Handling Haters: How to Deal with Negative Content Feedback

Let's be honest, every piece of content you produce won't be met with cheers and fanfare. Things go viral because we love them and because we hate them. The internet provides a sense of anonymity for commenters, allowing people to express their frustrations very publicly and without fear of recourse. Sometimes you strike a negative chord and a reader feels compelled to respond. And even more often, you come across people who just like to complain at the top of their digital lungs.

You can't win all the time, but you can learn how to turn your losses into lessons. The content gurus at the Content Marketing Institute give us some great tips on how to handle your detractors.

Develop process and policy

You need a professional approach to managing the community around your content. That means creating a policy and process for handling feedback — all types, not just the negative stuff. It should also go beyond your blog comments to include things such as Facebook engagement and other social platforms you use.

Most feedback needs to be passed along to the proper people, taken into consideration, and responded to. When urgent matters pop up, you don’t want to scramble to figure out how to respond.

You want documentation that states who handles what type of feedback and who is accountable for generating the response and continuing the engagement with the individual. You also want response times clearly defined. This makes the process run much more smoothly.

Set parameters for your commenters

An audience-facing policy also needs to be created that sets boundaries for your readers. This lets them know what is acceptable, what kinds of activity gets them booted, and how you handle comments. It’s a good way to prevent problematic behavior from showing up.

Read the Full Article by Aaron Agius here.

If you're considering a shift into content marketing but don't know where to start, call us. Front Burner Marketing specializes in development and execution of first-rate content marketing strategies. And take a minute to learn more about Inbound Marketing by reading our guide.