Yes they did.
And they’ll do it again.
So what do you do?
When you are in business and you put yourself in the public sphere, you are going to have to accept not only praise but also criticism. Especially in the blogosphere. So how do you deal with the bad stuff? Go crying to your mama?
Someone took offense to five words of our marketing copy and wrote a 1,000-word rant on her blog. In this case in particular, I have vacillated a bit. As a staff we said our naughty words and then laughed about it. But this particular situation was a little trickier. This blogger didn’t know something about us that was about to benefit the blogger in a big way. I had recommended this particular blogger as a feature for our first magazine, which will launch in her area in June. That means her blog had a full-page feature in a magazine going to almost 200,000 people directly in her market. We had also slated her as a MamaVote featured blogger this summer.
My first impulse is to take vengeance–if she hates us so much, I will pull it, feature someone else and make sure to let her know she missed out. Once I find my Zen place, I say–who cares, I’ll leave it in. I thought her blog had value before, so I’m not going to change it just because she didn’t play nice on the playground. But as we try to take the “high road,” it doesn’t really make us feel any better that we were trashed on her blog.
But I toss this question out to everyone else: What do you do when people say bad things about you or your business in the public sphere? What should your response be? How will you react?
Do you post back on their blog? I chose not to. Who needs online “mommy gang wars”?
Do you mark them as enemy number one to your company? Not a productive use of your resources.
Do you pretend it never happened? While I’d like to, it made for a good blog post.
Do you correct misconceptions? I’d say yes. A follow up e-mail clearing up any inconsistencies is a good idea. But don’t bring on the war!
I wanted better advice on how to handle bad blogger press, and I happened across a good video from Seth Godin right here on Entrepreneur.com–check it out! I couldn’t have asked for more timely information: “Negative Press as a Way of the Online World”
To go the extra mile, I even emailed Godin about our bully on the playground. His response: “It’s not that bad! Comment or write a polite note.”
Lesson for us: It usually looks worse to you and your staff when someone kicks your baby. Buck up!
Lesson for bloggers: You never know what bridges you are about to set ablaze when you blog. Think before you post. For sweet justice, I know that one day I will be seated next to the woman I dedicated a 1,000 word blog post to! I’m sure it will be on an airplane or somewhere uncomfortable!
But what I want to know is how would you handle bad blogger press? I want to hear from the PR pros and novices alike!
This entry was posted on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at 7:41 pm and is filed under Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.5 Responses to “Poor Baby! Did the Big Kids Say Mean Things About You?”
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April 8th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Good post. This was something that came up at BlogHer Business last week. My view is like yours — take the high road. Besides, readers will recall that someone took the time to write about you much longer than they can recall what anyone actually wrote!
Diane K. Danielson
www.DowntownWomensClub.com
April 10th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Very enlightening, useful, and relevant piece.
April 12th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I’ve come across some bad blog press before. In one instance, the blogger had made a false assumption about the company mentioned. We left a polite comment correcting the information. No backlash from the blogger, and hopefully anyone who read the post also read the comments to get the whole story.
April 12th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Very good article about handling criticism. Everyone has a right to their own opinion, and as long as they aren’t altering facts that could be damaging to you or your company, I think it’s best choose not to hold a grudge and thank them for their comment.
You can’t please everyone. Also what I’ve learned from the “Inner Bonding Journal” is that we are in charge of our own feelings, positive or negative, so we choose how we want to feel about criticism, constructive or destructive.
However, if the statements of the criticism are false, then they must be corrected to avoid future problems.
April 15th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I work with clients in all kinds of situations - from start-up non-profits, to companies getting sued. In my experience, it’s ALWAYS better to take the high road. I know it’s not as emotionally satisfying as hurling a few bombs at the naysayers - but you’ll come out ahead in the end.
I do think it’s absolutely appropriate to clear up misconceptions - politely and with class. And always give a little if you can. It leaves room for face-saving.
Sometimes I even take the extra step of at least attempting to make friends. If you live close, ask them to coffee or lunch. If you don’t, ask if you can schedule a quick phone call. It’s always harder to zing those you know well. Plus, if they do have a genuine gripe, you’ll get a better understanding of how and what to do different next time. Always being in a willing-to-learn mode makes life and work so much easier.