How to react to user comments is a delicate issue companies face about their social media presence. Understanding this social media dynamic is key to keep the conversation on positive ground. Xiaoye Cheng, Hillol Bala and Mochen Yang write that firms must choose wisely what to respond to and craft answers that are likely to boost customer satisfaction and influence user engagement. They explain what works.
Businesses respond to user comments on social media for two main reasons: to deliver customer service and enhance customer relationships. Given the large volume of user comments, firms must wisely select comments to respond to and craft responses that effectively boost customer satisfaction, while avoiding public relations risks. The way they respond can significantly influence user engagement.
Understanding the dynamics among user comments, firm responses and subsequent user engagement is imperative in the race to foster positive interactions and prevent negative repercussions. Our research uncovers the impact of initial user comments and how firms respond to subsequent user engagement on firm-managed social media business pages. Specifically, we explore whether, how and when firms should respond to user comments to achieve favourable outcomes.
What is more likely to receive a response
Firms attend to issues selectively, based on the time and effort required, and therefore may allocate more attention to comments with certain characteristics such as whether they are negative, recent, urgent or novel. We found that firms are more likely to respond to negative comments, while controversial ones are less likely to receive a response.
When negative comments appear on businesses’ social media pages, they typically represent customer complaints that can harm reputations. As a result, they prioritise responding to negative comments to address and resolve issues, retain customers and show responsiveness. Negative comments may also include customer questions or suggestions. By selectively attending to these comments, firms can offer solutions and acknowledge suggestions. Responding to negative comments can more effectively enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty, as negative information has a greater impact on opinions and behaviours than positive or neutral information. With limited resources and attention, firms prioritise responses to negative comments to provide greater functional and instrumental values to users.
Heated discussions often follow controversial comments, which evoke diverse emotions and opinions among social media users. As controversial comments naturally attract a large audience, users may expect feedback from firms on these comments. However, we found that firms tend not to respond to controversial comments to avoid potential conflicts with users. Agreeing with one group’s opinion may annoy another group holding the opposite opinion. As such, keeping silent in controversial discussions can be a good strategy. Also, crafting responses to controversial comments can be costly and prone to error, as multiple factors need to be considered. To minimise the risk of making inappropriate statements, firms generally prefer not to respond.
Subsequent user engagement
Following a firm response, we examine the volume and sentiment of subsequent user comments, which are key dimensions of user engagement. Our research focuses on two features of the original user comment — sentiment and potential for controversy — and two features of firm response — uniqueness and timeliness.
Responses to negative comments
We found that firm responses to negative comments, rather than positive or neutral ones, induce a higher volume of subsequent user comments but a more negative sentiment in these comments. As discussed earlier, responding to negative comments can improve the customer experience by addressing concerns, providing clear answers, and showing appreciation for feedback. When users see that negative comments are addressed, they can be encouraged to generate subsequent comments. However, responding to negative comments can lead to more negative feedback, as other users with similar issues may engage, hoping for a response.
Responses to controversial comments
Responding to a more controversial user comment can induce subsequent comments. Controversial topics are engaging but often uncomfortable, which deters discussion. Firm responses can heighten interest in discussing controversies, while alleviating discomfort. By offering a firm’s perspective, a response makes the conversation more informed and attractive. It also signals that the firm is actively moderating the discussion, creating a safer and more welcoming environment for users to share their opinions. Moreover, participating in more controversial discussions involving a firm can attract more attention and enhance users’ online social identities.
Firm responses to controversial comments, however, can lead to a more negative sentiment in users’ subsequent comments. Social media users who agree or are satisfied with a firm’s response may avoid commenting to avoid potential conflicts, while those who disagree or are dissatisfied are more likely to voice their opinions, potentially intensifying the negativity in subsequent comments.
Unique firm responses
A unique response provides distinct or novel informational value to recipients, motivating them to ask questions or express themselves through comments, with the expectation of receiving similar helpful information from the firm. Firms that offer unique responses are often perceived as exerting heightened efforts and genuinely caring, leading to a more positive sentiment in subsequent comments. On the contrary, if a response is too similar to other responses, users may think that the firm is only making a perfunctory effort to reply to them and thus react negatively.
For example, it is a common practice for firms to give boilerplate responses on their business pages. One response template often used by firms is intended to transfer an ongoing conversation into another channel. They can write, “Please call our customer service team at (phone number)”, which negatively affects the virality, that is, likes, comments and reposts.
Response timeliness
We found that timely firm responses are associated with a higher volume of subsequent comments. Quick responses, regardless of the comment’s sentiment, can improve users’ interaction experience with a firm, keep them continuously engaged, and encourage observers to actively participate. In contrast, responding too late, say, a few days, could easily cause users to lose interest and attention, curtail the generation of follow-up comments and develop a negative impression of the firm.
Nevertheless, providing speedy responses may elevate other users’ expectations for real-time interactions. They could thus become easily disappointed if their comments are not responded to at the same speed, leading to a more negative sentiment in subsequent comments.
Implications
Our study provides practical insights to firms and platform owners by showing that a response strategy should be based on selecting which comments to reply to, deciding when and how to do it and understanding the effect of these decisions on subsequent user engagement.
Firms can strategically guide the volume and sentiment of subsequent user comments on their social media pages in a desirable direction. This depends on their choices of what to respond to (based on comment sentiment and potential for controversy), and how unique and timely their response is. For example, if a firm wants to improve the sentiment of user comments on its business page, it can consider responding more to positive, rather than negative, comments. It can also choose to respond to less controversial comments and avoid responding too quickly so as to manage users’ expectations. Importantly, firms should consider selecting user comments that could induce a unique response to create a larger volume of subsequent comments and a positive sentiment in these comments.
Social media platforms may consider improving system design by incorporating creative mechanisms for commenting and responding that can enhance interactions between firms and users. For instance, they could create a feature that highlights firm responses with unique information, making it easier for users to identify useful responses. This can motivate firms to avoid repetitive and boilerplate responses, providing more novel and valuable information in their responses.
Conclusion
Social media platforms are ubiquitous and have become pivotal in how firms connect with their customers. Firms maintain business pages on these platforms, where they interact with users by posting updates and responding to comments. To foster sustained user engagement and positive relationships, they must strategically manage their responses to comments. Our research highlights the importance of wisely selecting which user comments to address and offering unique content and timely responses.
Effective social media management involves more than mere presence; it requires a thoughtful approach to choosing comments that can induce favourable subsequent engagement and crafting responses that are both relevant and insightful. By providing distinctive content and prompt feedback, firms can enhance user engagement, build stronger customer relationships, and ultimately drive their brand’s success. This strategic engagement helps firms stand out in a crowded digital landscape, ensuring that their social media interactions are impactful and aligned with their broader business objectives.
- This blog post is based on Engaging Users on Social Media Business Pages: The Roles of User Comments and Firm Responses, MIS Quarterly.
- The post represents the views of the author(s), not the position of LSE Business Review or the London School of Economics and Political Science.
- Featured image provided by Shutterstock
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