Are you engaging with comments on your social ads? If you aren’t, you’re missing a major opportunity to interact with your potential customers and leads. One of the best things about Instagram and Facebook ads is that they provide a two-way communication channel with your ad viewers. If you’re not taking advantage of this opportunity you could be leaving sales and leads on the table.
Responding to Your Ad’s Comments Is Easy
A few years ago, finding and responding to your ad comments was a confusing process. In order to do so, you had to first look at each ad individually via a somewhat hidden part of Ads Manager and then reply to any necessary engagements. It was hard to keep track of and even harder to streamline your workflow. But that has changed! Now, you can find your ad’s comments all in one place: the inbox of your Facebook Business Page. That’s right: your Facebook AND Instagram ad comments are now in one spot!
To find your Facebook Page’s inbox, where you can see the engagements on your ads and organic posts for both Facebook and Instagram, follow these steps.
- First, visit your Facebook page. Make sure you are logged in and you have the necessary permissions to access messages. We recommend always using the business.facebook.com subdomain of your Facebook page, which you can access by simply adding “business.” in front of your Facebook page’s URL.
- Next, select “Inbox”.
- You’ll then be taken to the inbox of your Facebook page, which includes messages and comments. The top portion, “Messages”, is where inbound and outbound messages are stored. The bottom section, “Comments & More” is where you will find the comments that come in on your organic and paid Instagram and Facebook posts and ads. (Note: if you do not see Instagram comments, you may need to link your Facebook Page and Instagram account.)
It really is that easy! Now that you know where and how to reply to comments, let’s talk about what those replies might look like.
Why You Should Respond to Your Ad’s Comments
Often, ad viewers will use the comments sections in ads to ask questions about your business or brand, provide feedback, or even tag their friends/family to share your ads. If you’re missing out on replying to these potential customers and/or leads, you’re missing out on major opportunities!
Keep in mind that you don’t need to reply to every comment. You might notice comments that are spam, abusive, or just downright bizarre. You can always hide these comments so they won’t be seen by others. Hiding a comment allows the commenter and their connected friends to see the comment, but no one else. Hiding comments was introduced to counteract some of the negativity that occurs if a comment is deleted. Sometimes, commenters can become upset if they feel like they are not being heard and their comment is deleted. By hiding a comment instead of deleting it, they are essentially in the dark that their comment is not being viewed by everyone since they, and their connected friends, can still see it.
To hide a comment, simply hover over the three dots to the right of the comment. Next, select “hide.”
After you’ve hidden a comment, it will look like this to users who have permissions to access your page.
Remember, to the commenter and their friends, nothing will appear to be changed. Users who are not friends of the commenter won’t see the hidden comment or any indication that a comment has been hidden. Hiding a comment will also hide the replies to that comment, or comment thread, so you can still reply to the commenter if you’d like to.
Hiding a comment isn’t permanent and can be easily undone. Here’s how to unhide a comment.
- First, you’ll need to see the hidden comment. Tap on the three dots that indicate a comment is hidden.
- Next, you’ll see the hidden comment appear. Hidden comments will always appear to be slightly more faint than non-hidden comments. Simply tap “unhide” and now the previously hidden comment will be viewable by all!
Alternatively, if someone is asking questions about your brand or business, this is a great chance to answer them! Over time, if you see regular questions and/or comments come in, it can be a strong indicator to include answers to those questions on your website and/or on your advertising messaging.
If someone leaves a positive comment about your brand and/or tags another social media user, this can be a great chance to engage them further. You can send them a unique promo code, invite them to your ambassador network (if you have one), or link them to other products and/or services that they might like. At the very least, thanking them for the kind words will go a long way!
