Posted on: February 21, 2020
Nancy Marshall, The PR Maven®, has interviewed some very successful entrepreneurs on her podcast and one thing that they often have in common is that they have rabid fans and haters. Anyone experiencing great achievements knows that with the love of followers comes the trolls and the negativity. Nancy’s podcast guests have shared some advice on how to manage the haters and, perhaps more importantly, how to feel about them.
Nancy says that a strong brand has the power to attract and repel. John Lee Dumas, host of the insanely popular Entrepreneurs on Fire podcast, said on The PR Maven Podcast® that he loves the phrase “Love me, or hate me. There’s no money in the middle.” He added “You will draw the right people to you if you are genuine and transparent with yourself and your audience.” John said this is why he concentrates his work on the people who love him. “I can change their lives and impact them in a massive way, so I focus my time and effort on that.”
Another podcast guest, Lisa Steele, founder of FreshEggsDaily.com, said she has a hate group on Facebook called Rotten Eggs Daily, managed by a competitor, that would tear her down for anything she said, did or wore, and at first, she found it extremely upsetting. But then P. Allen Smith, host of Garden Home, gave her this advice: “First of all, you know you’ve made it when you have haters, because people don’t bother hating someone who’s not successful. In order to be successful you have to have people who love you and you’ll also have people who hate you. The worst thing is for someone to be ambivalent about you.”
One big takeaway that Lisa shared on the podcast was how she feels about her hate group. She says she now wears her hate group as a badge of honor and has learned to pity her haters because she realized that they are simply not happy. Happy people don’t go around making other people miserable. By framing the negativity in a way that allows you to move on and not devote much, if any, time to worrying about the trolls and grouchy people on the internet, you free up more time to do what you’re good at – managing your business and doing what you love.
As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. Part of the responsibility of managing your success is how you handle the negativity you will receive online. Before you find yourself in a situation like Lisa’s with a Facebook group devoted to tearing you apart, write down how your brand should deal with haters and trolls. That way, when the time (hopefully) comes that you have garnered so many fans that the inevitable anti-fans rear their ugly words, you have a game plan in place to gracefully handle your response and thereby protect your brand.
The PR Maven® Podcast is presented by Marshall Communications, creator of The Marshall Plan® strategic process. The Marshall Plan is a fully customized document using our 65 proprietary steps and leads to playbook for your success. If you think your business or organization would be a candidate for a Marshall Plan, you can take our Marshall Plan quiz to find out. Visit Marshallpr.com/quiz.
