Question

Topic: Social Media

How To Combat Negative Sentiment Via Social Media

Posted by Anonymous on 1/10/2013 at 3:19 PM ET 500 Points
My company is quasi governmental toll road company. Meaning that we have strong legislative ties and are constantly bombarded with negative media and customer complaints about paying their bill.

Everything that I have seen in webinars, company examples, and tips/tricks all focus on when the customer base generally likes the company. Since we have government ties we are put into the political relm where very opinionated people like to blast negative comments on everything and anything. In addition the comments rarely fall under the topic of the post, making it very difficult to post anything in fear of getting bombarded with "i dont want to pay my bill", "your stealing from me", ect.

My question is, does anyone have examples of posts for companies that have less than 25% positive sentiment? Also, any government social media related examples would be great as well.
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  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 1/10/2013 at 3:25 PM Member
    Is there a reason this is limited to social media?

    In general, for this situation, you would want to have a PR campaign that promotes the positives of the company. Things like how the money is used for good (to maintain the roads, if it is used by the government for general funds how having the toll reduces taxes elsewhere, etc.).

    It is pretty common in my area that at all major construction zones, there is a sign informing where the money came from. The basic goal of these signs is to show people how their tax or toll dollars are at work.
  • Posted by Moriarty on 1/10/2013 at 3:46 PM Member
    Whatever else, this is something you have to live with. In my work, I specifically ASK for a negative review. Most people aren't happy with giving me one.

    But wait.

    You see posting a negative review on your site, and countering it directly gives the reader the clearest impression of honesty.

    That is worth millions.

    If you want to be seen as trustworthy, honest and capable, because a charlatan never tells you what they are not good at. Just as Peter says, you are handling their taxes (or tolls). You need to show where these are going.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 1/10/2013 at 4:33 PM Member
    These might help:

    https://aaronallen.com/blog/restaurant-marketing/10-tips-and-rules-for-hand...

    https://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/biz-on-main/2012/12/11/how-to-handle-...

    https://askaaronlee.com/negative-feedback-social-media/
  • Posted on 1/10/2013 at 4:42 PM Author
    These are all good answers for regular businesses, but there doesn't seem to be any examples for government agencies.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 1/10/2013 at 4:47 PM Accepted
    It sounds like it's time for you to be proactive, since people aren't actively sharing their love for your services. Can you identify people and/or organizations who truly benefit from your toll roads (and remember the way things "used to be")? Can you figure out how much money/time people are saving using them, and have an animated clock on your website that keeps track of the savings minute-to-minute? When you get a negative post, how do you handle it - publicly or privately? Are the complaints warranted or just people griping?
  • Posted on 1/10/2013 at 5:04 PM Author
    Proactive within an government organization is beyond tough, but I agree with your advice. Social Media adoption by the entire organization is years away. Only a few key people have access to any social sites which makes it tough for decision makers to understand how social media operates.

    If a comment can be handled publicly it is, however if it requires more than one response it is taken off line. Some complaints are warranted, however we have no solution for them due to our internal constraints. The majority of the complaints come through Facebook recommendations that do not have a way to respond via the company's avatar. If we try and mention the complaint in a post customers get upset for bothering them with other peoples problems.

    I like the time clock idea.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 1/11/2013 at 3:51 PM Member
    Forget about being in a government agency. There's no reason guidelines from business can't be applied to government.
  • Posted by Patrick.O'Brien on 1/17/2013 at 7:01 PM Member
    I've seen companies with limited resources just keep an eye on the comments, and when a CONSTRUCTIVE negative comment comes in, answer it directly, honestly, and show concern. Think customer service. People will see that despite what your company is doing, people work there, and if you guys are open to listening to comments, others will see that and it will go a far way in your favor.
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