Social Media has become a necessary marketing strategy for most business owners. ‘Content is King,’ is what search engine optimization experts say. “You must have fresh content on your website, social media pages and YouTube channel to remain relevant.” While that might be true, I encourage ever entrepreneur to proceed with caution.
Never Retaliate In Kind
I highly recommend never posting an item or entry out of anger or spite, especially if provoked by another person. If someone posts something adverse about you or your company online, immediately institute the 24 hour rule and think about your best options and the likely outcome of each. For example:
Option 1: Respond with kindness and compassion showing strength and restraint remembering that when you will never lose when instituting your greatest secret weapon, self-control.
Option 2: Reporting the post to the proper social media moderators and letting them handle the occurrence.
Option 3: Seeking legal guidance from your attorney
Option 4: Ignoring the post if the subject matter is benign and had no staying power.
Always Be Aware of Your Surroundings and Your Emotions
Picture this: You’re in a restaurant and the waiter/waitress is rude and provides terrible service or you’re returning a defective item to a retail store and the customer service representative won’t provide a credit or an equivalent exchange. The next thing you know, you lose your cool, become irate and start disparaging the other party. Unbeknownst to you, the person in the booth next to you or standing behind you in line takes their cell phone out of their pocket and begins recording you.
You have no idea this is occurring until someone you know emails you a copy of the video, now posted on YouTube with 50,000 views and a title that reads, “Well known entrepreneur has meltdown in local restaurant.”
It’s done, it’s over and there is nothing you can do about it. The video is now out there, in perpetuity, for everyone, including your so called competitors, to see. What type of lasting effect do you think this will have on you and your business? I can tell you with certainty, it won’t be positive.
This is why you must always be aware of your surroundings and your emotions. This includes being out in public, corresponding on the telephone, and corresponding by email, text, videoconferencing or handwritten letters.
How to Win 100% of the Time
There is an old saying that goes something like this, “There are only two things certain in life; death and taxes.” Well I’m here to add one certainty to this age-old adage, “You have two secret weapons at your disposal at all times that will with 100% certainty never fail you and provide you with a distinct advantage in every aspect of your life, .”