It happened. Someone took offense to something on your blog. A thought wasn't as well developed as you imagined. Or you wrote something you wish you hadn't.
People are taking to your digital properties with pitchforks and lit torches. Comments section is filled with vile. And so is your Facebook Page. Twitter isn't much better.
You can't undo what has happened. Once it is out there, it stays out there. It wasn't meant maliciously on your part. It was a misunderstanding, which often happens on social networks.
So what to do?
Crisis Communications
There are times when you will have to regain control. Here’s how you can do that:
- Say you are sorry. And mean it. There is nothing wrong with apologizing. A meaningful apology with actions behind it works.
- Enforce community guidelines. If a person or group is behaving against those community guidelines, you can remove the offending comments. However, if comments are within those guidelines but you just don't like what is being said, you shouldn't delete. It is within your right to take an online property offline or disable comments.
- Be mindful of your tone. How you respond is important: Never do so in a dismissive or impolite manner, or you will only add fuel to the fire. Don't allow yourself to give knee-jerk responses. Walk away to cool off, then respond.
- Listen and try to understand what the poster wants, then respond to it if warranted. You can respond publicly and have an open conversation. Or you can acknowledge the writer’s concern and request that they take it offline for a deeper conversation (and hopefully a resolution). How you handle a particular situation depends very much on the factors involved.
Things happen. And how you manage those things is important. Because, trust me. You will be remembered more often by how you handled a bad situation, and not by what caused it to begin with.
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