment has merit you shouldn’t simply click delete just because it doesn’t make you shine your brightest. Allow me to give you an example of a comment that I recently dealt with on my employers Facebook page.

I posted our new TV commercials on the page and they prompted a member to say the following,

“Yea right if you have 100% absolutely the best credit possible to get a loan with them.”

He’s basically saying it’s hard to get a loan with us and he’s obviously not very happy with the credit union. Before I could respond to his comment another fan said the following,

“That is 100% untrue. I can personally speak to that. No need for negativity.”

There were multiple other comments like that from members counterpointing the negative comment – it was great to see members taking up for the credit union.

I think it’s important for the brand/person in question to address the negative comment head on. Letting them linger tends to be a bad idea in most instances. Here’s how I responded,

“We have members with a variety of credit scores that get loans. Credit does play a part in the process though.

If a member needs help building credit, we try to help them do so. Here’s a great example: http://www.truliantfcu.org/blog/build-your-credit-as-you-save/.”

I addressed a few things in the response:

  • You don’t have to have the “best” credit to get a loan with us
  • Highlighted that credit scores play a part in the lending process
  • Provided an example of how we try to help those that may not qualify for a loan due to a low credit score

And no, it’s not always that easy. Sometimes negative comments are extremely valid and they call out mistakes or dumb decisions on others part. When that happens it’s helpful to have someone with a good PR background to help you navigate the waters.

Nearly 4,000 Facebook Fans in Less than 7 Days

By

It’s been one week since I launched a social media initiative for my employer, and I think the results have been good thus far.

Specifically, I’m very pleased with the rate in which we have increased the fan base on the Facebook page. In less than one week almost 4,000 people have become a fan – and that’s fantastic.

There’s another credit union of equal size that I was using as somewhat of a baseline prior to the launch, but we surpassed their 898 fans in about 12 hours. I don’t know this for a fact, but we may have one of the largest credit union fan bases on Facebook.

How do you get the fans?

That question should be answered when you develop your social media strategy. There are a number of different answers, but you need to determine what works best for you. (For example, will the Facebook page be promoted on your homepage? What will the content be?)

What do you post on Facebook?

Relevant content that you think your audience will appreciate is a good start. The fact that people have chosen to be your fan is an honor, always keep that in mind and provide compelling content that adds value.

But then, I’m also a fan of mixing it up. For example, last night prior to the Super Bowl I did a post asking fans who they thought would win the game. The question quickly generated a series of comments and allowed for interaction amongst fans.

I have a lot of additional Facebook/Twitter info to share, but I’ll do that in subsequent posts.

Using FBML will Enhance Your Facebook Landing Page

By

Since yesterdays “Social Media Launch” post I’ve received a few questions about the html application that I used to create the landing page for my employer. Click here for the live link, or click the screenshot below.

The application is called FBML, and it allows you to drop in html. You can also add video and other cool things – depending on how vast your html knowledge is.