Spam, promotion of competing health systems, off-color language/content all warrant deleting.

Step #2 is the most professional approach, in my opinion. Why there can be some exceptions to the rule, it’s generally better to take a breath and find a way to de-escalate and manage a conversation with the part/parties concerned.

I work for a public university, so we’re not allowed to delete anything because of freedom of speech! I think the method you’re using is the best. I think it’s worse to get called out for deleting anything remotely negative rather than people seeing a few honest negative comments.

I work for a franchise group and oversee 14 brands from the corporate/national level. We primarily try to do #2 as well. But we will get the occasional comment that warrants deletion. These include obvious spam, competitors promoting their services, salacious or abusive language, etc. We also utilize the “hide comment” option on platforms that allow that. 

Totally agree—we usually go with option #2 as well. I find that responding to negative comments can actually work in a brand's favor since it shows they care enough to address concerns and find solutions. No brand gets exclusively positive feedback, so deleting negative comments to create that illusion can come across as a bit suspicious. Handling them openly feels much more authentic!

comments that are derogatory or harmful will be deleted, but if they are simply negative we will respond and try to move the conversations to DMs! If the same person continues to make negative comments over and over, after a few attempts to speak with them, we go the ignore route.

Delete and block trolls and their comments. Fortunately, we haven’t really had any real negative comments directed at us per se vs. the randomness we’ve experienced. Depending on what it was and if legitimate maybe 2. If we were a bigger operation maybe 4. 1 if baseless, spam, or trolls.

It depends on the social channel. On Facebook, you can hide comments, which we tend to do if something is unrelated/unhelpful/untrue. If something is spam, it gets reported and blocked. Otherwise, we usually opt for option #2.

if community standards aren’t violated, we leave them be. As a brand, you gotta take the good with the bad and it builds authenticity when you’re willing to show everyone that you can handle. My favorite moments are turning those “remotely negative” into positives… it’s so satisfying!

I will admit on occasion I will hit that delete button…

We usually hide comments before deleting them, if they have inappropriate language or spam! But we will delete comments in specific cases- like if commenters are bullying employees featured in content or posting personal info.