One of the issues small business owners struggle with on social media is dealing with negative Facebook comments.
If you’ve ever wished for an easy way to deal with customer service issues on Facebook, your wish has been granted.
Facebook page admins can reply to public comments with a PRIVATE message!
All you have to do is click the “message” button (highlighted in yellow below)…
and a new window will open up allowing you to reply privately to the person.
This is so cool. Now you can nip any customer service issue in the bud with a private message that’s simple and easy to do.
You can still respond publicly, of course, but being able to send a private message right in the comment stream is awesome. Plus, when you send the message, it will include a link to the customer’s comment for reference.
When a business responds privately to a comment, the comment shows a note that the business has responded privately, so other Page visitors know that the business handled the request.
Are you unsure how to respond to negative Facebook comments? Follow these suggestions:
Top Tips for Responding to Negative Facebook Comments
1. Respond with respect & understanding
2. Be patient & understanding – put yourself in their shoes
3. Offer a simple apology, even if you’re not at fault
4. Contact customer via Private Message or email – offer something to make it right
5. Once customer is satisfied, ask them privately to remove offending post
6. If offended party is unreceptive to customer service, and continues causing trouble, ban them as last resort
How do you handle negative Facebook comments? Please share your experiences in the comments below.
What you do not address, is what happens if someone gets a message alert that someone “replied privately to your recommendation”, but in your messages there’s nothing there? There’s no link to click on and no message to read? Does that mean, they deleted the response? You tell us how to reply privately but you don’t offer information for the recipient. I opened a private message to a page I’ve always liked. I’d never be rude or mean. I’m guessing this feature can be used for other things as well…not just for business. You’re lacking a lot of information here. I had no idea what this was and had to research it.
Hi Renee,
Thank you for taking the time to comment on my post. It’s gratifying to know that people are reading it! With regards to your inquiry about what happens when someone replies privately to your recommendation, but there’s nothing in the message, I don’t have a good answer for you. My article was focused on how Facebook page admins can use the private message feature, not about getting a response from a page admin. I’m sorry you felt the article didn’t have enough information. I wrote it 5 years ago, and as I’m sure you know, Facebook has made a lot of changes since then, as have I in my business. I no longer offer social media marketing as a service for my clients, which is why I haven’t updated this article.
thanks to your website, i have gotten information for what i have been searching for concerning my Facebook. i hope to see more nice content in your site the next time i need answers. thanks to this website i have gotten a nice information today.
My facebook account has been hacked so they locked it. I sent the info they wanted and have not received any thing from them. How long can they keep it locked before they tell
Hi Linda,
I’m so sorry this happened to you. I don’t know how long Facebook can keep it locked. And unfortunately, their customer service is not the greatest. I hope things clear up for you soon!
Gloria