Negative Comments: Should they Really Matter to You as an Internet Marketer?

October 29, 2012 by Daniel Sharkov|

Negative comments and negative feedback – you’ve certainly got them at some point. And yeah, it isn’t a great feeling…

Hearing people say good things about you and seeing all those social media signals along the way matter to you, don’t they?

In reality however there are always those who don’t like something… So, you get into worthless conversations, trying to explain what you did and why you did it. More often than not, to no avail of course.The truth is that no matter what, critics are here to stay.

That is why I decided to put up this article – to hopefully help you understand the reality behind negative comments and how to act upon them:

Is it About Pleasing All of Your Readers?

When it comes to building relationships, the approach is basically one person at a time. But what do you do when it comes to sharing your posts?

Something I have learned throughout the months is that, although some of your fans might share a lot of what you publish, there is no way to get the same people to tweet and like every single piece you write and polish.

Think about yourself – do you read every article from the blogs you have subscribed to? Probably not. An article might be good and useful but just not what you are looking for at that specific day.

So no – the idea definitely doesn’t come down to pleasing everyone. Keep reading please!

The Big Picture is What Matters, but…

Although often times looking at those smaller details (as in my post “ It’s in The Details: Social Media Traffic and 4 Reasons You Aren’t Getting It“) can really help you get more exposure and readers, other times you need to zoom out and take a look at what really matters.

Let’s assume you published an article a day ago. Judging by the social media sharing counters, you are doing pretty well. A dozen of likes, some Google pluses and almost fifty retweets…

And then you come across a Twitter reply. Someone is criticizing every single point you’ve written. In that case, which would be more important – the hundreds of people who have obviously read and liked the article or that single negative comment from someone who might just not like you?

Well… actually both, or kind of… On to the next point we go…

On Criticism and Why You Should Handle It…

Yep, it might just be a single negative comment but as small and insignificant as it might seem, you should go there and reply back if you are serious about what you do!

I am definitely not saying that you should get all stressed out. That’s not the point. What matters in the online world is accepting other people’s standpoint and learning to live with it.

So what you should do in that kind of situation is to simply get back to the guy and give your reasoning. It’s not about coming to an agreement. If someone doesn’t like something, hardly anything is going to change that.
It’s rather about proving that you care and also making it clear to yourself that you should keep pushing, no matter what!

What are Your Analytics Saying?

And then again, as we assumed two paragraphs above, you’ve got a pretty decent amount of social media shares along with that (hopefully) one negative comment, you already dealt with.

Now it’s time to take a look at your analytics. Retweets and shares after all are only part of the story. They don’t guarantee traffic. It’s all about the clicks. Observe your numbers – are they below or above average?

Analytics are a fairly accurate traffic data, based on which, you can decide whether or not the critics actually have a point. If they do have a point though, it might be time to start listening. Haters are always there, but don’t forget that some might just want to point you the way!

In the end keep in mind that fresh content is what gets the traffic (take a look at: “ 5 Reasons to Publish at Least Twice a Week“). As long as what you published is of a good quality, numbers will be steady, so less than usual visits are a good sign that something is wrong.

In Conclusion

All in all what I want to say is that blogging and criticism go side by side. Since there is no way, even with the best content and the best social media strategy to get rid of it, simply try to learn from it! And remember, the details matter, but don’t forget to look at the big picture!
Now on to you – what do you do when you receive negative comments? Is criticism helpful? Let me know what you think in the comments section!

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