How Social Media Can Turn Your Worst Reviews Into Your Best Advertisements

By Emin Kara | September 21, 2023

A common misconception I encounter as a digital marketer is the belief held by some business owners that avoiding social media can shield them from negative reviews. “If I’m not on social media, I don’t have to worry about bad reviews,” they think. This mindset couldn’t be further from the truth. Regardless of whether a business establishes a social media presence, customers will continue to share their experiences, both positive and negative. The reality is that actively participating on social media platforms and skillfully addressing negative reviews can significantly bolster a business’s reputation. Let’s delve into the mechanisms that make this possible.

First of all, your goal on social media should always be controlling the narrative. If you don’t, you allow others to make their own mind up about what your business and brand is about. Every post, update, or engagement is an opportunity to display brand values, ethos, and character. When bad reviews come in, they’re simply a part of this larger narrative. By addressing them transparently and proactively, businesses can showcase their commitment to customer service and continuous improvement.

When I worked in food, before I became a cook, I took people’s orders and dealt with complaints. Out of everyone, I had what I feel was the BEST approach to complaint handling. Most of the other staff members (including the owner) would tell the complaining customers what they would give them to “fix” the issue. Most of the time, the “solution” would often be insulting to the customer and would basically be like pouring gasoline on a fire.

My approach was simple and better for everyone involved. The customer always calmed down instantly. They felt like they were being heard and that they were getting what they wanted. My simple script was “Hey there, I’m sorry you had this experience with us today. We aim to provide the best service possible to you. We understand you have waited a long time for your food and it’s not up to your, or our standards of work. This should not have happened, and we want to make it right for you.” Pay close attention, this is the golden line “How could I fix this today for you? What could I offer you to improve this experience and solve the problem for you”. BAM! Instantly, the customer would calm down, because I: 

• Spoke to them professionally, in a sincere tone of voice. 
• They felt like they were being understood and their feelings were valid. 
• MOST IMPORTANTLY: I wasn’t telling them what we’ll give them, I asked them what they wanted. You have to understand that food being 20-30 minutes late might not feel like a big deal to you, but to a hungry customer, it is. So you might fail to understand their mindset and downplay them by saying “Yeah sorry about this, we can give you 10% off.” If you do that, they’ll instantly get angrier because 10% off seems insulting. 

Now most people won’t be too ridiculous with their ask. Still, some people will take their chances, and that point a simple “We aren’t able to fulfil that specific request, but we could do this…” 

Obviously, the main topic of this article is translating it to social media so let’s get back to that.  

Understand that when this type of interaction happens offline, the interaction stays with you and the customer. No one else sees the level of professionalism and service, and they can go back to their friends and family and tell their own narrative of the situation. When it’s on social media, the interaction is: 

• Displayed for all the world to see: this is great because other customers can see how professionally you handle complaints, and seek to fix them, further improving your reputation. 
• There forever: So no matter what the customer says to their friends, there will always be a solid piece of evidence of how the complaint and the damage control went ahead. 

So how do you go about finding and answering complaints? 

With TikTok being one of the biggest platforms at the minute for sharing stories and complaints, here’s what I suggest you do: 

1. Go to the search bar and type in “(Your business name) bad experience” or just “(your business name)” or any variation and look for videos around your business. 
2. Look at videos addressing complaints and even the videos giving you praise. You’ll find in the comment section there will most likely be someone who says something along the lines of “We’ve been here but our experience wasn’t as good as yours, X, Y and Z happened.”
3. From there, take a screenshot of the comment and create a video addressing the issue and fixing it. 
4. With the screenshot of the comment, go ahead and paste that onto the video as an overlay. 
5. When replying to the comment, type “Replying to @ (The person’s username)” so they get a notification and see your video. 

BOOM! You’ve just professionally handled a complaint that can be turned into content, give you thousands of new eyeballs that could turn into customers, while demonstrating professionalism, boosting brand awareness, fixing the customer’s issue and getting them to come back, which in turn SKYROCKETS the reputation of your business! 

That model isn’t exclusive to TikTok either, so go ahead and replicate that with all the other social media platforms.