Dealing With Facebook Group Users Who Promote Your Competition

[finnegan]

Has anyone here had to deal with the eventual situation where a FB group member recommends your competition over your own brand?

First of all, it's hard to know if these people are friends of a competitor, a fake account by the competition itself that's been seasoned for a long time so it looks legit, or if it's a legitimate, potential customer.

One person might even unknowingly promote your rival without even being aware they're doing so because they're answering somebody else's question and just trying to help.

Let's say the user is a legitimate prospect. If you delete the comment, the person will know and they could get upset, even if you're upfront about why you had to do so. If you hide the comment, they may never find out. But if they do, they'll be even more upset than if you outright removed it.

I'd like to add something to the rules telling people not to promote our direct competition. But you can't expect your prospects to know who your competitors are and it would be weird to list companies not to promote in the group.

So what is the best way to go about this so you don't piss off the users in your group and tarnish your brand?

 

[bernard]

That's a difficult situation for sure.

I've seen examples of groups stating that the group is run by so and so and product recommendations and promotions are not allowed in general and some that do what you want. In the latter case, I think it is impossible to avoid quite a bit of complaning.

I might consider being very clear about who runs the group and that you'd prefer if competitors are not promoted, since you spend time creating and maintaining that community. With some luck, most people will get it and appreciate it.

Depends on how much you're involved and how well liked you are. If you're helping people and creating events or give-aways etc, then people would be more likely to back you I think.

 

[eliquid]

Seen similar situations with SERPWoo for years.

On FB, on reddit, on Quora, different forums.. including this one, etc

You gonna have to learn to deal with competitors. They aren't going away.

 

[ryandiscord]

I'd leave it and say what you think they do well but don't be shy about mentioning what you do better. It's similar to brands replying to bad reviews instead of deleting them. It acknowledges that an issue or competitor exists and let's your brand claim where it stands as opposed to hiding or ignoring it.