Whether you’re obsessed with TikTok trends or you try to avoid social media altogether, we all have to accept that social media has become a major foundation for connecting your school community.

Aside from posting regularly and following social media best practices, there's one often-neglected component of your school's social media strategy that's key to success: how to respond to negative feedback on social media.

• What do you do when an upset parent goes viral with their disagreement?
• What about when a random "troll" tries to stir up drama?
• And what about comments on pages or social media platforms that you don’t manage? How can you steer the conversation?

When you're responding to comments on social media, it's your chance to build community, not break it down. So, let’s review tips for dealing with negative feedback on social media and what you can do to get a handle on comments.

Why do social media comments matter?

Your families expect you to respond quickly or even in real time. In fact, 79% of people think companies should respond to negative feedback on social media (including schools and districts like yours) within 24 hours or less. And this includes all types of comments — questions, positive comments, and negative remarks. If you miss this 24-hour window, it can leave your commenter feeling unvalued.

Responding to comments has a few benefits:

• It builds trust and transparency for both prospective and current families. Prospective families will see your social media comments, which may help drive their decisions about where to send their child to school. If you consistently respond, it shows them that you care and you're diligent about acknowledging your community—essential for building and maintaining a positive online reputation.
   
• It opens up two-way conversations. Current families will feel reassured that you're listening to them, so they'll feel comfortable asking questions. And while you may worry about the “can of worms” this opens, it’s good to hear the praises and concerns of your community because it helps you adapt your own content and messaging.
   
• It helps with organic reach. Your social media channels will recognize that you're active in your accounts and with your followers, which will help increase the chances of your content being seen in users’ feeds.

How Do I Respond to Negative Comments on Social Media?

This is one of the most common questions we receive about schools and their social media. If you haven’t already had to deal with a flurry of negative messages or bad reviews for one reason or another, you inevitably will. Here’s what you can do:

Step 1: Identify the Problem

First, read the comment thoroughly, see if the commenter truly is a member of your school or district’s community, and — if it's a sensitive issue — fact-check among your faculty and staff that it's truthful. Getting your bearings before responding will help make the process go more smoothly.

Second, don't automatically delete these comments. If the user notices that you deleted their comment, it can cause even further backlash.

An exception to this rule is if the comment contains inappropriate content and comes in violation of your social media policy. If this is the case, report the user and delete the comment. If you want to take it a step further, privately message this user to notify them of why their comment was removed.

Pro Tip: If the inappropriate comment is on Facebook, you're able to “hide” comments. When you hide a comment from a post on your Page, the comment will still be visible to the person who wrote it and their friends, but the comment will be hidden for everyone else.

Step 2: Set Up Templates to Respond

Establish a set of templates that you or your team can reference when responding to negative comments to make your job easier.

For example, if someone is commenting on a negative experience their child had at school, this could be a templated answer that you paste and personalize:

“Hi [First Name], We’re so sorry to learn about [information about experience]. Here at [School Name], we strive to provide the best possible experience for all students. [Person's name] will be in contact with you shortly to hear more about this and to help find a solution.”

This school does a great job of quickly responding to the concerned parent, keeping the message concise, and then offering a phone number for the parent to call if they want to discuss offline.

No matter what template you decide to use, make sure that it's:

• Personalized for each commenter
• Concise and to the point
• Empathetic to their concerns
• Not rude or insulting. It can be tempting to attack the commenter back, but don’t take the bait!

Step 3: Always Respond

Responding to negative comments is key to building trust and transparency within your community, even if it's uncomfortable. The best you can do when responding to negative comments is to be as personable as possible. This will:

1. Show everyone else that you responded and that you care
2. Let the concerned party know that you are willing to help rectify the situation; and 
3. Take the conversation offline so that it doesn’t affect your social media account further.

Respond with one public comment and then shift to a more personal venue like phone, e-mail, or DMs to discuss the issue further. 

Here, this school does a fantastic job of jumping in and answering questions before things spiral out of control! They address the commenter by name and answer their questions quickly.

How can schools and districts manage the workload?

Responding to comments and messages is certainly a daunting task, so first, take a deep breath and remember: families expect a response in 24 hours, not 24 seconds. 

Here are a few tips for managing this workload:

• Set boundaries and expectations for yourself and your team that don’t result in you spending four hours a day responding to comments. 
• More than 70% of all social media complaints take place on Facebook, so if you only have time to respond to comments on one platform, focus on Facebook.
• Dedicate a few minutes each day to responding to comments, questions, and messages across all channels.
• Create an FAQ page on your website, update it with the questions you get most often on social media, and link to it when someone asks a question.
• Share a recorded Q&A session with members of your community to tackle some of the most frequently asked questions. You can pin it to the top of your social media channels, too.

One important thing to note: Whether it's during a crisis or a critical back-to-school period, social media interaction should be immediate and as needed, rather than handled at a designated time to meet the needs of your community.

What about comments not on your school’s pages?

We’re seeing this happen more and more as community and parent Facebook Groups are popping up in almost every city, state, and region. For some schools and districts, these Facebook Groups are crawling with questions and comments regarding schools, teachers, faculty members, and coaches—and when they’re negative, it’s easy to want to step in.

But, Facebook Groups aren’t the place for a school or district’s communications manager to step in for reputation clean-up—it’s the job of your community. (Being real will go much further here; trust us!)

So, rather than adding to your workload, build an ambassador network of community members who will speak on your behalf. Most schools and districts have a parents’ association or PTA, so start there. You can also enlist teachers, students, and other community advocates to help here as well.

If the individual making negative comments in the group is also making negative comments on your page, you can address the issues offline.

Before You Respond: Negative Feedback Checklist

Whenever you receive a piece of negative feedback, take a breath and go through this checklist to make sure it's handled with care:

• Don’t take it personally: Emotions can run high, but it's important to respond professionally.
• Assess the Feedback: Carefully review the negative feedback and identify the specific points of criticism to address them effectively.
• Apologize if Necessary: If the feedback relates to a mistake or oversight on the school's part, offer a sincere apology. Taking responsibility can go a long way.
• Provide Explanation or Clarity: If the negative feedback stems from a misunderstanding or misinformation, provide a clear explanation to set the record straight. Transparency is key.
• Offer Solutions: Depending on the nature of the feedback, offer solutions or next steps to address the issue proactively. 
• Take the Conversation Offline if Necessary: Take the conversation offline if the issue requires more in-depth discussion or resolution. Provide contact information or encourage the individual to reach out via direct message or email.

Key Takeaway

Social media has always intended to be just that — social. Be sure to authentically engage with all comments, positive and negative, as this builds trust, transparency, morale, and even your page’s organic reach.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

As the Social Media and Content Specialist, Hailey oversees Finalsite's social media accounts and helps grow its online community. Following her time at the University of Kansas, where she took up rowing, Hailey is a fitness enthusiast who enjoys playing soccer and running.