Negative threads are inevitable for large companies and are a threat to any company concerned about its public image.
If someone is leaving negative comments about your company, respond.
Be thankful and polite. Nothing escalates a negative comment into a full-bore flame war faster than an ‘Oh yeah?!?’ reply from the company.
If commenter’s are jumping to the wrong conclusion about your company, kindly correct them with the proper information.
Thank them for their feedback, and encourage them to provide more. Leave your email address so they can contact you off the blog, if they choose.
The best advice is to evaluate who started the thread, how it started and who’s participating in it now.
The way to be prepared is to research the blogosphere and develop a landscape of the blogosphere that matters to your business most.
Start monitoring all your important sites and keywords with a feed reader tool. Adding a feed into a tool is simple.
Share the information with internal communications.
Pay attention to social media will give your team and your company a better sense of the community
Go ahead and make your comment but don’t come off as a huckster by making a smart comment or giving advice then writing something self promotional at the end. Offer advice and look for nothing in return.
Thank the responder for the comment, blog or community space. People no longer have to take their feedback to the organization…they can and are having the conversations elsewhere. Look at the situation from their perspective. If they took the time to comment about your company, they care. Care about the relationship you have and could have with them in the future if you just thanked them for their feedback and let them know they have been heard. Then, if possible, go one step further and act on their feedback.
Kill them with kindness. Give yourself a pat on the back that you motivated someone to comment on your post even if they don’t agree with you and make sure you demonstrate some sincere appreciation for them taking the time to comment.
Don’t edit comments. As a commenter, the only thing which would annoy you more than not having a comment posted is to have one edited.
It is quite likely that your response will in turn generate its own response(s) – from your critic or from others. This is a good opportunity to turn criticism into conversation and get a better handle on the situation. In certain online interactions, even your ability to keep your cool, stay on topic and treat your critic respectfully will earn you the respect of your readers, and possibly even your critic. Conversation will take the edge off the negative comments and enable you to end the matter on a positive note.