MBA2642 Q&A Wednesday: How Do I Deal With Negative Comments on Social

0:28You finally do it. Every single creator, entrepreneur, or anyone building in public deals with exactly this. So in this episode, I'm going to break down how to handle it emotionally, strategically, and even how to use it to your advantage. Have you ever thought about deleting a post because of fear of criticism? This one's for you. Let's get into it.

0:55Welcome back to the$100 MBA show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to help you start, grow, and scale your business. I want to step back for a moment and point something out incredibly important. The only people who don't get negative comments are people no one sees, all right? If you're getting pushback, it means you're out there. It means you're visible. That means you're loud enough to be heard, and that's a win. You're triggering some emotion. You're making someone pause. You're making someone take the time to write down a comment, even if it's a negative.

1:33And listen, a negative comment is not the worst thing. No comments is worse, okay? You don't want to be vanilla. You want to actually strike some emotion inside of people. Because if somebody disagrees with you or hates on you or puts something negative out there, it probably means you're going to really resonate with the other people that are on the other side of the spectrum. That's an impact that you're making. And listen, impact invites friction. It's a part of the deal. You can't be remarkable and invisible at the same time. So first, Jose, congrats. You're in the game now. You're one of the people that are actually making waves.

2:11So be proud of that. Now, let's get technical. There are four types of negative comments that you're going to see. And I'm going to show you what to do for each. Number one, the troll, right? they're not here to learn or discuss they're here to provoke right they're here to get a rise out of you they'll say comments like this guy's a joke or this is lame or oh my gosh this is cringe so what do you do with this right you can just ignore it trolls don't need a response right you don't need to feed them with your energy that's exactly what they want they want to get a response they want you to say you're the joke right you're the one that's lame now if a troll is writing something that might be offensive or hurtful to everybody else that is reading the comments, then you may want to block or mute that comment or that person to set some boundaries, to say that's not okay on my channel.

3:06But if they're just kind of like making some random insult, trying to get a rise out of you, you're not obliged to engage with them. Now, I actually engage with some of these comments and I engage in a way that surprises them. They kind of want to get a rise out of me. They want me to get defensive or get angry. I reply with kindness, actually. I just kind of say, sorry, this content wasn't for you. I'll work harder. And like 99 times out of 100, they don't reply. They don't even acknowledge it because what are they going to say to that? The second type of quote unquote negative comment you're going to get is the expert, right?

3:44The keyboard expert, the person that acts like they know better. they use one point of disagreement to discredit everything you've said. They'll say something like, actually, that's not how it works. Or you forgot to mention X, right? So what do you do in this situation? Well, if they're respectful, you want to respond with facts and clarity, right? You could make an honest mistake and you can just clarify in the comments. If they're not respectful, respond with kindness still, okay? Respectfully, and then just move on. Or you can turn it into content. And we're going to talk about that in a bit, but you can write a comment like, hey, that's a good point.

4:18I might do a video about that. Third type, the misunderstander, right? These folks think that you're saying something that you're not. So a comment like this is like, so you're saying a college education is worthless? When I actually said, you don't need a college education to build a business. So what do you do in this situation? Well, I clarify, I do it kindly, and I do it briefly. I'll reply like, hey, good question. What I meant or what I was trying to explain in the video was this. Misunderstandings are actually opportunities in disguise. You can see it as, hey, maybe I got to do a more in-depth video or piece of content about this.

5:00And number four, the constructive critic. Yes, some negative comments are actually valuable. Some might call you out for not being clear or missing a key point or misrepresenting something. In this case, I always like to own it. I like to correct it. I like to learn from it. And I say, thanks for the heads up. Great point. It's a community like this that makes this channel and makes this platform really amazing. I usually like to clarify in that moment and then say, hey, I'll do better next time. This shows maturity. It doesn't show weakness. It shows that, hey, you are smart enough to recognize when you can improve.

5:37Your audience is going to respect you more, not less. Let me tell you a story. When I started posting daily content on Instagram, and TikTok, I had under 300 followers on both platforms. Nobody really cared. I really wasn't resonating with anybody. But when I started getting traction and posts were really getting viewed and commented and shared, I came across a lot of trolls. They would say things like, oh, you're just another course, bro. Or you look like another fake guru. Or it's easy for you to say, rich guy. And at first, I'll admit, it got under my skin because I'm not another course, bro.

6:14I've built multi-million dollar businesses. I've built a software company. I've built consulting businesses. I've been doing this for a very long time. But here's what changed everything for me. I reframed it. I said, hate equals data. Okay. Those comments were proof I was reaching people and that there's also clues there. Sometimes they revealed what people feared, what they misunderstood, what they were insecure about, what they were sensitive about. So I took those comments and I used them to create better content. So for example, if someone said like, well, that won't work if you have kids and a full-time job, I'd post a follow-up post or a follow-up piece of content and I would show, here's how to build your side hustle when you have kids and a full-time job or when you're busy or when you're on limited time or when you only have five hours spare a week.

7:09The hate, the negative comment became fuel and it kept me sharp. So how do you turn negativity into growth? Let me give you some real tactics to handle this like an absolute pro. Number one, pin a classy reply. If someone posts like a spicy critique, but it's rooted in legit concern, respond clearly, kindly and pin your comment, okay? You just demonstrated leadership. You demonstrated that you can be calm in front of everyone in a situation that is easy to get angry about. That builds trust. People are watching what you do and what you don't do. Number two, create content from pushback. If someone keeps bringing up the same objection, don't get frustrated.

7:54Make a video about it. Use it as content fodder. An example is a lot of people ask me, why would I pay for this when I can find it on YouTube? Let's talk about that. Boom, now you have turned a negative comment into a valuable piece of content that will help you, your business, and your audience all together. Number three, create a wins folder, or I like to call it a rainy day folder. A folder that you look at when you're having a bad day, okay? It's a folder of screenshots of nice comments, nice DMs, thank you messages, wins from my students or from my customers, testimonials. so when I read a negative comment or the haters surface I open up that folder and I read those comments and I remind myself I don't let one person's opinion to outweigh hundreds of thousands of people that I've helped over the years number four respond then let it go set a personal rule I do this I reply once to somebody I stay calm then I detach I say to myself hey I'm not here to convince anyone.

9:00Everybody's free to do what they want to do. They can watch my content. They can, you know, unfollow me. It doesn't matter. I'm not here to please everybody. I'm here to help those who want to be helped. Jose, thank you for the question. And the truth is, is that if you're building something meaningful, if you're showing up with value and consistency, and you're trying to do good in the world, there will be noise. There will be haters. But don't let it stop you. Let it sharpen you. Let it refine you. Let it remind you that you're in the arena. Critics are easy to find. Creators are rare and you are one of them.

9:37So keep going. We need more people like you putting their voices into the world. Thanks so much for listening to the$100 MBA show. If you want to go deeper with me, if you want to continue to grow as an entrepreneur, sign up for my three things newsletter over at 100mba.net. Every week, I send you an email with three things, something to think about, something to do, and something to learn. It's free, it's personal, it's how I can coach you from afar because I don't do any private coaching. And it's my way just to show up in your inbox and be helpful to help you grow as an entrepreneur every single week.

10:13All you got to do is go to 100mba.net, sign up for any of our freebies, and it'll be sent to our newsletter automatically. Until next time, keep moving forward despite any negative comments that you might find on your content. It means that you're hitting a nerve. You're doing the right thing. Keep moving forward. I'll see you in the next one. Take care.