Aggressive DMs from clients on social media is a growing and worrying trend. Nail tech Michelle Brookes outlines what to do when you receive a confrontational message

Nail Notes

Irecently read a news story about a nail tech who received abusive messages from a client after she was spotted doing her weekly shop at Tesco. The customer had messaged stating that, as a business owner, the nail tech should be using that time to offer her an appointment instead of running errands. This story got me thinking. Why should we have to explain ourselves to clients outside of work? Why are we expected to be immune to the needs of rest and time to do some life admin?

It’s now all too easy for clients to send angry direct messages (DMs) to our social media accounts – both business and personal – and they can see exactly when you’re online, taking it personally when you don’t respond straight away.

Throwing shade

I've experienced this situation many times. For example, I’ve had clients message my salon Facebook page on a Saturday night about booking an appointment and when they’ve not had an immediate response they’ve then bombarded me with several “????” messages to my personal account to grab my attention. I also know other techs who have received negative and hounding DMs from clients on Christmas Day.

But this abuse can happen in person too. I’ve even had a customer stop me on the school run to say one of my therapists hadn’t replied to their Facebook DM over the weekend, but when I asked for more information, it turned out they were direct messaging her personal account when they should have been contacting the salon’s business page.

On another occasion, one of my employees was in hospital, so we rang her client to swap her booking to another therapist. Despite this, the client then rang the original therapist’s mobile number and messaged her online, demanding to know what was wrong with her and when she would be better to do her nails.

Social safety

In the end, I had to put a social media policy in place in my business which clearly states to clients my stance on negative social media DMs – that they need to either email or ring the salon, or message our business page on Facebook or Instagram, if they have a query and wait to receive a reply within 24 hours. This stance has helped.

These are my five top tips for dealing with abusive social media DMs from clients:

1. Keep calm – remember you’re not the one in the wrong

2. Ensure your reply is professional – messages can be screenshotted and shared

3. Be able to close a message and redirect – for example, “if you want to discuss this matter further please call the salon on…”

4. Ignore future messages if they continue

5. Don’t be afraid to use the block facility if necessary

Social media can be toxic at times and there are so many internet trolls who just want to cause arguments, so it’s vital you and your team know how to respond to these messages calmly and professionally. PB

Michelle Brookes is a nail tech and trainer. She runs the Beauty Lounge salon in Doncaster, which won Professional Beauty Nail Salon of the Year in 2017