With all the social networking and on-line review sites out there, I hear a number of businesses indicate that they are reluctant to create profiles and interact for fear of a negative review or feedback. 

It seems most small business owners aren’t sure how to handle negative or less than flattering feedback that’s been posted on-line.  Here are 5 ateps to managing these situations.

Responding to Negative Reviews

1. Respond as soon as possible.  Providing a timely response makes you look good and show that you’re concerned about their comment.

2. Respond online once and once only.  You want to avoid getting into a back and forth public dialogue to ensure you respond once only.  The situation can only get worse if you go back and forth.

3. Apologize to them on this same on-line forum.  “I’m sorry to hear that you had a less than remarkable experience at our restaurant today.  And as the owner of the business…”

4. Tell them how you’re remedying the situation so it doesn’t happen in the future.  “And I can see how that happened.  In order to better prepare our team for situations like this, we have implemented the following ….to prevent this kind of experience in the future.

5. Make it right.  Invite them back on the house, give them gift cards.  Depending on the situation and the business, you’ll need to establish what you’ll do in order to make the situation right.  The benefit to this is that the rest of the online community will see the effort you put into remedying the situation and that’s valuable in your community.

Unforeseen problems can happen and you want to remedy the situation as quickly as possible.  Make sure you’ve employed a tool like Google Alerts www.google.alerts to let you know when your name, business or products are being talked about online.  Set up alerts on a daily basis to keep on top of anything said about you online and respond to remedy any negative comments.

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Last week, I was talking with a group of people about Social media and using it to market your business.  A question that always comes up is “How do I separate my personal life from my business on a tool like Facebook?”

Interesting question.  And there’s no right or wrong answer but there is something you should consider.

When I am asked this question, I typically respond that it has a lot to do with your target market.  There’s certain information about you that your clients are going to be interested in because some personal information helps them better identify with you and make a connection that indicates that you are the right provider for them.  For example, if you’re a personal financial planner and your target market is young families, you might want to reveal information that suggests you understand their situation.  You might want to reveal that you’re married and have young children as well and you’re working on planning for your family’s financial future.  Talking about your weekend at the soccer tournament and helping out coaching the team are details that will help you connect with your target market.

Prospective clients are also interested in how you came into your industry of choice.  Revealing some details about your history in the family business or your experience in the corporate world before hanging out your own shingle allows people to get to know you and where some of your passion comes from.

People connect with stories and details that move them and most businesses should take advantage of the opportunity to connect on a deeper, more personal level.  At the end of the day, people buy from people, and they want to make a personal connection so they feel even more confident with their decision to buy from you.  And that’s part of the value of using some of these tools for business.

What personal details posted on-line have helped you connect?

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I coach a number of clients through the process of creating marketing materials for their business.  And I often suggest that they tell their story—talk about how they got into their business and how they developed an interest in what they’re doing.  Surprisingly, many come back to me and say that they think that no one is interested in this information and no one will read it.  It happened again just last week.

I encourage business owners to tell their story because it helps to create and develop their brand and the authenticity that only they can bring to the business because it’s real.  Your customers and prospects are interested in knowing how you developed your passion for baking pies or designing web sites or becoming a call center expert.  Understanding the path that a business owner took helps prospects to identify with the owner and see that they are a real person just like themselves.  It also helps to develop a level of trust because you’ve put some personal information out there for others to see and hear.

Stand out from the crowd.

Without understanding the nuances of the journey it took to become this great business owner, the challenge is that you probably look just like everyone else in your field.  And when you look just like the competition, the only way to tell the difference is to look at the price.  Develop the opportunity to show your differentiation by telling your story and showing it in everything you do.  It helps to develop your brand and allows prospects to immediately see how you’re different up-front rather than having them search out that information. 

Other ways to further develop your authentic brand are to be sure to include a photo of yourself on your website and in your marketing materials and on social networking sites.  Posting no photo or using an avatar suggests that there is no real person behind the company.  Put some of your personality into your work as well—maybe you use a special process that has some step that you personally created.   Name the step or the process. 

What do you do to develop authenticity in your brand?

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