Nikolas Severidt's Blog - Filed under 'Leadership'

Find Your Strongest Life - Short Form Version

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Go Put Your Strengths To Work - Marcus Buckingham (Excerpt)

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6 Ways To Look At Negative Feedback

from Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Insights - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image by Mitch Joel

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What happens when people do say bad things about you (or your company)?

This is - without question - one of the primary reason many companies avoid the conversation that takes place in the Digital channels. It's the exact same reason why they don't allow consumer reviews on their sites. It's not because they don't have thick skin or because they have a product or service that is not up to par. For the most part, the main reason is that they don't know how to respond at a corporate level. They're not sure if they need to involve the legal and PR folks and they're also not sure if they have the capabilities (re: work force) to really tackle it in a professional and meaningful way.

Regardless of whether or not they have the infrastructure to respond, here are:

6 Ways To Look At Negative Feedback:

Is the feedback legitimate? There are many instances where the negativity actually has some merit. You'll see a lot of this in industries like pharma and travel. It's hard for everybody to have a pristine customer experience when issues like side affects or even sliding scales of pricing are in play. In a lot of instances, the negative feedback is not about the overall service, but is an exception to the rule. If the negative feedback is legitimate, it does require some kind of response. Does it require a personal response in every instance? Not necessarily. As long as the response is communicated in a human and personal way (re: no PR or legal mumbo jumbo) and then findable if someone does a search or makes a query, it could correct the course. At the very least, an instance like this might force the company to look internally and really fix things (either in how they communicate or with the product or service specifically).

Is the person crazy? Don't laugh. It is possible. We've all read peer reviews and marvelled at how someone's review of a product has no real attachment to the reality we all share. The world is full of crazy people who are just looking for a soapbox to be heard or a cause to take on. In this instance, you have to tread carefully. Responding may open up a can of worms that will see no end and no reason. No responding might only aggravate the individual. These are special/case-by-case instances, and they might require something more traditional - like a phone call - to try and resolve the scenario.

Will someone else in your community come to your defense? This is probably one of the more surprising outcomes that we have seen in online communities. Often, people who are engaged in the community are quick to defend it or share their own opinion (that is in-line with the companies). It's actually more common than uncommon and speaks to why it is critical that companies identify their brand evangelists and build that community... before they need it (before the negative feedback comes to pass).

Is apologizing an option? I was taken by Tom Peters' rant at last week's The Art of Management event in Toronto. Peters said that many divorces and business failures would probably never materialize if people sucked it up and simply apologized. Not an apology with a "but" or exceptions - a full-on, "we're sorry. We screwed up. We need to fix this because you are important to us." But, only if you mean it. There is something big in this thought from Peters. Apologies definitely go a long way.

Should you just forget about it and move on? There are many schools of thoughts on this. Some people say you have to respond to each and every piece of feedback (both positive and negative), some argue that you should only respond to those who really do have some kind of impact within the community, and then there is the group that simply sits backs and just lets it fly without ever responding. Your mileage may vary. Depending on the scenario, the type of feedback and the voices behind the noise, is how you will best gauge how to respond. If you're somewhat open and using platforms like Blogs and Twitter, it is possible to respond without directly engaging. It's a tough generalization to make, but it is usually good to respond in some kind of fashion so that your own POV (point of view) is - at least - a part of the conversation.

Should you respond to everything? It's easy to respond to the good stuff, it is hard (and time consuming) to respond to the negative. The answer to this one ties into #5. In a perfect world, yes - respond to everything (with the exception of the people in #2). In responding, you're not just answering to this one individual's gripe, you're better able to reflect on how your brand "lives" in people's minds, and I believe this will make you a better Marketer, a better Communications Professional and a better brand.

What would you add?

Tags: apologize art of management blog brand brand evagelist communications community company consumer reviews customer experience customer service digital channel feedback marketing negative feedback online community peer reviews pov pr public relations tom peters twitter work force

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Weeding the Employee Garden

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Book Review: Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuck

by Lee Odden

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I picked up a copy of Gary Vaynerchuck’s book “Crush It” to read on my way to DMA in San Diego. Get the book from Amazon (link above) not at the airport unless you’re funding your own stimulus package for airport book stores.

For readers that are not familiar with @garyvee and Wine Library TV, like I wasn’t when first meeting Gary at Blog World Expo a year ago, Vaynerchuck is a poster boy for a small business that has leveraged passion, product and social media to stimulate incredible business growth and community around his brand.

After BWE, the next time I saw Gary was when he keynoted at Affiliate Summit early in 2009. That was an experience. His “tell it like it is” style isn’t for everyone, but personally, I like it. That charisma and personality on stage is great for entertainment value, but it was the real-world insights and tips that he gave from his personal experience building a business using social channels that kept him top of mind for me and caused me to buy the book as soon as I saw it.

I don’t know Gary Vaynerchuck personally and he certainly doesn’t know me, but I thought it would be a good book to review for Online Marketing Blog readers. The book is short, 140 pages or so, but that short form is consistent with his direct approach. It starts by outlining the importance of passion and Gary’s three rules for success in business and life: Love your family, Work super hard, Live your passion.

“Passion is everything.”

From there he shares his “hard working immigrant makes good” story of coming to the U.S. as a child from Belarus and numerous examples of how “hustle” and business savvy have been a part of his DNA from neighborhood lemonade stands to building up his father’s liquor store business from 4 to 50 million to creating another new business of his own, Vayner Media.

“It’s never a bad time to start a business unless you’re starting a mediocre business.”

The essence of this book is to find out what you’re really passionate about. Work your ass off, communicating that passion using whatever media format and channels are the best fit for you and the audience you’re trying to reach. The passion will show through in the content you create, the connections and community you build and the legacy (more important than short term financial gain) you leave from building the business.

“Story telling is by far the most underrated skill in business.”

Along with advice on creating content, choosing the right platform, being authentic, finding like-minded participants on the social web and social media marketing advice, he offers several ideas on monetization (some of which I’ll be implementing now), the value of patience and being adaptable.

“Be patient. In time, if you continue to hustle, you’ll grow your presence and improve your skills to the point where the fish – really, really big fish, will be jumping straight into your hands.”

Vaynerchuck admits his own contradictions, like do what your passion tells you no matter what, but also be adaptable in how you execute on your passion. He also makes a few comments that fly in the face of marketing (social or otherwise) key principles, like don’t pay much attention to analytics, but go with your gut.

“Anything is better than zero.”

Despite contradictions and rare advice that would make most marketers cringe, there’s no mistaking the success Vaynerchuck has achieved following “The Best Marketing Plan Ever” which he shares in the latter part of the book. He even goes so far as to offer a checklist and several business ideas he says he doesn’t have time to go after himself, so go for it.

“Legacy is greater than currency.”

For those looking for step by step instructions on how to develop a social media strategy and the specific tools to execute (like I’ll be teaching in London next week in a Social SEO Workshop), this book has some of that, but it’s more about inspiration than “how to”. To get anything out of a workshop or testing social tools yourself, you need to be inspired first anyway.

“Crush It” is an excellent book offering personal stories that illustrate the importance of passion, patience, hustle and the value of doing what you need to do to be happy. Success takes hard work and this book does a great job of showing anyone the framework for making what really makes them passionate and turn it into an online business.

After reading this book, I can imagine a significant number of people gaining the inspiration to start their own ventures with passion, hustle and a desire to “crush it”.