Thanks for reading the Marketing 'For Cops' Newsletter. Want this newsletter delivered straight to your email every week so you don't have to remember to check for it? Join my Police Marketing Squad and I'll send it to you every Thursday morning! Always free, always delivering knowledge, and never spam!
Getting bombarded by negative comments on Facebook after somebody recorded a YouTube video bashing you? 💥💬💥
Whether it stemmed from an incident at your agency or a soundalike one, these comment attacks can be overwhelming...while you’re never going to be able to make it stop, you can follow these steps for limiting the damage, reducing liability, and looking at things in a whole nother way...keep reading! 👀
Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO and this week, let’s talk about something I was recently asked about, and it actually comes up quite a bit in questions as these attacks are becoming more and more common on police related social media pages, especially on Facebook, and that is how do you handle a negative comment attack stemming from someone’s YouTube video they created? 🤷🤷♂️
I've actually encountered this quite a bit over the years as any time the Glendale, California Police Department does something that gets blown up in the news, (👋 other Glendale) the comments and hate start pouring into our social media accounts here in Arizona. 😡
We’ve also had a couple incidents of our own that have blown up and I’m sure the same exact thing happens and Glendale, California gets some heat from something we did...sorry, guys. 🙏
Either way, whether it stems from something that your agency did or a soundalike agency, it can be incredibly frustrating to deal with firsthand...believe you me, I know! 🙋♂️
So, if this is happening to you right now, or if you just want to bookmark this for later, just in case...here’s a step-by-step plan of attack to help get you through this...
Step 1
Look, I’m not going to sugar coat it...it really stinks when this happens and it can feel like the whole world hates you...leaving you bitter, angry, or even emotionally upset...but the first thing you have to do is take a deep breath, realize this isn’t a personal attack against you, the person who runs the social media account, and then realize something awesome is actually happening here. 😕
What could be awesome about thousands of people writing negative comments about your agency on multiple posts? 🤔
I almost don’t want to say it because if these YouTube comment army’s actually see this and realize what they’re doing for us, they might stop...but what is really happening is you are getting a gigantic algorithm boost, and I mean on overdrive, where your post is now being shown to people at a significantly higher rate than you could have ever pulled off on your own. Oh...and for free, mind you. 🚀
Remember, the algorithm doesn't know or care if a comment or reaction is negative or positive, it’s a machine and it just knows that the post is getting attention and shows it to more people! Translation...thank you for the free boost! 👏
And before you go worrying about the damage being caused by the comments, never lose sight of this... 🧐
The people who care about your agency, often referred to in those negative comments as bootlickers, or the people who want to apply with you...they call them bootlickers as well...won't care about these comments at all...as they are often extreme, over the top and sometimes, a little out there. Have you actually read some of them? 😵
If it was a soundalike agency, people will figure out quite easily that it wasn't your department and move on. If it was something that your agency did, most rational people will wait for your response and then also move on. They may not like what happened, they’re just not going to go on and on about how you’re a tyrant on social media. 🤐
As for the sheer number of comments...you can relax on that too. Remember, the average attention span on social media is three seconds. People see your post and move on. At worst, and I use that loosely, they check it out, maybe read the caption and then if they’re feeling like they have nothing better to do in that moment right there, might start reading the comments. 🤨
But no one is going to sift through thousands of them and will likely stop after 5 or 6 tops and then continue scrolling their feed. The majority of people are going to simply see the picture of your post and scroll on. 😃
When you start realizing this and shift your mindset to one of ‘hey, thanks for the free exposure’, things are much easier to swallow. 😎
Step 2
No matter what they are or what they say, never delete any comments, the post itself, or disable commenting on the affected post. I get why your initial reaction may be to do that but, in actuality, it’s really dumb. 💯
For one, this can get you in big trouble if one of the deleted commenters decides they want to take this up a notch and sue you. First amendment anyone? Courts have already ruled that agencies can’t delete comments, so don’t even try. 👨⚖️
Don't reply to any of the negative comments either...that's just asking for trouble. 🙅♂️
At best and use extreme caution in doing this...you could hit the ‘like’ button on any comment that defended your agency as long as the comment was tasteful and not attacking in nature. This would help push those comments up the 'most relevant' scale when Facebook sorts them out but does open you up to more negative comments when someone notices. 👍
Reason number 2...free algorithm boost! I know we just talked about it...but this really is huge for you, and you can’t thank them to yourself...enough. 🚀🚀
Step 3
Pin the most attacked post to the top of your Facebook page. I know that multiple posts are probably getting hit, but the reason for pinning this one is two-fold. First, the one that’s really blowing up is likely the one being linked by YouTubers or passed along in messages to go after. 🗣️
The second...when people come to the page, they always attack the first post and keep going down the line until they lose interest...typically somewhere between 3 and five posts. 😒
So, by pinning the post to the top, this most attacked post becomes even more attractive to comment on, and will become your 'sacrificial lamb' so to speak. Again, this is the one that’s going to attract the most attention, so keep it pinned to the top for as long as it takes for the onslaught to slow down. I’ll explain more in a minute. 🐑
Now, I know this is going to sound weird, but you should consider yourself pretty fortunate if that sacrificial lamb post is a 'now hiring' post because you my friend, are now getting a free paid advertisement for your job opening...something that would typically cost you a bunch of money at that exposure rate. 🚀🚀🚀
Step 4
Keep posting! I would make posts every single day afterwards if that's possible for you. 💪
Yes, they will get some negative comments on them, but they will considerably lessen as time passes by and comment army’s move on to the next agency. The more posts you make now, the further and further down the page your 'sacrificial lamb' post will go later. 📉
Step 5
After things have finally died down and the negative comments come to a crawl (this could be maybe even a month or two from now), unpin the sacrificial lamb post and it will slip way down the feed, well below all of the new posts you've made since and now when your prospective applicants come to check out your page, it will be long gone! 👋
And step number 6
Prepare yourself now for another wave, and then another wave, and then another wave. Other YouTuber's will pick up on the story later (it could be months or even years from now) and the same thing will happen all over again, albeit on a smaller scale. When that happens, simply start at step 1 and go from there. 😁
There you have it! My six-step plan for handling negative social media comment attacks. Bet you never thought of handling it that way, huh? 🤩
Want to get some more out of my decade plus experience in recruiting and backgrounds? My Road to Better Recruiting course is in production now and will be launching soon! Join the waitlist at: forcopstraining.com/rtbr.
Have a friend at another agency who’s getting beat up in the comments section of their posts? Give this video a like or share it with them so they can get some relief too. We’re all in this together and it’s going to take all of us to change the future of police recruiting. 🤝
Have more questions about police recruiting, marketing, or anything else you're struggling with? Don't hesitate to reach out...I’m always here to help. ⛑
Until next week my Police Marketing Squad, happy recruiting! 😃
Tom
Did you find this newsletter valuable? Make sure to like & comment below. 👇
I'd love to hear from you! 🤩
Also, if you know someone who needs to see this content, please share my newsletter with them! I would appreciate the help in spreading the knowledge that will benefit us all and make our profession stronger! 💪
Have a marketing or recruiting topic you would like more info on? Drop me a message 📩 and let me know what you would like to learn! It might just make its way into next week's newsletter! 🤞
👋 I’m Tom Sye, your Police Marketing FTO. I founded ‘For Cops’ Training to teach Police Departments how to attract more qualified candidates through the same tried and tested methods I’ve used for the past ten years at my own department to keep up with turnover and stay ahead of vacancies.
Want to learn more about police marketing and recruiting? 👇
🔔 Follow my profile
✅ Connect with me
🗞️ Subscribe to the Marketing ‘For Cops’ Newsletter
You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, X, or visit my website at www.forcopstraining.com to learn more about my Police Marketing and Recruiting courses which will be enrolling soon!
Comments