How To Manage Your Facebook Ad Comments Like A Pro!
Facebook ads can be such a great way to sell your product or service and are one of the most powerful benefits of social media marketing. A highly targeted ad campaign can breathe new life into your revenue. This article isn’t about how to create a highly profitable ad campaign, that one is in the queue. Rather this article is to help the small business owner understand the ecosystem of comments and trolls that can have a huge impact on the ads you are running and your entire online advertising and digital marketing system.
Pitfall 1. Deletion
Many people running Facebook ads try to avoid any possible issues by just deleting either all comments and questions or just the negative ones. Facebook doesn’t make this bode well for you. When you come across an ad, people often look at it to see how many comments there are. If the ad shows there are 14 comments, but when you click them none show up what kind of impression does that give? It gives the impression you are editing comments and hiding something. The ad will always show the number of comments that have been added, and that number doesn’t change just because you are heavy on the delete button. I personally don’t look any further at a company that does this kind of editing with their ads. Don’t delete any comments. Answer all the questions and respond patiently to negative comments.
Pitfall 2. No management or interactions
Other companies go the opposite route and just let the ads run with no monitoring or editing. But this is not ideal either. Let’s say an interested party has a question about your product or service “How easy is it to set up?”, “ How long will it take to deliver?” etc. If there is no one monitoring the comments these customers can easily feel ignored and lose any interest they had. Because we do live in times where good customer service is crucial to a successful brand. Great comment management can win over those on the fence and it shows people that your brand is there and engaging.
Pitfall 3. Bad Responses.
The reason many businesses have someone external manage their ad comments is that it is too easy to get defensive. Trolls exist, they always will, unfortunately. If you spent 5 years developing an awesome product and someone trolls your ad saying it is a stupid idea, that it is overpriced or that your competitor’s product is better you may be tempted to react out of anger and fall right into the trolls plan of getting you agitated. This is a terrible idea. It tarnishes your brand and shows a side you don’t want the public to see.
Solution: How To Do It Right.
Hire someone with the expertise, or have someone in your company that will not be lured into arguments to monitor your ads for comments throughout the day. A person with a great sense of humor and an awesome personality is a perfect candidate. This person should be keeping a close eye on comments and engaging with the audience.
Questions:
If someone asks a question, whether about returns, shipping, and other pre-purchase questions, they should receive an answer as quickly as possible. The person managing the ads should have access to all the info they may need. The person that left a comment is interested, or else they would not bother to take the time to comment and that is the venue they chose to ask. Even if the answer is in the ad itself, or found on the landing page or website, answer it very nicely. Ideally with a bit of humor and personality. But ALWAYS answer promptly. Not doing so could cost you the sale. No one wants to buy from a brand that is hard to get ahold of.
Praise:
Congrats, you have a brand evangelist! Don’t ignore this one just because it is positive. Thank them for being a customer and for sharing their love of your brand. Ignoring a praising comment can make that person feel you don’t care or appreciate them taking their time to show the love. These are some of the most important people as they can easily be turned into brand advocates.
Trolls
They are trying to get a rise out of you. There are many different ways to handle this depending on the type of trolling. But simply, don’t fall for the bait. If a troll says your product is too expensive, tell them you are sorry they feel that way and share if you have a discount code. The reason our product costs more than the competition is that we use only the highest quality, or that everything is made in the USA, etc. Whatever truth fits the reason.
If a troll tells you your product is stupid you can tell them your sorry to hear that and that not everyone buys every product.
If a troll says your competition is better than you, try calling them out. Have they tried your product? What did they think makes the competitors better? Sometimes these kinds of interactions can lead a brand to new ideas or ways to have greater appeal.
The Angry Customer
“I ordered this product 4 weeks ago and still haven’t received it.” etc. These NEED to be addressed right away. A simple response of “Well that would make me angry too! Please email me at blah blah@yourproduct.com and we will look into getting this remedied right away. And again, our deepest apologies for this inconvenience.” can make all the difference. It also turns a negative into a positive for the people viewing the comments.
A Final Thought
Remember, oftentimes the responses aren’t just for the commenter per se, but for the other potential customers that are looking at the comments. Why would someone buy from a company that neglects their ads? Or a company that doesn’t answer questions? Or worse yet, a company that gets defensive in comments? It shows a lack of integrity and caring in this customer-centric digital age. It is important to really be on top of every point of customer contact. These practices also work for Instagram ads.
