I came across an interesting article about Yelp.com (a community review website) in Inc. Magazine today. They talk about how small business owners are waking up to the reality that online reviews can have a major impact on their businesses, especially in a tight economy. According to some small business owners, >10% of their new customers are being driven by sites like Yelp. That is hard to ignore!

In the article they also give some tips on how businesses of any size can deal with negative feedback, which I thought the readers of this blog may find handy. Most of it distills down to using common sense and dealing with the situation calmly, with a positive and constructive attitude. Paraphrased and with my own views added:

1. Embrace the medium. Register for an account at the places your customers are talking about you. In most cases registering for an account is free. An account will generally allow you to receive alerts and give you a chance to respond to reviews and engage your customers.

2. Breathe. Just because you can respond doesn’t mean you should right away. Try to collect your thoughts calmly, and respond in a thoughtful constructive way. Also remember – anything you say, even in a private message, can end up on the internet.

3. Be Gracious. Remember, the customer is always right. Apologize for whatever they didn’t like, and offer to correct it. Better still, correct it quickly if you can, and pleasantly surprise them! Small proactive gestures go a long long way in converting your critics to your best customers and most vocal advocates.

4. Learn and Correct. All said and done, just remember that at the end of the day, you can’t fight the future, and online reviews & feedback only help us get better — faster. Talking to and engaging customers in a meaningful way is a very good thing :)

Your power and influence are directly proportional to the amount you or your business contribute to your audience. When you look at the essence of relationship and group formation dynamics, contribution is the key element that unites and brings people together. It is a simple yet powerful concept that if understood and properly implemented can mean the difference between being truly great and just being noise.

The message is simple, if you want to be a rockstar, stop trying to add more people to your first circle or cram them into your branding funnel and start contributing content, products, and services that are so incredible that they are worth linking to and talking about.

Are you obsessed with sharing sites across different social media networks? Veronica has a tip to make meme-spreading a cinch, no matter what browser you use, on today’s Tekzilla Daily.

AWESOME!! :) btw, Shareaholic supports ping.fm which lets you send links to multiple services at once.

The holiday season is approaching quickly, and it’s that time again to dust off, update, and share those online wish lists with friends and family. Ps. where did 2009 go?!

Here is a checklist for helping your family and friends select the right gifts for you:

• 1. Sign up for a wish listing service – There are many (free) services available like Amazon Wish Lists and Kaboodle that make it easy for you to create and maintain wish lists.
• 2. Fill your wish list with stuff you want – As you surf the web and come across items that you want — add them to your wish list. You can use Shareaholic to do this quickly + easily. Shareaholic already supports and works with many popular wish list services, including Amazon’s.
• 3. Update your contact information (physical mailing address) – Do make sure you update your contact and shipping information so gifts reach you on-time and don’t end up with some stranger!
• 4. Share your wish list – Make sure friends and family know you have a wish list. Share your wish list with friends and family via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, delicious, etc. Remember, by sharing you’re also making their lives easier by telling them exactly what you want! Just be reasonable when picking stuff for your list :)

Image Credit: mpie (flickr)