Check every running ad's comments at least twice a day, answer questions in the thread with the actual answer, take complaints to a private message after one calm reply, and hide spam rather than arguing with it.

Comments from people who do not know you

A post on your page is read mostly by people who already follow it. An ad is shown to people who have never heard of you, and some of them comment.

They ask whether you deliver to their street. They tag a friend. They mention a bad experience from three years ago, or paste a link that has nothing to do with you.

Every one of those comments stays under the ad. Everyone the ad reaches afterwards sees them, along with whether anybody answered.

An unanswered question under an ad is a small public notice that nobody is listening, and the business is paying to show it.

Who comments on an ad

The first matters most. A person who asks under an ad cared enough to type, and many of the people who see the ad after them have the same question.

Why ad comments go unseen

Ads made in Ads Manager are usually posts that never appear on the page's own timeline. Nobody scrolling the page sees them, including the people who run it.

Notifications of comments on ads arrive mixed in with everything else, and on a busy page they are easy to miss.

Separate versions of an ad can each carry their own comments, so a campaign aimed at three audiences may have three threads. If the ad also runs on Instagram, its comments there are separate again.

Finding them every day

In Ads Manager, the preview of each ad can open the post itself, with every comment underneath. That is the most reliable place to look.

Check at least twice a day while an ad runs, and make it one named person's job, with a second covering days off.

Before replying, check the name the reply will appear under. Replies made from a preview can default to your personal profile rather than the page.

Answering questions in public

Answer in the thread, with the actual answer: yes, we deliver to that area; the class runs on Thursdays; prices start at the figure on the menu.

A reply saying please send us a message makes the asker do more work and leaves everyone else still wondering. Give the answer first, then offer a message for anything personal.

Keep it short, in plain words, and end with a first name, so the reply reads as a person rather than a logo.

Answer within hours, not days. By the time a slow answer arrives, the person asking has usually found somebody else.

Complaints under an ad

A complaint under an ad is awkward, because the business paid to put it in front of strangers. Deleting it is tempting, and usually a mistake.

The person who wrote it notices when it disappears, and often posts again, angrier, somewhere harder to manage.

Reply once, calmly and in public: acknowledge it, say you want to sort it out, and give a name. Facebook also lets a page answer a comment with a private message, which keeps the details out of the thread.

Readers do not expect a business without complaints. They are watching how it treats the one in front of them.

A worked example

An Indian restaurant in a suburban strip of shops started lunch delivery in the spring and advertised it on Facebook to people living within a few kilometres.

The ad ran in three versions, one for each neighbourhood, and nobody looked underneath any of them for four days. The posts never appeared on the restaurant's page, so nobody thought to.

When the owner finally opened them, there were questions about delivery areas, dairy-free dishes and how hot the vindaloo really is, a complaint about a late order the previous winter, and two links to a fake phone giveaway.

The answers went up that afternoon, the complaint got a public reply and a private message, and the giveaway links were hidden.

The next campaign used one post for all three neighbourhoods, so every comment gathered in one place, and the ad's first line now names the delivery area, the question asked most.

Hiding, deleting and banning

Hiding a comment leaves it on screen for its author and the author's friends, and removes it for everyone else. Because the author rarely notices, hiding suits spam, scam links and abuse.

Deleting removes a comment for everyone, which suits anything dangerous or plainly fraudulent. Banning stops a person commenting on the page at all, for repeat spammers.

The page's settings can also hide comments containing words you list, and filter profanity. An ad is a post belonging to the page, so set those up before the ad starts, then still look under each ad yourself.

Never hide a genuine complaint or an awkward question. People who saw it and then notice it has gone draw their own conclusions.

Comments as feedback on the ad

When the same question appears three or four times, the ad is not answering it. Put the answer in the first line or the image.

Changing an ad's text or image usually creates a new post and leaves the existing comments behind on the old one. Answer the questions under the current ad first, then build the next version with the answers in it.

Comments also show who the ad is reaching. A thread full of people from outside your area suggests the location settings are wider than you meant.

The counter-case

Some ads attract almost no comments, and a business running one small campaign at a time may need only a daily look.

A business that cannot watch comments at all should run fewer ads, for shorter periods, at times when someone can, rather than leaving a busy thread alone for a week.

Whatever the scale, the principle holds: comments under an ad are part of the ad, and somebody has to answer them.

While the ad runs

  1. Name the person who checks comments.
  2. Use one post across all audiences.
  3. Set up word filters before launch.
  4. Check twice a day from Ads Manager.
  5. Answer questions with the actual answer.
  6. Take complaints to a private message.
  7. Hide spam, never genuine complaints.

Step two saves the most work. A single post gathers every comment into one thread, so one check covers the whole campaign and every answer serves every audience.

When the conversation moves into Messenger, the same principle applies as in Messenger bots and the customer who wants a person.

Frequently asked questions

Why do comments on ads matter so much?

They stay under the ad, so everyone it reaches later sees the question and whether anyone answered. An unanswered one tells strangers nobody is listening.

Where do I find comments on my ads?

Open each ad's preview in Ads Manager to reach the post and its comments. Ad posts do not appear on the page's timeline, and notifications are easy to miss.

Should I answer in public or privately?

Answer questions in public with the actual answer, so later readers see it. Take complaints and personal details to a private message after one calm public reply.

Should I delete negative comments on ads?

No. The author notices and often posts again, angrier. Reply calmly once, offer a way to sort it out, and keep the details private.

What is the difference between hiding and deleting?

Hiding takes a comment out of view for everyone except its author and the author's friends, so it suits spam and scam links. Deleting removes it entirely, which suits fraud.

Why use one post for every audience?

Every audience then shares one comment thread, so a single check covers the campaign and each answer serves everyone who sees the ad.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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