Being Positive While Being Real

Recently, after waiting for over an hour in a virtual "line" to purchase a brand new product, due to overwhelming demand, the website crashed, ultimately losing my place in "line" and when the site was back up and available, the product was sold out. I was more than disappointed - as were thousands of other customers who had encountered the same issue. There was no acknowledgement or apology to those affected from the company. It was as if my time (and the thousands of other customers waiting in line alongside me) wasn't valuable and the company only cared about profits and being able to say that their new product "broke the internet". 

I looked at the experience from my customer experience professional perspective and provided constructive feedback in the company's community forum. I was honest in voicing my disappointment with how things were handled, which included mentioning the loss of loyal customers, while providing suggestions for improvement so this might be avoided in the future. A company spokesperson followed up with a post stating that under no circumstances would negativity be tolerated in the forum and all comments that weren't 100% positive would be deleted. 

When did being honest and trying to help improve your  company's customer experience become "negative"? There was nothing negative in many of the comments made in that forum, just simple, honest comments and suggestions. Their perception of negativity shows that perception is in the way something is viewed, and it's not 100% objective. 

Since then I've been more attuned to what I see posted across social media. I've actually started looking for patterns and themes across posts. From friends and followers, to entrepreneurs and marketers trying to get our attention. The same theme emerged: Only post the positive - Never, ever post anything that could be perceived as negative. 

Again, I thought to myself "what do you consider "negative"? I'll be the first one to admit that my definition of negative is different from another's. It's all in how you look at it. 

Wouldn't we all love it if life was always full of unicorns and rainbows? Do you only post "the happy, the upbeat, the good stuff"? Seriously, how many posts do you see from your closest friends or family that are filled with "fluff". So much so, that you contact them to see if they've been hacked? You know the posts...the beautiful days, the perfect parties, pets, vacations, always smiling children, the nice things, etc. Posts that lead others to believe something completely different about you; posts that are many times, misleading or untrue. 

Or are your social media posts genuine and real? Meaning, you don't air your drama, but you post about things that are important to you. Your kids, vacations, pets, goals and dreams...you post about your life. Do you include your stuggles and obstacles, while you face and overcome them. People want to know who you are - the good, the not so good, and even the ugly from time to time. They want to know you're genuine. They want to see the authentic you. 

Being real does not mean you're negative. Especially if you have a business and are trying to grow it. Do you only post about your product or services? Do you copy/paste from other posts? Do you only post about your business? Do you offer real solutions that help others? Do you follow up? Do you provide genuine and authentic testimonies? Do you provide authentic and genuine support and encouragement? You can post about magical unicorns spreading gold dust all over the place - but if there's no truth to your posts, folks will scroll right past without even glancing at them. 

With all the "fluff" that's available across all social media platforms, I look forward to seeing genuine posts; the story of the epic cooking fail; updates that allow me to see someone has reached a goal they struggled with for a long time; the heartwrenching stories of loved ones lost,  job losses or financial stuggles that keep me inspired to help others; the stuggle with health issues; the wedding, pregancy and birth annoucments; embarrassing family photos; completing marathons and 5k races; vacation updates and photos (the good and the bad); and everything else that makes life rich and full.

You might perceive some of these types of posts as "negative", I see them as genuine and real. Perception, after all, is in the way you see things.