Tech Forward:

On May 6 and 7 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., the Center for Women’s Business Research is holding a symposium called Research to Roadmap: Accelerating the Growth of Businesses Owned by Women of Color (Full disclosure: I serve on the center’s advisory board and as chair of the Social Media Executive Committee.)

You simply cannot imagine how close this event is to my heart. Finally, an organization has decided to put its money where its mouth is and deliver the results of a significant study about businesses owned by women of color directly to the legislators on Capitol Hill. The center’s survey results have finally put statistical relevance to the challenge of the growth of these companies. Now maybe someone will listen.

That said, we need women bloggers to cover the event . . . and we need them yesterday. I have arranged for a bloghaus–you might know this as a blogger’s bullpen–at the event, and we need the right women bloggers to be present to live blog.

The bloggers will be responsible for getting themselves to Washington, D.C., but I have secured complimentary registration for all live bloggers who want to attend. The people who are attending this symposium are of note. Bloggers who want interviews? Consider it done. Bloggers will also get first access to *the* study results that have been under moratorium for at least the past month.

Please help me use the power of social media to get bloggers on site at this event. Let’s show them what social media is all about. Feel free to blog about this, podcast about this, Twitter it, post it in community forums and shout it from the rafters.

Ask all interested parties to send me an e-mail (LWest@xynoMedia.com) with the subject “CfWBR May,” with a link to their blog. Then I will send them the registration link and code. Easy, peasy.

One note: most of the hotels in the immediate area are sold out. The good thing is the Omni Shoreham is a half block from the red line on the Metro (the stop is Woodley Park Zoo Adams Morgan). So one could stay anywhere and, in a short Metro ride, get to the event site without issue. In fact, I’m doing this myself.

I thank you for your support. It takes a village.

Yesterday I attended the Wells Fargo, Technology & Your Business webcast based on a personal invite I received from Denise Wakeman of the Blog Squad, who was part of the panel.

Just when I was about to feel really badly for my pal Denise being ‘forced’ to sit through other panelists discussions about boring technology topics like back-ups and merchant accounts (hey, I said I love technology I didn’t say all of it was interesting!), she said something so utterly brillant, I had to write this blog post to explain how we help clients navigate through negative blog comments.

Denise received a question from an attendee that said something like (I’m paraphrasing):

“I’d like to start a blog but, I’m nervous about getting a lot of negative comments. What can I do?”

Kudos to Denise for keeping her focus on the blog visitor! Her response (paraphrasing again):

“Blogs are meant for customer feedback. So, unless it’s a really bad comment, pay attention to it.”

Amen!

I can’t tell you how many times I get this question. If I had a nickel…

I find that people tend to operate from a base of fear about anything new. So they’re focused on the wrong things. Instead of seeing the possibilities, they harp on everything that could possibly go wrong. (By the way, that’s a sure fire way to make sure everything does go wrong!)

Here’s what you/they can do instead:

1. Get real. There are some trolls out there and I’ve talked about how to deal with them. But by and large, 98% of the comments you get will not be from people who have nothing better to do than trash your brand.
2. Use moderated comments. If you set your blog for moderated comments, you (or someone on your team) gets to approve - or not - any comment before it even goes live on your blog. If you don’t choose moderated comments, you can choose to be motified via e-mail whenever someone posts a comment and you can trash it if it’s objectionable.
3. Create a Terms of Use page. Terms of Use may seem like a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo that you can simply copy from someone else’s blog and use on your own but you should take the time to craft your own. Essentially, it’s a page on your blog that tells visitors what they can and can’t say and what the reprecussions are for ignoring the rules.  In the off chance that someone does post a completely desctructive comment - DO NOT EDIT THE COMMENT (see below) - you can point them to your Terms of Use and tell them that this is exactly why their comment isn’t appearing on your blog. This is not up for debate, discussion or bargaining - that’s why you’ve taken the time to create the Terms of Use.
4. Never edit a comment. I won’t go into all the legal issues here but, this changes your legal status from blogger to publisher and you open a whole other can of worms. Either reject the comment outright or ask the commenter to edit it and resubmit it. Never, ever edit a comment.
5. Carpe diem. Again, if you do get a negative comment - one that is constructive - don’t balk or give ‘tude to the person writing it. See this as your opportunity to show just how committed to customer service your company is, address the issue through the blog, quickly and thoroughly and above all else, treat the person with respect. It’s always OK to agree to disagree - respectfully. And, if you think about it, you probably just received some valueable feedback without having to invest in a focus group! (Another benefit of blogging, by the way.)

Don’t get fazed out by the technology. Keep your focus on building a world-class company (this IS why you’re in business, right?) and you’ll craft the type of company people want to work with and for.

I first read about this over on the WOMMA blog.

I had been hearing the buzz for a couple of days and meaning to check out the story but, the WOMMA newsletter got to me first.

As a someone who earns a some of her income from blogging, I think this is a grand achievement. I’m glad that it appears that the differentiation has been made between hobbyist bloggers (no offense) and professional bloggers.

As bloggers we’re usually on the cutting edge of what’s happening in our various industries. By the time you wait for the morning newspaper, it’s already yesterday’s news. And, sometimes that may involve *gasp* a scandal or two.

I usually do my own snooping, but I have a few close associates who are privy to some…ahem…pretty close-to-the-vest information. I usually tap into those sources for my column and other articles but, I’m sure there will come a time when I, or someone I know, will need to use the protection this congressional panel has given.

Bloggers unite!

If you have a blog, you’ve probably already experienced a troll. If not, here’s my definition of a troll.

A troll is someone who:

a) Has nothing better to do than to read blogs and make negative comments. I think they’re independently wealthy. How else do they find the time to read all of your blog posts and respond critically to each one?

b) Never agrees with anything you have to say ever. They pick apart your words and conjure up inane, unlikely scenarios to ‘prove’ that your expert theories won’t hold water.

In fact, many business vets whom I know won’t start blogs because of this brand of cyber bully.

So, how do you deal with trolls?

Always deal with trolls publically. Never have a private email conversation with them. This can quickly turn into a case of “your word against theirs.”

Be nice. People are watching how you deal with this person through your blog. You might want to get a low-caliber zing (see my reply to Rafael) in but, make sure it’s not too assertive. Never reduce yourself to a troll’s level.

Feel free to ignore them. After you’ve addressed a few of their comments, feel free to totally ignore any of their future comments.

Trolls are like annoying flies, the more you swat at them, the more they nose-dive at your head.