It’s crazy to me that I’ve been doing my show for 4 1/2 years now and have barely gotten any negative comments! On the one hand that’s great for my ego, but on the other, it could mean I’m not getting enough attention on the videos or causing any emotions one way or the other. And then suddenly I started getting flooded with negative comments on one video in particular, and it boosted my subscribers, views, and overall engagement! Who knew haters could be so good for business?!?

Originally, I created a video/post called “10 Things To Do in 24 Hours At Niagara Falls”. Niagara Falls State Park had provided me with a pass to see all of the sites on the American side of the falls which was 1-7, and then I headed to the Canadian side for the final 3 things to do. While that video is still on my site, the New York side asked that I create a second video with only the first 7 so that they could promote the State Park and things to do on the American side on their social media pages as well.

The second video entitled “7 Things To Do in Niagara Falls New York” created some serious outrage. I had no idea there was such a battle between the American and Canadian side of Niagara Falls, and that some of it’s residents had very negative feelings about their city. At first I was appalled at notification after notification of negative comments…and then I realized the views were going up almost 1,000 a day, and so were the subscribers. For better or for worse, the engagement on this video was helping it (and my show) get seen by more and more people. In a few weeks the video went from 1,000 to over 33,000 views and I’d gained 100 new subscribers.

While I am not advocating for people creating videos with the sole intention of upsetting others, I do think it’s worth seeing the value in creating some buzz. And it’s a great way to flip the script on something that may initially hurt your feelings. I’d rather be causing some discussion and having people talk about the show then saying nothing.

What people don’t realize when they troll on videos or try to hurt someone with a negative comment is that the social media algorithms just read this as “engagement”. The more engagement on a post (good or bad) let’s the platform know that people are interested and talking about this and they will suggest your video, or put your post where more people can see it. That’s why on Facebook and Instagram we see the same few peoples posts; because we’ve told the algorithm, through our likes and comments, that we want to hear more of what this person has to say.

So next time the hate mail starts rolling in on a video, blog, or post ask yourself two questions: 1. Am I actually offending people with this and should I reconsider it? or 2. Is this causing some discussion that is helping my brand/business get discovered? I’m a glass half full kinda gal and in this situation, those haters filled it up!

Check out the “controversial” video below.