Will They Say Bad Things About You
January 12, 2010 by ebrown
Filed under Engagement Strategies, Social Media Marketing
A grave and real fear from business folks when first thinking about employing Social Media Marketing for their business are Negative Comments. When we first started to practice Social Media in our own small business, we talked a lot about negative comments.
They Will Say Bad Things About Us
Back in 2004, which seems like such a long time ago now, our first introduction into Social Media was our My Space page, back when My Space was all the rage. When we announced to our small staff what we were doing, they just looked at me with bewilderment, and said “But they will post bad things about us”
That was sort of an epiphany moment for me, as we were a young start up and we were dropping the ball a lot, so their concern was valid. I knew in that moment that whatever they did say or post would be what I worked on the next day, and so began our Social Media Trek.
I can tell you that they did say some bad things, and we learned the most from those comments. Ironically, those folks became our most passionate Evangelists.
What Should You Care About
The good folks over at copyblogger penned an article Are You Getting Dangerous Feedback From Your Prospects and Customers. It is interesting in that we have all put so much emphasis on getting good comments to engage your blog and provide a base for your virtual community as you expand your community of interest.
Michael Port in his book Book Yourself Solid teaches solopreneurs how to market their businesses without wanting to shoot themselves. In chapter one, Port asks readers to put together a “red velvet rope policy.” In other words, a well-defined understanding of who you want to work with, and just as important, who you don’t want to work with.
Would I rather spend my days working with incredibly amazing, exciting, supercool, awesome people who are both clients and friends, or spend one more agonizing, excruciating minute working with barely tolerable clients who suck the life out of me?
As the article points out, sometimes the first question to ask yourself when you get a negative comment is, is this person my ideal customer. I get we are in an economic environment when we can’t always be so selective, however there are typically more options than we think.
We would love to hear about your comment stories, the good ones and the not so good ones and how you reacted, and what you may be afraid of. We appreciate your input.
