SMM and influencer activities bring not only positive outcomes but also a fair share of negativity.
When you’re growing someone’s brand through SMM, I recommend running ORM (Online Reputation Management) alongside it. ORM involves monitoring brand mentions and preventing negativity from escalating. Speed is crucial here — identify and address trolls quickly.
In the early 2010s, I worked with a brand that produced wall panels. Their product quality wasn’t the best, and competitors would occasionally organize “troll raids.”
The tasks were clear:
- Identify brand mentions.
- Assess their sentiment (positive, negative, or neutral).
- Respond appropriately (thank positive mentions, move negative discussions to private messages, and turn neutral mentions into positive ones).
The main goal was to ensure that only positive feedback appeared in search results. It was an intense workload — two people worked on this for six months, and we managed to clean up the search results while promptly addressing new mentions.
Another client story:
I once handled SMM for a major federal bank. A pattern was obvious: the moment you launch ads and increase reach, a wave of negativity follows. The bigger the brand, the more mentions — both positive and negative.
The workflow was straightforward: reply to public comments, move the discussion to private messages (ask for contact details, forward the issue to the quality control team), and leave a final public comment stating, “We’re looking into it.” This approach showed customers that the brand was alive and cared about its reputation.
With influencer activity, handling negativity works differently, and there are two main scenarios:
- A massive wave of responses, often viral in nature.
Unfortunately, you can’t stop this; you’ll have to wait it out. In influencer marketing, I often see “cancel culture” in action — an influencer’s activity can drop to zero overnight. The reason could be an event, audience backlash, or a scandal. - Isolated responses in public spaces.
Here, we face two options: the response is either genuine or fake.
Sometimes, I encounter such negativity on my own media channels — it could be feedback on my opinions or a reaction to a broader issue in a specific country. Personally, I don’t want to dive into individual problems, so I block without hesitation. Some of my colleagues, over time, simply turn off comments or enable strict moderation. Protecting your mental health is far more important than pouring resources into endless debates.
If the response is genuine, for example, when an influencer runs commercial activities, it falls back into the earlier workflow — whether or not to address it depends on company policy.
In general, social media activity tends to yield positive outcomes.
However, it’s crucial to remember that negativity can emerge at any point. Be mentally prepared for it first, and technically equipped second.
