By now it’s clear that negative online sentiment cannot only damage a business’ reputation but also its bottom line. You don’t get many chances to address a vocal, disgruntled customer or correct a fake, perhaps competitor-generated, social media review. And silently ignoring social feedback from customers is never an option.

That said, too many companies have fallen prey to the idea that robotic responses “cover their bases.” They believe they’re on top of their social media presence because their corporate marketing department is monitoring brand references and aggregating metrics. But those actions do not focus on improving the customer experience, which is ultimately what affects a company’s revenue.

Here are seven social media management rules to prevent your employees from becoming response robots and incite them to respond in a way that boosts customer loyalty.

1. Be Timely

The right underlying technology solutions can help a company monitor what’s being said online and immediately alert property managers to a new social post. Instilling a culture of urgency among employees is important when closing the loop on social reviews. Not only is one customer watching — so is everyone else. You don’t need to respond to every post, but it’s also important to respond to both good and bad posts because it shows future customers how involved you are. For example, scathing reviews that are tempered with rational, genuine responses are much less potent in deterring future customers.

2. Don’t Auto Respond

Every response is visible in stream, and the presence of scripted responses will quickly become apparent to followers. If your responses seem automated, they won’t seem genuine and you might as well not respond.

3. Leave it to the Frontline

The employees who are closest to your customers are the best at interacting with them, either online or face-to-face. Getting your frontline of employees on board with your social media strategy invokes a strong sense of urgency to fix underlying problems. Because of social media’s transparent nature the frontline will appreciate the importance of improving the customer experience. Best Western responds to well over a third of their TripAdvisor reviews (above the industry average) to foster customer rapport.

via 7 Rules for Responding to Customers Online.

Whether you need to create a stronger brand look for your personal blog or for a client’s website, there are a few HTML and CSS elements on web pages that are the most important ones to focus on. Of course, you already know that the graphics on your page are important for logos and color schemes, but did you know that you can easily tie your brand’s colors into other parts of your website as well? Just as with, say, a design for a postcard or brochure printing campaign, your brand must remain consistent and recognizable from one brochure, or in our case, web page to the next. You don’t need to completely redo your site to take advantage of CSS, either.

The great part about using CSS is that your entire site can be updated within only a few minutes, and future changes are just as fast. So review the following HTML formatting elements on your own site and see how CSS can improve what you already have.

via 5 Most Important Brandable CSS/ HTML Elements – icanbeCreative.

I was engrossed in this blog post about why creative businesses fail written by Jason Aten. I work in a creative field magazine publishing with many creative people writers, photographers, and graphic designers. If you work in the creative industry and are looking to start your own business—listen up!Jason Aten, the owner of the blog Starting Out Right, is a wedding photographer. He quit his career in marketing and sales management with FedEx to start his own business—something many creative freelancers decide to do.His photography business took off, and his work has been featured in many national wedding publications. He also spends a lot of time speaking, educating, and writing about the business of photography. Jason knows that, no matter how talented you are, if you don’t have a head for business, you aren’t going to make it far.

via Build a Successful Creative Business.