Fresh entrepreneurs often shy away from social media for one of two reasons:

1. Worry that they don’t have anything post-worthy to say

2. Fear of trolls

These two concerns are actually inherently intertwined.

Because when you get your first troll, it’s a sign you really had something post-worthy!

Congratulations! 🪇

Let me explain.

When you begin posting on social media, you’ll probably take baby steps. You’ll post about a win at work, a client you love, a project that just wrapped.

And your audience will mostly be composed of friends and colleagues who will heart the shit out of anything you post because we love you and we’re cheering you on.

Which means you aren’t getting a lot of reach with your posts beyond your usual suspects. Your social media isn’t yet reaching new audiences who could ultimately convert into buyers.

Your first troll indicates that your posts have gained some ground. They’re getting out to people who don’t know you and don’t auto-adore you. THIS IS A GOOD THING.

So stop hyperventilating into a paper bag and pat yourself on the back. Send me a link to your trolls comment and we can celebrate together.

Then we take action.

You have three possible options.

Ignore.

It’s going to feel like this dude’s trolly reply is being painted on the moon for the whole world to see. It’s going to feel like you’re walking around town with this reply stapled to your forehead.

But the reality is that (for better or worse) very few people are going to see your post, let alone his reply.

And (again, for better or worse) social media has a very short attention span so those who do see it are going to forget about it real soon.

One option is to starve the troll of attention so it fades fast.

Delete and block.

My old thinking was that if I’m posting every day and a troll drops a comment on something I posted two weeks ago, I’d ignore it. But now I don’t ignore as much as I used to.

In part, because I doubt that this person’s rude comment is the one and only time they’ve ever posted something like this. I realized, this troll is probably being a jerk all over social media. My mama bear came out – I wanted to protect others.

So I started to block. I wanted a formal method to communicate to the social media platforms that we’ve got a troll in our midst. Blocking also prevents the person from seeing your account or commenting.

And, I’ll delete the comment. Don’t let it go unaddressed, just sitting there. Especially if your post is fresh and you’re getting other helpful and supportive comments.

Though the algorithms hate deleting. The algorithms want engagement. So you could just eat the cost of deleting or…

Reply with joyful snark.

(my personal favorite approach)

Some of my past replies:

“you seem like you’re fun at parties.”

“It looks like you didn’t get the memo that we left trolling over on Twitter.”

“Jesus Christ STFU Todd.”

“The angsty reply guy vibe doesn’t work here.”

“You, sir, seem like you need a nap.”

Though it might seem like this is just poking the bear, I’ve never had a troll respond. Which makes me think these are scared little dudes who want to puff their chests at people they think will cower in the corner but as soon as they see you aren’t gonna cower, they run away.

Should you ever try a joyful snarky response and they actually clap back, come let me know and I will mama bear all over that mofo, ok?