Being an influencer comes with a bit of stardom but what you do when lots of hatred and negativity tags along. How to deal with this negativity is something an influencer really needs to imbibe. With influencers being available on social media to millions of people, where none of them have any faces, influencers often fall prey to the negativity.– By Shambhavi Mishra
Every coin has a flip side and this applies to almost everything under the sun. No matter what you do there will always be someone or something which will try to pull you down. It happened with our moms, their moms , fathers everyone but I think our generation is facing all this in almost double the quantity. The reason being, we don’t have to deal just with the real world , but with virtual world too. I mean, who would have thought that one day the virtual world would become such an indispensible part of our life that it would begin to effect us negatively. We all use social media to our advantage, there are various reasons for one to be present on social media like networking or just for fun or probably to keep in touch with family. However, there are people like me who are actually present on social media to run our houses. Social media is our bread and butter and we are called influencers. As I said before, there are no free lunches so being an influencer comes with its own pros and cons. The pros are the reasons why it is so volatile. It’s like “THE THING” right now but nobody really talks about the cons. No doubt being an influencer comes with a bit of stardom but what do when lots of hatred and negativity tags along. How to deal with this negativity is something an influencer really needs to imbibe. With influencers being available on social media to millions of people, where none of them have any faces, influencers often fall prey to the negativity. Getting trolled for your choices is not easy to handle and it might just take a toll on anyone. In fact, the amount of hate or disrespectful or mean comments an influencer receives in a day can be way higher than the good ones. This can really effect one’s mental health since this is a serious business for an influencer and they are here for a purpose. However, there are few key things which if followed could not only help you overcome the online negativity but also bring out the positives in the negatives.
Be ethical and honest: This is the basic of influencing. If you are genuine and honest with your followers, half of the battle is already won.
Spread positivity: Remember that your feed really effects people, if you focus more on positive aspects of life, There is a more possibility of positivity coming your way.
Have an opinion: You are called an influencer for a reason. Having a voice is really important. Tell your followers your thoughts about issues which you feel strongly about. It strengthens the bond between you and your followers and they will respect you more.
No Response is the best response: There is a very thin line between positive criticism and negative comment, do not fuel up any negativity on your feed by responding on it. In fact,do not delete the negative comments.
Haters are the fans : This is a fact. Always remember they are keeping a close track of everything that you are doing and that means you are doing a fabulous job.
Be thick-skinned : Realise that comments are always about the person who left them, and not you. Don’t be tempted to take things personally.
Last but not the least, if someone who has been your follower and has now suddenly turned sour should be treated with love and care. Drop them a sweet email to understand the cause behind there sudden irritated behavior and anger and let them know that they are precious. Ask them if there is something that has been bothering them which lead to this negativity. This works like a magic! The fact is half of the world is angry not from others but from their own self.
Social media negativity should be taken in stride and eventually one needs to realise that just like in real life, in virtual world also you can’t and you don’t need to please everyone.
About the Author: Shambhavi Mishra is an ex journalist and now a successful blogger and influencer at www.talksassy.com
