Company A has allowed its one discussion posting to be hijacked. They asked for people to provide stories of positive experiences with Company A, which some people have done. But soon after posting the request, one person responded with complaints about The Problem. Someone else responded, disagreeing. The original poster explained why she was upset. Through an ongoing discussion, the poster who hijacked the conversation convinced the person who had disagreed to rethink his position (as he posted in one of his posts). At no time did anyone from Company A respond.
The thread has become a sounding board for people who want something to be done about The Problem. And those who are posting are becoming more frustrated because no one is listening.
What should you do when someone hijacks a conversation on your Facebook fan page?
- Ignore it. At least someone responded.
- Delete the hijacker's comments.
- Ban the hijacker from your site.
- Respond to the hijacker's comments.
- Start a new discussion about what the hijacker wants to talk about.
The truth is, it depends on the situation. Any of the above choices could be the right one. Let's look at each of them.
a. Ignore it.
You should never ignore the conversation, but you can't respond to every post. If you have a good conversation going, and if other people are ensuring that the hijacker's comments aren't getting a toehold, then you can ignore these specific comments. But only if they aren't causing a side discussion.
b. Delete the comments.
Most of the time I'll tell you to leave comments where they are, but if the comments add nothing to the conversation and are hateful, pornographic, or have another legitimate reason to be dumped, delete them
c. Ban from your site.
This is an extreme reaction that, hopefully, you'll never have to use. It should not be used as a first response to anyone. However, if you encounter a problem commenter—someone who is actively stirring trouble, making threats, or disrupting the conversation; someone who is a repeat offender; someone who is a troll* or a flamer*, banning may be the only option.
Again, make sure this is a last resort option. Give them warning. And let the other people in the conversation know that you have banned this person and why (the posts will likely have been read by many of them, so, if it comes to this, most of them will probably support you).
d. Respond to the comments.
Often a simple, quick response to these comments is the best solution. Sometimes people are not actually meaning to steer the conversation in another direction, but, instead, thought of something while they were reading the original post or a response. Just letting them know that this isn't the right place for that discussion, and giving them another venue (public or e-mail) to continue the new discussion (if appropriate) will often take care of the problem.
e. Start a new discussion about the new topic.
This is usually my favorite choice. If the topic of conversation brought up by the comment hijacker has anything to do with what you're company does, there are probably others who would like to talk about it, too.
After one of the hijacker's comments, post a reply letting them know that you've created a new discussion topic that addresses their concern. Ask them to move any further comments over to that thread. Also thank them for bringing up the discussion and ask that, in the future, rather than posting in a current topic, they create a new discussion post for anything they feel needs to be addressed.
I know that a lot of people are uncomfortable with letting their audience (customers, consumers, etc.) have the power to create their own discussion, but doing so gives you a much better idea of what is actually important to them. Again, if an inappropriate discussion posting is created, you can take it down—just let people know why you did.
Had company A chosen to go with this option, rather than ignoring the hijacked discussion, they might have kept peole from having their opinions publicly and negatively swayed. They would have shown that they recognized their audience was unhappy. They would have shown that they were willing to listen. By ignoring the posts (it's been a month, and they've responded to nothing), they show, accurately or not, that they don't really care.
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