“Haters” was not a popular word in the English dictionary until the late 90s’. “Haters gonna hate” emerged for the first time in a Hip Hop song in 2000. Since then the phrase has caught on with the millennials and has become a trend. It is considered cool to be a hater and if you are popular, you are bound to have a few.
Companies should always differentiate between haters and hate. A hater is someone who feels jealous of another person’s success and tries to find flaws in the person’s efforts and activities. They often voice their judgments about the product or service publicly. It is strongly advised that companies should have interactions with all haters to solve the issues and transform the derogatory comments for the brand into brand praises.
Ignoring haters can cause bigger problems for the brands because most haters are originally customers. Due to some reason, they had an unfortunate experience with the brand and just want to vent out their frustration. It is simply a way of demanding a solution to their problem that was forgotten or ignored.
In recent times haters on social media have taken a new form of turning into hate sites or groups. Which is why most brands need to engage in constant brand monitoring. If you are an owner with limited experience, check this brand monitoring overview to understand the basics of how to protect your brand.
The first judgment they need to make is whether the issue is that of a hater or hate. “Hate” is usually a feeling of hostility towards a person or group of people which is a result of anger or dislike. Hate stems from ideologies that discriminate between people based on their religion, ethnicity or color, or the skin. Companies should never engage with people communicating hate.
If a person contacts you or someone in your company to express their feelings of hate, you should ignore them. You cannot gain anything by agreeing or disagreeing with such people. In case of a hate message on social media, or anywhere else online, the best thing to do would be to delete the message and block the person. These are certain steps you should take:
- Keep calm and do not react.
- Ensure that your employees know how to differentiate between haters and hate.
- Ensure that your employees know that they are not supposed to engage with hate.
- In the case of social media, engage filters by including hate keywords to prevent them from getting posted.
- Report hate messages and posts to appropriate authorities if required.
On the other hand, you should never apply the above-mentioned steps for a hater. The way you interact with them may affect your business in more ways than you can imagine. Here are a few things to keep in mind when dealing with a hater.
Always Respond
The phrase “the customer is always right” is absolute codswallop. Customers can be quite irrational at times or just act like plain jerks. As much as you might feel like it, do not provoke the person. The truth might warrant that you defend yourself, but doing so or refuting the comment might aggravate the situation.
Apologize
Offering an apology is the first step to handling a social media hater. Certain phrases should be avoided such as “I am sorry you feel so”, which can refute his claims. Instead, be contrite in your efforts to express regret for the unfortunate experience and trouble.
Offer Something
Most of the time haters simply want to be compensated for their inconvenience. Offering a solution in the form of a discount or a commentary coupon will always calm them down.
Convey Your Gratitude
A simple thank you can go a long way in establishing the positivity of the response. Appreciate the feedback and for getting the opportunity to improve your brand and it’s products or services.
Block and Delete the Trolls
Some people only pass judgments and comment for the sake of being obnoxious or humorous. They are better known as internet trolls. Before you block them and delete their comment, make sure that you check up on their profile and gather enough data to brand them as trolls. There are some indicators to differentiate between a troll and a genuine hater:
- Their comment would lack a genuine complaint.
- They would be spamming your page with rubbish.
- There is inconsistency in their narration or flow of events.
- Their profile and timeline will be full of such abhorrent posts.
- Check for the validity of their source, either on Google or a social media platform.
Addressing genuinely unhappy customers might be a complex task, especially when the conversation is done online where conveying tones is difficult, even with smileys. Most people who post a negative comment as unhappy customers want to have their issues addressed, and receive an acknowledgment or apology from the business or the brand. In case you miss out on the opportunity to address the issue, chances are these people will share the experience with others and cause a chain reaction of bad impressions towards your brand. So it is very important to have employees or brand monitoring tools comb through the social media platforms for such comments so that you can address them promptly and appropriately.
No comments:
Post a Comment