Putting a positive spin on negativity.

• Author: Laflamme, Allison
• Position: SOCIAL & DIGITAL MEDIA

You can distinguish your brand as real and relatable if you have confidence in your efforts through social media to maintain open communication with the public.

Social media has flourished as people have flocked to platforms where they can voice their opinions to the masses while still shielded by a screen. The downside is that not all opinions are positive, and some use the anonymity of these platforms to express harsh and negative thoughts.

The White House Office of Consumer Affairs found that people are two times more likely to voice negative opinions than positive opinions, causing a widespread reluctance on the part of traditionally conservative financial institutions to engage and acquire customers via social media. To those who are apprehensive, note: Although negativity is a real issue, there are ways to gracefully rise above the naysayers and use their criticisms to leverage your brand.

Negativity comes in an assortment of styles, ranging from downright offensive to slightly bothersome, and absolutely uncalled for to justifiably frustrated. The spectrum is significant, but comments tend to fall into one of three major categories:

* Spam: Frequently recognized for littering inboxes, spam is now populating social media. These random and likely irrelevant comments distract your audience from your central message.

The quickest way to quash this nuisance is to hide or delete the comment and then ensure spam filters are adjusted in your security settings. If spam becomes repetitive, you have the ability to block certain words from appearing on your Facebook timeline. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do to prevent spam from appearing. The best way to manage it is to monitor accounts habitually to guarantee these comments are addressed immediately.

Trolls: Similar to the mythical beasts that exist for the torment of others, trolls post controversial comments that use divisive or offensive language, and are aimed to spark further debate. These convoluted commenters specifically take to social media networks to stir up trouble. The larger your following, the greater the likelihood that you will be targeted.

Those familiar with these commenters will ignore them, but others will fuel the fire, using your platform as their battleground. In most cases, trolling comments that do not pertain to the financial institution directly should be removed, the culprit blocked/banned and security/ profanity filters updated.

Similar to spam, the best...