“I hate this.” This was not the feedback I had expected hear from a client, especially when it comes to work we had agreed on.

I took a deep breath and asked as calmly as possible, “What do you hate about it?” There was no use getting emotional about it. That wasn’t going to help anything.

“Everything.” I stared at them to see if they were serious. They were, and I knew asking them to elaborate wasn’t going to help. After months of trying to guess what they meant by “everything,” I decided to fire them as a client. My peace wasn’t worth whatever they were paying me.

It didn’t have to be this way. If only this person had learned how to give good feedback to me, I would have had a better relationship with them and I might still be working with them. Instead, I felt beaten down and like I was being criticized just for the fun of it. And that’s not okay for anyone.

So what does good feedback look like for a social media consultant?

It’s specific

If you keep telling me that everything is a problem, I won’t know what to fix first. Or if you tell me it just doesn’t feel right and you’re not sure why… That’s not good either.

Be as descriptive as possible. Bring examples of what is bothering you, so you can point out the exact issues. That is the only way a social media manager can know what you see as issues and address them accordingly. Or else you’re just going to get more of the same, because social media managers are not mind readers.

It’s timely

The best time to give feedback is before the post goes live. If you don’t give that feedback then, it is going to go up. Then it might have to come down and that can confuse your fans as you’re posting, deleting and reposting.

But beyond that, if something happens with a post and you want to give feedback on it, don’t save it up. Give that feedback within a week of the post, but it’s even better if it’s within a day or two. A good social media manager is constantly moving onto the next thing and is likely not dwelling on anything that happened with a past post (it’s actually problematic if they are). Making sure to give that feedback quickly means that it will be fresh in their mind and not something you have to jog their memory about.

It’s sandwiched

Whenever I have to criticize a client’s idea, I always start by telling them something positive about the idea. Sometimes I have to really reach for that something positive and sometimes I may even say I love their energy, but I look for that positive part that I can give them. That lets them know that I’m on their side and not coming from an overly critical place.

Being mindful that you may accidentally come off a little too negatively is good. Choosing to start from a positive place to get your point across better is great. It shows respect for your social media consultant and will likely get you closer to where you want to be.

It’s a conversation

Feedback delivered as a conversation is my favorite. If a client comes to me saying, “I have questions about this,” it shows such a great amount of respect. And it allows me to talk about a piece of content they might not like from my point of view. Maybe it’s something fans had been asking about or maybe its something that I have just seen them connect with. In other words, what you might have seen as wrong, I might have a very good reason to have in there. So starting this out as a respectful conversation rather a directive gives us a better way of looking at it from a bigger lens.

Am I always right? Nope. Is my client always right? Nope. And that’s why it’s better to look at giving feedback as a conversation, so we can figure it out together.

In the end, the client-consultant relationship is a dance best done together and that includes giving feedback. Being respectful and remembering why you hired this person also goes a very long way.

What is your best tip for giving feedback to a social media consultant?