I have always felt that good experiences should be shouted about as loudly as negative ones. I have probably spoken to call center supervisors, and written letter to companies about positive experiences twice as often as I have about negative, and I’ve found it to be one of the most pleasurable things I can do.

I never expect anything back from these small gestures, it makes me happy just to do them, having said that, it’s always lovely to know that your gesture is at least acknowledged. Knowing how the impact of these positive responses can be amplified online, into something more than a compliment,  I found I had to say something about my recent experience with Gillette.

I recently purchased the new Gilette Venus pro skin. The decision to buy one was delayed by the numerous poor reviews, both on their own site, and elsewhere online, but, inline with my philosophy of try anything once, I went ahead and bought the razor. I loved it, and, as I try to do whenever I have something positive to say, I went and posted a review. Then followed, Nothing. I got an automated response stating that my comment would be moderated, and that was pretty much it.

Not only did I not receive any sort of thank you for my glowing review, refuting many of the negative comments others had made, but I didn’t even receive confirmation that my review had been posted to their site. That was the end of my advocacy for Gillette. It would have been so simple to turn me from a positive reviewer to an advocate for life. So I thought I would give Gillette a couple of pointers on how they could have amplified that positive message, and the others they received.  Gillette if you’re listening, here’s what you could have done differently;

1. How about a nice personalized response to my review thanking me for my time
2. Or if that was too difficult, just an email confirming my review had gone live?
3. Responding to your positive reviewers as well as the negative would also be a great start to creating voices for your brand.
4. A little thank you gift would have encouraged me to start telling my friends about what an amazing company you are
5. Or an offer of a free razor to give to a friend
6. You could have given me a discount code to share on social media, to give me even more incentive to share my experience with as many people as I could

Social media really does make it so easy to bask in the positive feelings towards your brand, to allow them to fester, unnoticed, is as big a social media faux pas as not responding to the negative. Take notice brands, it’s time to start worrying about the people who like you too!

Photo Credit to EVRT Studio

It feels like much longer than 2 months since we first announced the launch of ObsidianEdge, and looking back, we’ve packed a lot into those months. With the dust settling, we’ve managed to catch our breath, and thought we would let everyone know what we have been up to.

Since our launch back in May, we realised that the site design didn’t really match the culture of the organization we wanted to build; so, following a lot of feedback, we started working on a re-design, keeping the original elements that we loved and adjusting to a brighter, and what we hope is more welcoming look and feel. We would love to get your feedback on the new site & revised logo!

We also have re-located the business to Costa Rica. This was no small undertaking, moving both people and pets, while ensuring that business continued to run smoothly. Our new premises are both home and office space, high in the mountains of Escazu, overlooking the beautiful city of San Jose. I can happily say that there is nothing that makes for a happy team than being able to look over this view all day!

Our team has already grown to 7 people including strong and experienced link builders, and recruitment is still underway to accommodate our continued growth. We are finding that our placement in Costa Rica is a definite advantage. New businesses are contacting us every day to see how we can help them with their search marketing, a number of SEO companies are already working with us to help their link building efforts, and we’re planning for further growth and expansion throughout the rest of 2011 and into 2012.

We’re also planning a lot of new and exciting things for the coming year, some of which we’ll be announcing over the next few months here on the blog, as well as providing posts & articles whenever we have something to say (which I’m sure those who know us will testify is often), so watch this space.

For now though, I will leave you with some more pictures of our spectacular view, and our two Mascot office dogs enjoying their newfound freedom.