highschool-musical

The web is like Highschool, and I am not just talking about the lunch time politics and acne. It’s like high school because of the relationships.

Go back with me now and think about the first gal or guy who tickled your fancy. Now think about how scared you were to say anything to them for fear that they might just find out just how lame you were.

For all you know they could have been just as wildly in love with you as you were with them (you know, without the hair doll, that was just creepy) but you never did find out because your emotions got in the way of your judgment.

The lesson here and the challenge is to get into the habit of talking to people who like you and your product.

Nothing will earn you more good will than reaching out to those who already like you. Think about it, if your favorite actor or actress sent you a personal email — how much more would you like them? I know you. You’d spend the next week going on and on and on about how down to Earth Angelina is since she got with Brad and how you don’t believe those rumors for a second. You’d drive your friends up the wall.

We all would.

If you have been following along, you should start to see some trickles of feedback appearing across Social Media — now it’s time to follow up. Check the trackbacks on your blog, do vanity searches on Twitter, Google, Friendfeed and across all the rest of your networks for your name and your product. Once you do that, get out there and reply to them.

Thank people for taking the time to talk about you whether good or bad. If you did manage to annoy someone enough for them to write a screed about you, try to help them to see your perspective. You would be amazed at how much good a single, calm email can do.

I was going to end this with a Prom metaphor, but I think you get the point.

Goals -

  • Use your search tools to find people across your network who have spoken about you or your product in the last month.
  • Comment on their blogs or otherwise reply to them being sure not to take criticism personally. Your best users often start as your biggest critics.

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