By Rebecca Mountain

We’ve all heard the horror stories about someone posting a negative comment on a Facebook page or on Twitter. It’s one of the biggest reasons many businesses don’t build a presence on social networks. What if someone says something bad?

Well, here’s the thing: if someone’s saying something about you that isn’t stellar, if you know about it then at least you can jump in and attempt to solve the problem. The conversation is happening anyway – you might as well be a part of it!

Negative comments and disagreements are part of life. It’s the public nature of Facebook and Twitter comments that make us feel particularly vulnerable. What if someone reads that? What will people think of me or my business? I have two stories to share with you that will help you figure out what to do when this happens.

My first example is Pulte Homes from the U.S. They’re one of the country’s largest homebuilders. They also have a Facebook page where they post about what’s happening in the company and their developments. One day, Joshua (not his real name) posted a 16-line rant about how his sod was done poorly, and on and on. Ouch. It was not pretty.

But check out what Pulte did: they didn’t remove the comment, but rather within an hour had posted a response along the lines of “Wow, we’re so sorry. Contact us at this email address and we’ll get on it today.”

The next day, Joshua posted again saying, “Okay, I did that but nothing has happened yet.” Again within the hour, Pulte was back with an update and another course of action for him.

What did that do? It showed that Pulte wasn’t afraid to face problems within its organization, responds quickly, and, since the conversation ended there, deals with problems effectively, too. I would have much more trust in a company that is open with their clients than a company that simply deletes a bad post. Pulte continues to practice this, I noticed recently. Not every homeowner is happy, but they’re okay with letting some negative stuff show up on their page. They answer quickly, and that’s the key.

My second story is about a large retailer, which shall remain nameless. They’re not on Facebook for a bunch of reasons, one of which is their inability to control messages and comments (you do have control, but it’s all about perspective). If, however, you do a search on said retailer, the stuff that comes up makes your skin crawl. Some people who don’t particularly like them have created their own pages to rant and rave. The retailer is not there to defend themselves or even rectify the problems and so it just spirals out of control in a very viral way.

So, which one of the above do YOU want to be a part of? You may never get a single negative comment, and the majority of businesses fall into that group, which is good news for all of us! If you do get negative remarks, here’s what you can do:

1. If it’s a respectful or at least decent identification of a weakness in your business, acknowledge it, contact them and then make it right. Let them know how much you appreciate their openness and you might even make a client out of them (if they’re not a client already).

2. If you try the above, and it continues in a negative vein, you can explain that you tried to fix it, and would be open to finding out if there are other things to help the situation (I’d recommend doing this via email or phone, as the conversation would be too long for a Facebook page)

3. If they’re truly derogatory and insulting, I’d suggest removing the post or blocking them. There’s no need for insults.

But for most real estate agents, you won’t find too many people out for your blood. Since it is a public forum, people will censor themselves a bit. The other wonderful thing that I’ve seen happen is that your community will jump in and defend you, without you having to say or do anything. That’s a great social community and you should thank them, love them and keep them close.

So negativity isn’t always a bad thing. Just as failure is the biggest opportunity to grow, so too can negative comments be used in a powerful way to make what you do even better.

Rebecca Mountain spends her time teaching businesses of all sizes – from independent Realtors to art galleries – how to use social media to make money. Her company, Impetus Social Inc., develops actionable strategies that translate a two-dimensional business into a dynamic presence, all using its story, its people and its passion. Facebook: Facebook.com/ImpetusConsulting; Twitter: @bexmountain;  LinkedIn; Website: www.impetusconsulting.ca; Email: [email protected].