I was recently speaking about using social media for thought leadership and several attendees asked what to do when things went bad. It’s a great question and one we’d like to avoid thinking about, but just in case you ever need to know, here is how I answered.
Remember how horrified we were when we discovered Charlotte Dawson had been hospitalised after a nasty troll attack via Twitter? This situation made many question their use of social media, however it was no different to any other type of bullying behaviour – either online or off.
So what happens when you’ve worked really hard to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry on your favourite social media platform, and someone is working equally hard to tear you down?
Like any bully, there are ways to deal with trolls without dropping to their level.
If you’ve already built a smart community around you, they will probably take on the troll on your behalf. But if you don’t have a community powerful enough around you, here are some other tips for you to think about:
- Privacy – before you go too far down the social media road, familiarise yourself with the privacy controls for each of the platforms you use.
- Listen – if the troll is really a customer or client who is complaining, listen to what they are saying. They may be just trying to be heard, or they might have a valid point.
- Ignore – if the sole purpose of the troll’s attack is for attention or to make you defensive, just ignore it. You are not obliged to interact with them, and your time is worth so much more than pandering to a small-minded person.
- Block – if they persist and become completely unreasonable you can block the troll. And that’s ok to do.
Or in social media consultant Laurel Papworth’s words, “never feed the trolls”.
Have you had an experience with trolls on social media? How did you handle it?
