EPISODE 36 OF THE MARKETING SOLUTIONS PODCAST: How to Handle Trolls on Social Media
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
Hello. I am so excited again. Today I am joined by Sarah from Gilbert House. And I wanted to get Sarah on quickly to have a chat around community engagement and management, community management rather. Because Sarah manages quite a few social media pages and something she really, really excels at is actually managing the comments and replies and questions and things that people are posting on these pages. She has an amazing sassy sense of humor, and it's not something I think I have quite mastered in terms of that line between being professional and still being human. Thanks for joining me, Sarah.
Sarah:
No worries, mate. Anytime.
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
Okay. Let's start real basic here. I sounded really basic saying real basic. Basic bitch. Anyway, what is community management?
Sarah:
Community management, I guess on social is responding and engaging with the people that interact directly or indirectly with your brand.
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
So for example, I write a really mean comment on one of your Facebook posts for a brand. You would be the person that is dealing with responding to that?
Sarah:
Yeah, absolutely. I am the person. So I think one of the things, trolls and unhappy people forget is that there's usually, most cases, a human, a person that's just eaten lunch reading those messages, working out how to best resolve it. Some people are pretty savage about it. They just go to town and tell you how much they hate you and how much you've let them down, like in some cases. [inaudible 00:02:18] I manage obviously. But some people are just looking for a cathartic outlet for their grievances that might absolutely have nothing to do with you. You're just the first one in their firing line. Some people are genuinely trying to share a concern to assist you as the business. "Oh. Hey, just letting you know that the thing I purchased, it was cold. I think it should have been hot. It wasn't delicious, just an FYI."
Those people, they're just there to help you and let you know that something's gone a bit awry. Those people are really helpful. Those comments are always very handy and you always respond to them. You thank them so much for taking the time out and you usually reward them for doing that.
And then the other group of people... So you've got the ones that are just trying to lay it out. They're just upset about everything, there's people that are just trying to let you know, and there's people that have experienced real grievances, but they can be turned. You can bring them back from the dark side and show them that it was a mistake. We are just human. Thank you so much for letting us know. And you reward them for engaging with you.
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
I love that. And I feel like this isn't really any different to dealing with customer service complaints that they might get in real life in real time. You're just sort of the digital manager of this. Can you provide me with some guidance? If a troll has gone on a bit of a rampage on a client's page, well, how do you handle it? Do you delete the comment? Do you say something snarky and sassy back? What do you do?
Sarah:
It depends. It depends on the client. It depends on what was said. What I mean when I say it depends on the client, some clients are very tidy, very professional, very sleek. It's not in their brand guidelines to use sarcasm, tongue-in-cheek, funny. Like it's not who they are. Whereas a lot of the brands I manage and have developed tone of voice for, we incorporate that. Because I work with a lot of modern or younger or dynamic brands, so being cheeky or being sarcastic can actually fall into some of the brand guidelines.
So if someone was trolling us, it depends on what they said, but ultimately you would go to them and take them on as serious. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me, shopping with you guys. It was appalling. It was disgusting." We approach that very seriously. You're like, "Oh no, someone's had a terrible time with us. That's not what we're about at all." So you respond with empathy. You go back and be like, "Hey, thank you so much for letting us know that you've had this experience. Really handy." And what you want to do is try and get it offline. So if they've written it on an ad or in the comments section or whatever, you want to drop it into the dams, as soon as you can, that way you can ask more probing information and they can really let out their grievances.
I've actually switched from just doing this by typing in text in messages to asking if it would be okay if I called them, or we moved it to email so I can offer something a bit more personal to bring that human side back into it. So taking it offline as soon as you can is a good way to management. It's, I think, a pretty standard PR response.
But it's very, you're right, it's very, very similar to what happens in store with traditional community management and customer service, though stuff online spreads a lot quicker than in store. So it's very, very quick for someone to screenshot anything I say back to an unhappy or disgruntled customer and make it viral or send it to everyone they know, or keep it on the internet forever. Like someone screenshots that, they can keep it forever. Whereas if you witnessed bad customer service in the store and you overheard it, you can tell, I don't know, 15 people, and then they might tell a few people, but it's not as contagious or it can't get quite as far than if it's online.
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
Oh my God. I always say social media is like word of mouth on steroids, that I think this is the perfect example of this. And do you know what? It's something a lot of my clients, when they're just starting with social media, they're really worried about bad reviews going up or bad comments on their Facebook posts. Like they get really, really nervous to begin with. And I think offering that reassurance that, "Hey, the end of the day, worst comes to worst, you can delete the post. You can delete the comment. It really actually isn't forever." Yes, there's a screenshot situation, but I always think it's best, and I see so often, especially with online stores, if the customer support team has jumped on and offered a really positive response, they look like they're really eager to help, I think that for me makes me respect the brand more.
And I think this is really common in hospitality as well. No one gets it right a hundred percent of the time, right? If you see a business that has a hundred percent all positive reviews, I think that they've used that service to get rid of any bad reviews, right? You can't be everyone's cup of tea all the time. I think it comes down to how do they handle those responses. What are your thoughts around that?
Sarah:
Absolutely. Nail on the head there. Like I think it absolutely comes down... And some of the times, you know you're not going to be able to please or appease everyone with how you respond to it as a community manager or as a business owner responding directly to them. Though think about the number of people that will see your response as a business to that disgruntled person. If you manage it really well and you're positive and you're trying to resolve it or support or listen to the person that's upset, people will see your response as a business, they'll be like, "Oh cool. John didn't really like that. Not John's cup of tea, but look how the business handled it. If that's how they respond to me if I don't like it, I feel like that is good. That is okay. That teaches me something about the empathy levels of their brand."
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
I love that. So, I mean, we've spoken and given a lot of air time to trolls, but let's talk about those little brand cheerleaders. I saw something the other day and I was going to send you a screenshot, but I think I totally forgot. Go-To Skin Care, which I have a massive crush on, and Zoë Foster Blake, total queen, they have just started a Go-To Skin Care lovers Facebook group. And someone who, or maybe someone that started the group... I don't even know if this was started by the company, but the company sort of jumped on board with it... has received a big care package full of products, cute little note, thanking this person for all their support within this group, which I thought was just really human and nice. Like this person has become brand ambassador without asking for anything and Go-To has rewarded them for it.
So, I mean, I've seen and something that I love that businesses do that when someone writes a positive comment, the community manager will respond with like a funny GIF. They might write a really nice comment back. I think so often businesses leave comments unresponded to. Any tips for sort of being that balance between being professional, but also being human and having a sense of humor and encouraging these people?
Sarah:
Yeah, absolutely. I think always... Like if someone walks up to you and says, "Sonya, what you said the other day really struck a chord with me. I think you're just so clever." Would you just stare blankly at them or turn around and toddle off? No, you would say, "Gee, Sarah, thank you so much. I appreciate that." Say right back to them. That's all this is. Remember, you're a human. If someone says something nice to you, you say, thank you. Like, don't forget your manners. You're as bad as the trolls. My mum would be terrified about that. But like turn around and say, "Hey, thank you so much. Thank you for your support."
I work with an organic butcher and I get a lot of people being like, "I took home that steak and I cooked," whatever. And you say, "That's great. Thank you so much for leaving us a comment, John. How did you cook it? Did you grill it?" And you ask them a little question. And most of the time, I'd say 90% of that, I get a hit right back. "I tried it with garlic sauce and I tried..." People love that. And they remember that, and they... If you leave your name on it and say, "Hey, thanks. Sarah, community manager" or whatever, they will remember that. They'll hit you up again. They're like, "Hey, Sarah. I'm back again. I'm just looking for this people."
People will remember you. It's another way to be superhuman and adding humor into it. Again comes back to the kind of brand you look for. But again, for the butcher, I started leaving Kath & Kim, Kel Knight, purveyor of fine meats. I started finding like heaps of memes and pictures of him on the internet and just dropping them onto comments, being like... He's got this really funny one. He's like holding up some tongs with like a burnt sausage being like, purveyor of fine meats. And I write back as the butcher being like, "Thank you so much. Enjoy your sausages." You know, stuff like that.
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
Oh my god. That's amazing.
Sarah:
If they're a fun young brand, you can do that. And so you share that around. Every Australian knows who Kath & Kim are and it fits well with our demographic. And I looked up the people that I was responding to. I was like, "I'm pretty sure they'll get this." If you don't really know who Kel Knight is, you're like, "Some weird dude with a sausage, and weird haircut."
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
[crosstalk 00:11:25]...
Sarah:
Yeah, and murmur-swooshed hair. But like in that context, it makes sense. And I've seen those people comment on other stuff now. I'm watching them, they're coming onto our page more often. And I'm sure they're shopping with us more often. And so just creating a little something that someone goes, "That's funny," that's all I want. I don't need someone to think I'm hilarious or whatever. Some people get it. Some people don't. Humor is very subjective. So just have a crack, if it floats. If it doesn't, try something else or just don't use that joke again.
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
And I think what you've said there around the question, I don't know if you've done it intentionally or not, but by asking them a question, you're encouraging them to comment again, which again, boosts that engagement and your content is going to be seen by so many more people. So [crosstalk 00:12:10]-
Sarah:
I'm not just a pretty face meme. I just [crosstalk 00:12:13]...
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
I know. I know. I love it. Okay. Amazing. Basically at the end of the day, what people need to be doing is they need to make sure that they know what their brand tone of voice is. They need to stick in line with that when doing replies. Always address trolls. Always address any comments in general and just think it out, because at the end of the day, anyone can screenshot a response even if you do end up deleting it.
I want to touch on something else super, super quickly, and actually want to do an extra episode on this. But you're using this now for the same client. You sent me a message the other day about a tool called Klaviyo, which is email marketing. Just super quickly, okay, difference between that and MailChimp, and what have you found for eCommerce stores? I'm really curious.
Sarah:
Yeah. So MailChimp and Klaviyo was kind of like going from your first car that you got handed down from your parents that's a bit shit, but it still goes, it's fine. It's good. If you use it right, if you keep it well oiled and all that sort of stuff, it goes really well. Whereas, Klaviyo was like buying a Ferrari from the showroom. I'm like, "Whoa! Look at all these features."
It took... Like the labor that MailChimp was taking me, and to be fair, I just gave up on some stuff on my asked... It's a lot, it's a lot of labor in these, particularly flows and abandon checkout, and win-back for customers and all that sort of stuff. There's a lot of labor in it. Whereas Klaviyo, it's all in there. It's all in there. Just put your branding in it, write some sassy messages and make fire.
And you can use these dynamic products and it'll show you the best selling, or it integrates really well with Shopify and those who know MailChimp knows that they broke up with Shopify. So those two don't chat well anymore. So it was even harder. All these different things. But Klaviyo, if you're thinking about it, it does cost more, absolutely. And if you're a marketing manager, absolutely. If you're just a small business that sort of uses email marketing, just stick with MailChimp. Absolutely. I was there for five, six years with MailChimp. Stay. It's great. Whereas if you really want to level up, head over to Klaviyo. Shout out to Klaviyo.
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
Amazing. I need to go check this out. And as I said, once you've worked out how to drive your Ferrari... We are going to have another podcast session for eCommerce businesses and the benefits they can reap from this amazing tool. All right
Just to top things off, Sarah, any other tips, quick hitting tips around community management. I feel like we've kind of covered everything, but, hey.
Sarah:
Absolutely. Top two things would be, be prompt and be human. Answer quickly. Respond quickly. No one likes to leave dirty dishes out. Go do them immediately, particularly if it's negative and be human. If you muck up, sure, that happens. Absolutely. Just tell them you me mucked up. Tell them you fixed it and tell them it'll be okay, but thank you. Thank them. You know, they bothered to write that down. Thank them. So just be normal. Just be human.
Sonya McIntyre-Reid:
Yeah. Excellent. Thanks, Sarah.
Sarah:
No worries, mate. See you later.