Probably the hardest thing to deal with in the shift and revolution of online media is the scary fact that everyone is a reviewer. Right or wrong, everyone now has the opportunity to comment on your product or service. How do you handle that?!?

What’s one to do?

Here’s five ways you can bomat the fact that everyone is now a reviewer of your products and services:

1.  Listen!  If you aren’t paying attention, then there’s comments and discussion happening you don’t know about.  A good way to start is with Google Alerts, a free listening tool provided by Google.

2.  Don’t panic or over-react (if it’s bad).  Take all feedback objectively, evaulating the source to determine if it’s a credible comment.

3.   Take control and collect your own feedback. Ask your customers to give you feedback you can use on your site once they’ve experienced your product or service.  You can just have them fill out your own form or you can send them to sites like TripAdvisor.  Regardless, take control.

4.  Decide on an individual basis if and how to respond to public feedback.  This applies to both positive and negative feedback!    In general, if you can’t decide how to respond it is probably best not to, and of course, never comment back with hositility or emotion!  For an excellent example of how to dissect a piece of feedback, check out this nifty flowchart from the U.S. Air Force.  An unlikely source, for sure, but helpful nonetheless.

5.  Take on board the feedback.  Is a particular employee getting raving reviews?  Be sure to pass the good word along.  Someone make a legitimate criticism?  See what you can do to fix it.

Lesson Learned:  Consider where the review is, who wrote it, and the accuracy of the comment (as much as you can determine).  Take on those factors before deciding any action.  And don’t forget to collect your own customer feedback.

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Need more help tackling the new rules of online business? Our online business strategy package allows us to discuss your online goals and aspirations one-on-one and come up with a plan to make it happen.

Photo by Robert Course-Baker