We are now much closer to the customer’s, users and leads than we have ever been before. Your Facebook Wall, Blog Post and Twitter can even be considered equivalent to your virtual message board in the kitchen. How you respond to these messages will characterize you to visitors and possible leads.

Many companies still approach digital interactions in much the same way as they do PR. A recent article by Techcrunch surrounding an iPhone 4 antenna issue and how the direct complain was handled by the company’s PR brings to light an important factor to consider when you aim to engage the readers, customers and clients via your website’s blog or social media.

The article ends with a grand statement: “It’s not unusual for PR teams — … — to ignore or give vague or even misleading statements to the press.”

The same applies to interactions with website visitors and through social media channels: loose the PR mentality and get real, authentic and uncut.

DONT:

• Threaten: Your organization will look like a bully if you immediately threaten with legal action to shut up the commenter for voicing his/her views on what you did. Though, this may successfully get the person to stop any further comments, it also makes your organization look really bad.
• Be vague: People can read through vague excuses, vague explanations and blatant disregard to their needs, concerns and problems with your services.
• Ignore: In this case the best policy is to not ignore and give the needed attention to the issue, be ready to commit to offer to help and do so with sincerity.

Is your company in the habit of viewing complaints as just the product of annoying customers and not a marker for a much needed change?

It’s extremely easy to scratch criticism off as pure venting and just plain poison, especially if you are not really looking at your company with a sharp eye.

So always ask yourself:

• What could we have done differently to avoid the problem?
• Where did we go wrong?
• Have I allowed the person to explain the problem fully?
• How can I take ownership of this problem to resolve it?

At the end of the day it’s important to admit to failings, when they are present.

To really connect with visitors, your organization must:

• Reflect genuine interest
• Actually listen to the problem and/or remark
• Ask questions to assist the problem-solving process
• Avoid judgmental comments about the situation
• Use clear wording and avoid business jargon in the answer

Otherwise you will have wasted an opportunity to set the record straight and build trust.

What if there is really nothing you can do?

The last thing you want to do online is feed a visitor who has an obvious vendetta against your company. Who isn’t trying to come to any kind of resolution, but who does it simply to be poisonous.

Do not be quick to judge that all criticism is poison, but follow these steps:

• Offer to alleviate the situation
• Carefully observe their reaction
• If they refuse/ignore your offer chances are they are not looking to resolve the problem at all.

The way we are able to communicate now with website visitors and our social media network can also be a great opportunity to find ways to grow as a company to offer better services, be more aware of our activities and build trust relationships that last.

Finally user comments, reviews and visitor interactions eventually count as content on your website and you want it to reflect the best of you and give new visitors a reason to create a new relationship with your organization.