We’ve written about the power of your smile, both a physical smile and the feeling conveyed through your language, having a great benefit to your brand and business. But (and this isn’t a word we like to use as it’s negative), we are all having to deal with negativity more frequently. Here we point out the main areas where negativity creeps into our work lives, and brands, to be more aware and enable you to put a positive spin on things. Banish negativity from your marketing with this guide.
Luckily, we work with like-minded brands – those who hold customer service high and good ethical values with no room for negativity. We explain our ethos not to be argumentative, slander or use negativity for our social media clients. Similarly, we are careful about choosing funnies and memes that might be considered ‘close to the wind’ and swearing is a definite no-no. Whilst some brands create an aggressive campaign to provoke engagement, even negative responses, to gain brand awareness; think hard if this is this right for your brand?
Professionally and ethically do you want this for your brand? Does it alight with your values? What do you want people to say about you? This even goes down to your personal brand and we all know that we check out personal profiles to see them in their true light.
Unfortunately, consumers turn quickly to social media as a way of complaining quickly and easily. The anonymity offered via technology only aids this. The same is true on emails when a short reply can be misunderstood as abrupt. But then there are always those who use these platforms to SHOUT. Just think: How do we react when we are shouted at? Basic psychology shows it’s not the way to get the best out of people and getting more from a situation.
Having a prepared plan to deal with complaints is essential and tailoring this to account for bad pr and complaints via social media are equally important. Either a negative comment on a post or maybe even a poor review, the key is to reply quickly, showing your willingness to help with the aim to get the conversation off social. Once resolved, you can always ask them to update the review (and help your star scoring to improve). Good manners are mandatory too.
If you are sharing an article, which might have a negative vibe, make sure your comment is more open-minded. Sharing the article might be educational, just ensure your choice of words reflect this. (Alternatively, you could opt for a few emoji’s where there are no words – ???).
Your language is crucial – edit your copy to be more positive. Avoid negative words such as but, not and those starting with ‘un’ – see a list of more words to swap out are here. Drop-in some fantastic adjectives that promote things from the mundane to the superhero status, tapping on emotions and having a greater impact.
Facebook’s latest TV campaign claims to be changing to bring back our more positive clamping down on this but shouldn’t we start with ourselves first? Get in touch if you want some help refocussing your current work and creating more positive plans to combat the negative world around us.
If in doubt, grab some more inspiring quotes to keep positivity at the forefront of your work and share the vibes, it really is contagious!