[FAQ]

My account has started to grow a bit more recently, and for the first time, I’m getting some genuinely negative and kind of mean comments, not just constructive criticism.

I’m honestly not sure what the best way to handle them is. My first instinct is to just delete the comment and block the person, but I’m worried that looks like I can’t take feedback. On the other hand, engaging with them feels like it might just start a bigger argument in my comments section.

What’s your policy for this? Is there a time to reply publicly, a time to delete, and a time to just ignore? Looking for a solid strategy so I don’t let it get to me.

Any advice is welcome.

[Jeff Bullas]

Developing a firm policy for this is essential for your brand’s health and your own sanity.

Quick Answer: Your response should depend on the comment’s intent; immediately delete and block genuine trolls, but publicly and politely address any valid criticism or customer complaints in your text-based replies.

A clear comment moderation strategy protects your community’s culture and signals to your audience what kind of text-based discourse is acceptable on your content.

The first and most important rule is to never feed the trolls. For any text-based comment that is purely abusive, hateful, or spam with no constructive value, you should not reply at all; your only action should be to use Instagram’s tools to delete, report, and block the user immediately. For genuine criticism, however, a calm and professional public reply can be powerful; thanking them for their perspective or acknowledging a mistake shows confidence and builds trust. If the negative comment is a customer service complaint, the best policy is to respond publicly once to apologise and direct them to a private channel like DMs to resolve it, which shows other followers that you are responsive. By categorising every negative comment this way, you can sanitise your comment section strategically rather than reacting emotionally.

Cheers,

Jeff

[Author]

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