Hi,

Recently our company’s CEO make a comment during a TV interview that was perceived as negative by our clients.  He made an apology via our website and Facebook page, but was not well received because it didn’t really seem like much of an apology.  Now, our Facebook page has literally blow up with negative posts/comments.  And any new post that we put out there is also receiving negative comments. At this point, I’m not sure if we respond again to the negative things or if we should kind of ignore them and try to move past them by posting other positive bits.

Any suggestions?

Indeed a thorny issue!

Part 23 of the Creative Pathfinder’s (free) course deals with the subject matter of “Dealing with Difficult People”. The writer suggests a four-step process. It may help you with your problem. 

Here’s the link: http://lateralaction.com/dealing-with-difficult-people/. You may just find the ray of light you are looking for.

Good luck.

Were the CEO comments misinterpreted? Is there merit in the FB community and website visitors having a negative reaction? Has the print media picked up on this? Is the company public? Are there other channels this sentiment is showing up in?

There are so many considerations, thus why all companies should have a crisis communications plan in place, especially when partaking in social media. I’m assuming one doesn’t exist and you’re in reactive mode.  

Without more information, in my opinion you’ll need an official and sincere statement from the CEO to clarify, and not necessarily apologize for his comment – unless there is a strong need to do so. Then you need to circulate that statement in various forms and on whatever media where the sentiment is showing up. Continue to engage from the clarification position as needed and convey to your communities they are being heard. 

Then – ride it out with demonstrations of positive reinforcement showing your sincerity in both company business decisions and in public communications. 

Thanks so much for all of your feedback.  Many great suggestions…

Thanks @Andrea-vahl and @russellallert

I also want to add that I disagree a little with @danielmckean regarding if the CEO needs to apologize or clarify…
Sometimes people need to hear an apology – sometimes you just have to give it even you did nothing wrong. If, after all what happened, the CEO keeps on clarifying but not apologizing, people could interpret that he don’t mind about their community’s feelings. So, an apology won’t hurt anybody and it will be a precious detail.

Why are you so worried about negative posts… I seems you have a very active page. Embrace the negatives and turn them around. It’s a weak CEO that apologizes when an apology is not necessary.

It’s ok to talk bad about FB. FB is not the be all end all. They are extremely useful but since the recent IPO they have been exposed for not having a sound business plan… and that’s a fact.

I like FB but I’ve always seen it for what it is. 1 billion users – 899 million freeloaders

Multiple apologies or clarifications – no.  preferably a link to a YouTube apology/clarification.  And then move on with business as usual messages – and the only comment being to complainers that that topic has been addressed HERE – with  a link.  And no apology if not necessary or warranted – that always comes across as insincere and it’s actually dishonest.  If an honest opinion was expressed, then others are free to agree or disagree and they can always unlike the page.  Some people will be unhappy no matter what you do.   And unless it was an egregious error or slip, I find it interesting that there’s still so much focus on it – given the usual short  facebook attention span.  Perhaps a competitor is fueling the flame?

@ndonelly  I agree with Naurene about the competitor fueling the flame. The Facebook attention span is very short.