Social media trolls…not quite the cute fairy tale creatures we talk about in bedtime stories… No one likes when their personal or business page gets bombarded with comments from someone trying to hurt your business, or promote their own (in a very spam-like fashion). It happens in every industry however, so we’ve outlined some tips on how to handle this common annoyance.

Decide when to engage, and when to ignore.

This is very important. First ask yourself, did the person writing the comment have a valid concern or problem with your goods or services? If so, you should respond calmly, and apologetically. If he or she is promoting other services but the post is otherwise non-offensive, you can simply hide the comment so it will only be visible to the person who wrote it and their friends.

To Hide Comments

Simply click to the right of the post, where you will see the option to “Hide or Embed.” Select “Hide” and the post will no longer be visible to everyone in your audience, and you’ll see the message shown below:

Taking Further Action

If a person writes something offensive or demeaning to a person or group of people on your page, you do have the option to report them to Facebook. To report a user, click on their profile and click on the right three dots next to “Message.” From here, select “Report.” You will be prompted with the following shown in the screenshot below for a fictional offender.

Select which action you would like to take, and follow the instructions. You can also use the same first steps to block a user from contacting you personally.

Conclusion

No one likes dealing with negative feedback, although sometimes it is warranted. Deciding when and how to respond to criticism on your social media pages can be tricky at times, however,  if the person is acting offensive by using foul language or derogatory comments, our advice is to not engage as they are likely going to be unreasonable. Allow Facebook to review their comments and determine a course of action.

If you’re interested in more social media tips and tricks, make sure you check out our Facebook page!

By Amara Young