How Businesses Should React to Negative Social Media & Reviews Graywolf's SEO Blog

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How Businesses Should React to Negative Social Media & Reviews Posted: 05 May 2011 10:15 AM PDT Social Media still scares many businesses both large and small. But hiding from social media isn’t the answer. The real answer lies in embracing it … in all of its brutal, raw honesty. Not participating doesn’t make people stop talking about you. It just means you aren’t part of the conversation… Let’s look at the case of restaurant reviews. In the past, small local restaurants had the upper hand. If they offered poor quality service, people would tell their friends–but it would take a while before the message spread. With the emergence of social media, the roles reversed. All it took was one obnoxious, fussy, or overly-particular customer who was active on social media, and a restaurant could meet an early and unwarranted demise. This got so bad it led one coffee shop to overreact and put up a No Yelp Reviewers sign. However, now that social media has matured, many sites have tools for businesses to respond. I recently came across an example of a negative review … …we’d gone out of our way to make reservations for 7 of us, and while 3 of us showed up on time, the rest of our party was lost somewhere in Gpoint. At which point the uber bitchy hostess says, we can only hold your table until 9:15pm and then we’re giving it away. We offered to go ahead and order for our lost compadres and apologized profusely, promising that our companions were definitely on their way, but she refused to make any accommodations. She snidely suggested we try to sit at the bar. ALL SEVEN OF US. Now I’ve eaten at a lot of hoity toity restaurants, but NEVER have I encountered such a terrible attitude from a hostess. You’d think we were trying to get a table at Daniel. And we made a reservation!! This is Gpoint, dude. How do you get off with an attitude like that for a sweet neighborhood restaurant in Gpoint?!?!?! I am never coming back. Maybe she just needs to get laid. Now this could have gone poorly. Not responding would leave a big question mark in the mind of anyone coming across the review. The owner could have fired back with guns a-blazing, which would have become a case of he-said/she-said. While doing so would lessen the effect of the question mark, it doesn’t remove it. What really happened was the owner got involved, leaving a measured, honest response: Hi Joan. I am the hostess, although most people know me as the owner. I just wanted to say thanks so much for making it clear what our super reasonable seating policy is. We do not seat incomplete parties in our 30 seat restaurant, especially on a Saturday night, especially when we have other customers who have been waiting an hour for a table. And, let’s be honest Joan, you and two of your friends arrived at 9:15 for your 9:00 reservation, and the rest of your party was still not complete at 9:25 when I finally gave away your table. Your friend had made the reservation that afternoon for 8 people and I explained to him our rules. He said no problem. Sorry you felt the need to personally attack me about this, Joan. Seems likes it best for all involved that you’ve sworn to never return. The owner responded perfectly. Anyone who reads both versions will probably believe her and not the whiney customer. The lesson here is that companies need to understand that review websites and social media sites aren’t going to go away. Not participating doesn’t make people stop talking about you; it just means you aren’t part of the conversation. What businesses need to realize is they have to become part of the discussion and get smarter about how they do it. If you need a detailed plan, one of the best I’ve seen comes from the US Air Force chart for social media engagement. However, it really boils down to 4 key points: Monitor – Companies need to monitor what’s being said about them on websites like Angie’s list, Yelp, HotPot, Expedia, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare or any other niche-specific review websites. I like to use Raven Tools, because it’s fairly extensive, and it’s part of my daily workflow. Other similar services include Trackur, Radian6, and Lithium. Listen – When I worked in retail, one of the important lessons I learned was that, when a customer complained about you, what they are really doing is giving you the opportunity to fix a problem. Too often most people take criticism personally and overreact, turning a bad situation into a worse one. If you listen–and I mean REALLY LISTEN–you’ll see that most customers are telling you what’s wrong and how to fix it … Respond  & React – Now that you know what the problem  is, how are you going to react/respond and fix it? Yes, some customers are going to expect too much, but those are the fringe cases, not the everyday ones. If you are getting more complaints than compliments, then there is something wrong with your product/service and the way you’re positioning/selling it. You need to react to that problem to prevent future problems down the road. Amplify the Message – Hopefully some of your customers are saying nice things about you somewhere. What are you doing with those messages? Are you spreading them around? Understand the difference between a review and testimonial and treat each of them differently. At the very least you should have a separate review and testimonial page on your website. However, if you want to be really smart and proactive, ask your customers for permission to republish the testimonials. Then set up satellite websites to do proactive reputation management and point some targeted anchor text at them. So what are the takeaways from this post: Understand that reviews and public customer feedback are now a part of almost every business. Monitor what’s being said across a variety of websites, and gauge where and when you need to be involved. Identify what are the key places where you need to be part of a conversation–don’t dominate or lead it. Listen to what the customers are saying and realize it’s an opportunity to fix a problem. See if there’s a problem with how you are selling/positioning your service/product that’s creating the negative feedback. Amplify your successes. Make sure everyone knows about them. Use them strategically for proactive reputation management.   Related posts: iPad Apps and Social Media In case you didn’t already know, I’m the owner of... Why It’s OK to Offend People in Social Media Recently, Kenneth Cole took a bit of criticism in the... Social Media and Publishing Paths For websites that are going to participate in social media... Talking Social Media With Loren Feldman of 1938 Media I had the pleasure of hanging with Loren Feldman of... What are You Doing With Your Social Media Traffic? While I may have some level of notoriety within the... Advertisers: Text Link Ads - New customers can get $100 in free text links. BOTW.org - Get a premier listing in the internet's oldest directory. Ezilon.com Regional Directory - Check to see if your website is listed! Directory Journal - Get permanent deep links in a search engine friendly directory Glass Whiteboards - For a professional durable white board with no ghosting, streaking or marker stains, see my Glass Whiteboard Review Need an SEO Audit for your website, look at my SEO Consulting Services Link Building- Backlink Build offers 45 PR5+ Backlinks for $295 KnowEm - Protect your brand, product or company name with a continually growing list of social media sites. Links From PR9 Sites - - Get In Top 3 Google ASAP Scribe SEO Review find out how to better optimize your wordpress posts. TigerTech - Great Web Hosting service at a great price. What Motivates You - what makes you want to get up and be successful This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review. How Businesses Should React to Negative Social Media & Reviews

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West Wing Week: "A Good Day For America"

Your Daily Snapshot for Friday, May 6, 2011   West Wing Week: "A Good Day For America" West Wing Week is your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This week, the President announced the death of Osama bin Laden, visited New York City to honor the victims of 9/11 and their families, made sure the federal government was doing its part in the states devastated by storms and much more. Watch the video.   In Case You Missed It Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog. The President in NYC: "When We Say We Will Never Forget, We Mean What We Say" The President speaks to cops and firefighters in New York City before laying a wreath at the National September 11th Memorial. Better Medicare In Your State The Affordable Care Act has provided enormous benefits to Medicare recipients. See state-by-state breakdowns of how healthcare reform has strengthened Medicare. Vote for Your Favorite Healthy Living Innovation Vote on submissions for the Healthy Living Innovation Awards, a program designed to foster the spread of effective, community-based efforts that employ innovative approaches to promote healthy weight, physical activity, and nutrition. Today's Schedule  All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). 9:30 AM: The President departs the White House en route Andrews Air Force Base 9:45 AM: The President departs Andrews Air Force Base en route New York, New York 10:00 AM: The Vice President hosts a meeting with a bipartisan, bicameral group of Members of Congress to begin work on a legislative framework for comprehensive deficit reduction 9:30 AM: The President departs the White House en route Andrews Air Force Base   9:45 AM: The President departs Andrews Air Force Base en route Indianapolis, Indiana   11:20 AM: The President arrives in Indianapolis, Indiana   11:55 AM: The President tours Allison Transmission Headquarters   12:15 PM: The President delivers remarks to workers at Allison Transmission Headquarters    1:30 PM: The President departs Indianapolis, Indiana   2:25 PM: The President arrives in Fort Campbell, Kentucky   3:15 PM: First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at a Mother's Day event    3:55 PM: The President delivers remarks to service members who have recently returned from deployment; the Vice President also attends    4:40 PM: The President departs Fort Campbell, Kentucky   6:15 PM: The President arrives at Andrews Air Force Base   6:30 PM: The President arrives at the White House      Indicates events that will be live streamed on WhiteHouse.gov/Live Get Updates  Sign Up for the Daily Snapshot  Stay Connected         Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr iTunes       This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Manage Subscriptions for e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Sign Up for Updates from the White House Unsubscribe e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com | Privacy Policy Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

Seth's Blog : What's high school for?

What's high school for?

Perhaps we could endeavor to teach our future the following:

• How to focus intently on a problem until it's solved.
• The benefit of postponing short-term satisfaction in exchange for long-term success.
• How to read critically.
• The power of being able to lead groups of peers without receiving clear delegated authority.
• An understanding of the extraordinary power of the scientific method, in just about any situation or endeavor.
• How to persuasively present ideas in multiple forms, especially in writing and before a group.
• Project management. Self-management and the management of ideas, projects and people.
• Personal finance. Understanding the truth about money and debt and leverage.
• An insatiable desire (and the ability) to learn more. Forever.
• Most of all, the self-reliance that comes from understanding that relentless hard work can be applied to solve problems worth solving.

 

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• Worldwide Linchpin Meetup is coming Wednesday, May 18
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• On the day everyone is pleased...

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WPTouch Pro Mobile Theme Review Graywolf's SEO Blog

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WPTouch Pro Mobile Theme Review Posted: 04 May 2011 10:55 AM PDT The following is a review of the WPTouch Pro Mobile Theme. This is a premium theme that I paid for. This is NOT a sponsored review. I’ve been an big advocate of keeping a website on one URL and not using m.example.com, example.com/mobile/, or example.mobi as your solution (see Dangers of Multiple Website Versions). I’ve also shown example of how Google can get mobile website detection wrong. That said, I’m a big proponent of having a mobile website and delivering mobile optimized content to smart phones and the growing number of tablet devices. I have been using the free version of WPTouch for years, and it’s been on my list of recommended WordPress SEO plugins. However, three things frustrate me: the lack of branding, the lack of iPad support, and the lack of customization. Thankfully all three of these problems were solved by the premium version. As of this writing, there are three pricing options: $39.95 for a single website, $69.95 for up to 5 websites, and $199.95 for an unlimited number of websites. I chose the middle option because, at the time of the purchase, I was unsure if I was going to like theme, but I figured that, even if it only gave me iPad support, I would use it on my 5 best sites and be done with it. Installation is pretty easy. You download the zip file from the website then upload it through the plugin interface. Once uploaded, you put in your login/license and the theme is activated. If you are using a caching solution, you will need to enter the names of the mobile browser on the browser exception list. While you are setting it up, it’s probably a good idea to turn off caching just to make sure it’s not causing any problems. Configuration is pretty straight forward, but there are a lot of options. You need to play around with a few of them to get them correct. I’ll go over some of the important ones: Make sure you enable iPad support under (Active Theme > iPad Settings). You will need to upload a mobile logo (270 x 44) and (540 x 88) for the iPhone and and iPhone retina view. Personally I skipped the retina logo version. I do wish there was a logo for the portrait version of the iPad view though. I turned off the dates under (Active Theme > Menu, posts pages). Instead of the dates, I used the featured image under (Active Theme > Style Appearance  >Thumbnail Icons ). You will need to make sure your theme supports featured image or you’ll need to enable it manually. If you don’t have featured images, your theme will show a blank camera icon. Turn off the image as attachments setting to prevent double images from appearing. I changed the colors slightly from the defaults and went with a sans-serif font (never try to argue that using serif font on a website is a good idea with me … it won’t end well … trust me) One of the nice options is that it gives you the ability to back up your mobile settings should your blog “go boom”. Wait till you have everything set up how you want, then take advantage of that feature. It’s a nice bit of insurance to have and could save you time down the road. One of the odd things that I didn’t like was the Google adsense support. The plugin supports mobile adsense for smartphones but not for the iPad version. This is a feature that has been requested a few times in the support forums. I am using a plugin to display ads randomly on all of my posts older than 7 days, so the iPad version does get ads but not mobile optimized ones. This does mean that smartphone users viewing posts older than 7 days get ads too. Unfortunately they bleed off the screen because they are too large. Overall I’m pretty happy with the plugin. It solved most of my problems, such as branding, lack of customization, and iPad support. Two things I really would like to see added are logo support for portrait reading on the iPad and mobile adsense on the iPad version. It does take a little while to configure but, once you get it right, it’s pretty maintenance-free. WPTouch Pro is a premium plugin that I recommend using. I believe that serving mobile optimized content is becoming increasingly more important (see How Mobile Friendly is Your Website). To be clear, if you purchase this plugin using my link, I do make an affiliate commission. That said, I purchased this plugin with my own money for the review and was not given a free or comped version. This review is NOT a sponsored review. So I am comfortable recommending this product. I think it’s a worthwhile investment: I paid $69 for it but will be upgrading to the unlimited version in the very near future. WPTouch Pro is plugin I recommend . photo credit: Johan Larsson Related posts: Thesis WordPress Theme Review I’ll admit that when I first saw the Thesis wordpress... A Look at Full and Partial Feeds in an Increasingly Mobile World I’ve long stated that I prefer full feeds over partial... How Mobile Friendly is Your Website In late 2010, the New York Times published an article... How to Use Twitter as a Marketing Tool with Tweet Pro So my friend Cesar Serna launched his new site this... When Google Gets Mobile Detection Wrong I have mentioned the dangers of having multiple versions of... Advertisers: Text Link Ads - New customers can get $100 in free text links. BOTW.org - Get a premier listing in the internet's oldest directory. Ezilon.com Regional Directory - Check to see if your website is listed! Directory Journal - Get permanent deep links in a search engine friendly directory Glass Whiteboards - For a professional durable white board with no ghosting, streaking or marker stains, see my Glass Whiteboard Review Need an SEO Audit for your website, look at my SEO Consulting Services Link Building- Backlink Build offers 45 PR5+ Backlinks for $295 KnowEm - Protect your brand, product or company name with a continually growing list of social media sites. Links From PR9 Sites - - Get In Top 3 Google ASAP Scribe SEO Review find out how to better optimize your wordpress posts. TigerTech - Great Web Hosting service at a great price. What Motivates You - what makes you want to get up and be successful This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review. WPTouch Pro Mobile Theme Review

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