Bing! The little notification comes up that you have a comment on your page. Ok, it doesn’t actually make a bing noise, but it probably does in your head. In any case, you head on over to see what your happy little customer/fan said. 

No matter how innocuous you think the comment is, though, you should always at least consider responding. You never know when ignoring a comment could become a bigger problem than ever before.

Escalation 

Let’s say the comment is about your newest product, a smartphone case that protects screens and prevents water damage. A customer posts on a random Facebook post on your page that the case squashed their phone and cracked the plastic on the top of the phone.

You figure it was a user error – either they put it on wrong or used it with the wrong model of phone. So you don’t respond, hoping the problem goes away. Later, though, another user contacts you about the same problem. You realize this is an ongoing problem you need to fix, and fast.

Unfortunately for you, the original poster has become agitated enough to get the rest of the Internet involved. It appears to everyone that you’ve known about the problem and just don’t care and aren’t taking steps to respond or fix. Suddenly you have all sorts of angry people on your Facebook page demanding to know why you don’t care about the cracked screens.

While it’s obviously an overreaction, it looks bad to everyone. Actions speak louder than words and the general public only sees what you did – or didn’t do, in this case.

Help Establish Relationship 

You want to take any advantage you can when it comes to talking to customers and fans. Establishing relationships with the public takes a lot of work and even “bad” experiences can be used to make a connection. It’s all up to you to turn things around.

By simply acknowledging the fan’s angry question or comment, you’re telling them they’re important and you take them seriously. Even if it’s something like “We’re very sorry and looking into the problem” can go a long way to not only calm everybody down but to establish that first link.

Of course empty promises don’t really help, so be sure to follow up. If you tell them you’re looking into the problem, truly try and fix everything. If you don’t, you risk breaking the trust you’ve set up until this point.

It might also be a good idea to follow up later on. If you do fix the screen cracking problem, follow up with the original poster and make sure everything is a-ok with them. Try to reset your world back to the way it was before the problem erupted and you won’t have to worry about it in the future. Plus, you’ll hopefully have lots of new fans to carry you into the future!

How many Facebook posts per day do you get from fans?

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Grab three ebooks, including My Facebook Formula, a free report on Facebook and why you should be using the largest social network for your business, here: http://www.ereleases.com/offer/freebooks.html