It’d be nice if companies approached online communities with a sense of excitement and possibility.  More often, the dominant emotion that comes across when first talking with decision-makers about engaging consumers online is fear.

It’s not that they don’t recognize the tremendous value of cultivating their brand enthusiasts into a thriving community of brand ambassadors.

It’s just that they remember high school.

Let’s be honest: where there are people, there will be jerks.  And where there are jerks, unpleasant things are going to be said.  In online communities, there is a name for people whose sole purpose in interacting online is to stir up trouble: trolls.

Per Wikipedia, a troll is:

“someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional or disciplinary response, or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”

One of the benefits of engaging consumers directly online through social media is that it opens up the opportunity to bring legitimate service issues to light and resolve them.  In that sense, negative comments about your brand have the potential to convert negative consumer attitudes into positive ones, when handled well.  ComcastCares is a perfect example of this.

That said, there are a certain number of people who you can’t make happy–because they’re not interested in being happy.

Some things to keep in mind when dealing with detractors in your online community:

• Respond, don’t react.  The point of trolling is to get a reaction from you and/or the rest of the community.  Respond calmly, point out the comment policy, and remind everyone to keep things civil (including your proponents, who can sometimes respond-in-kind in your defense).
• Give fair warning. As long as you let users know that unruly behavior will lead to an IP ban or moderation, the rest of the community will support your decision.  Your job is to protect the experience of the many who are benefitting from having a direct channel to your company.  The members respect that it’s your space and you have a responsibility to maintain its standards of behavior.
• Back up your talk. If you do warn someone that they’re skating on thin ice, don’t hesitate to use your authority if they don’t heed the warning.  Your loyalty should be to the community–and they’re not served by someone who’s agenda is to cause trouble.

Got any good Troll Tales that could be fodder for helpful discussion?  Chime in on the comments.