Don't Feed The TROLL
Marketing any brand, or program online is a real revelation of human nature. It doesn't matter if you own, affiliate with, support a recognizable, or unknown brand you will encounter criticism. It's human nature to express discontent as we would any other emotion.
However when it turns into downright negativity your best recourse is to avoid feeding the "trolls."
Being negative, making negative comments, bashing, or criticizing people is not a very good business or personal image to cultivate because as the old saying goes "people will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel."
What we all want as serious marketers is for our brand to be trusted, and hopefully reach millions of people. Successful brands listen to what their consumers, or target market are saying and respond accordingly to help their consumers experience their brand in a positive way. They know that happy customers equals repeat customers, and want to keep it that way.+
How often do you see successful CEO's bashing the competitor publicly? do you even know how they feel about another product on the market? they may hate it, think it's useless, not going to last long, or any number of negative thoughts but they know that it's not in their brand's best interest to voice their opinion in a negative way.
We all encounter these negative people in our offline life, and they also populate the internet. They are now known as "trolls" because of their aggressive behavior online. They are the bullies on socialnetworking websites, bloggers, and forum posters. They are everywhere and often get a thrill out of bashing. These are the people that can cause the most problems for your brand.
Instead of feeding into the negative these individuals will throw at you, focus on the positive aspects of your business. Do what you can to help, or answer any questions in a professional, and customer focused manner. Remember it's not about you, it's about them.
When someone is still being negative, and is unwilling to focus on solutions, after you've done everything you can to help, wait a few hours or even days before responding to any negative comments. It doesn't help to promote positive brand image when you resort to name calling, or bashing.
Keep negative comments to yourself even when you've got every right to a rebuttal of that nature. The key is to never take it personally or the "troll" will win when you feed into it.
Of course it is sometimes necessary to discuss negative issues, in other words "criticize" but ensure that you avoid labels, and that your criticism is constructive by offering, or requesting specific suggestions for improvement.
Successful business people manage to find out what consumers want, expect, and need but clients will switch their buying habits if they perceive your brand as a negative in any way.
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This Article May Not Be Re-produced, Copied, or Used Without Written
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From The Author - Karen Laws
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