It’s likely one of the last questions you will hear in an interview. But, in many respects, it’s probably one of the most important questions, and may very well mean the difference between you winning or losing the job.

“Why should we hire you?”

On the surface, it seems like a fairly simple question to answer. However, consider what the employer is looking for as answer. The easy way for you would presumably be to repeat your strengths and best skills in a simple, narrative format.

Unfortunately, if you intend to answer in that manner, you are likely not giving your interviewer what they’re seeking at all. In reality, the majority of employers want to know what it is you, as their employee, would bring to the table.

Effectively, you’re looking at a cause and effect type of situation. Look at it as if the interviewer is asking, “If I hire you, what is going to happen that will move us forward?”

With that in mind, be sure to prepare to answer this question by drawing on your previous experiences. What have you done before that made your previous organizations better? Did you improve something that made the organization run more smoothly? Did you increase the overall productivity in your department?

Once you have assessed what you have done, look forward and consider what you can do. Here is an example of the type of answer you could give if you were interviewing for an administrative position.

“If I were to be hired, I would take what I have learned from my previous companies and improve the way your organization operates and, as a result, would increase the overall productivity and decrease operational costs.”

While this answer is rather broad, research of your perspective employer should give you the chance to expound on this statement and make it more specific to the position that you are being interviewed for.

Organizations are always seeking those individuals that will, in the end, provide them with a more productive environment and especially save them money. With this in mind, anything you can tell them that will convince them that you are that individual will go a long way.

After four years of serving as a platform for users to create an online portfolio, VisualCV will be shutting down its site on December 30, 2011, according to an e-mail sent out by the company to users today. The company has instructed users to remove all of the content that’s on the site, since no VisualCV will exist after December 30th. Below is trhe fulls text of the e-mail:

Dear VisualCV Member

We regret to inform you that the VisualCV.com website will be ceasing operations, effective December 30, 2011.

Since our launch almost four years ago we’ve been gratified by the response to VisualCV, and how it has enabled thousands of professionals to better represent themselves online. Even more importantly we have been delighted to see VisualCV help people secure significant new career positions. However, we have been unable to turn the site into a viable, self-supporting business and therefore we reluctantly made this decision.

We recognize that many of you need time to recover your resume data from VisualCV — which is why we are providing you with thirty days’ notice. We recommend saving a PDF copy of your current VisualCV. You can easily do this by clicking on the button on the bottom of the page you see when viewing or editing your VisualCV. We also recommend you separately save any images, videos or documents in your portfolio that you do not currently have stored somewhere else.

To ensure we meet all our members’ privacy concerns, we will destroy all user data once website operations have ceased. This includes any and all backups we have. As a result, once the deadline has passed it will not be possible for us to recover any member data. You can be assured that we will not be providing any user data to third parties of any kind.

We will be contacting the small number of paying customers that still have active subscriptions to arrange a prorated refund for the months remaining on their annual subscription.

Thank you for all your support over the past four years. We wish you well in your future career endeavors.

Best Regards,
The VisualCV Team

Because TOG Solutions has long served as one of the advocates for people to create online portfolios, and VisualCV in particular, we will be researching and reporting on some of the alternatives out that for you to use once VisualCV ceases to exist.

So, a great deal has happened since the last OpenOffice Wednesday post (OpenOffice 3.2 – The Countdown is Over!). Since there’s too much to write, let’s summarize:

OpenOffice 3.3 arrived, then stalled out during the development of 3.4, much like OpenOffice Wednesday. Then, in June, Oracle donated OOo to the Apache Software Foundation, which has been incubating what they intend to call Apache OpenOffice.org. In the meantime, an offshoot of developers have went ahead and moved on, and LibreOffice has been the result.

With the inactivity in OpenOffice development and the ongoing progression of LibreOffice, you’d think that we may have seen the last of OOo. But rumors of OpenOffice’s demise may be a bit premature. Two weeks ago, Apache announced on its blog that the OpenOffice.org Community forums have, at long last, been migrated to Apache.org.

And while there isn’t a set date in which Apache will begin rolling out OpenOffice again, we will be back every week to answer your questions about OOo and try and get you the latest news and updates.

Until then, stay tuned…

In the age of digital business networking, it’s obvious that no site has done a better job of it than LinkedIn. While it has expanded its features to integrate Twitter, utilize apps and, most recently, the ability to follow companies, the Groups feature has been a long-standing hallmark.

Within LinkedIn Groups, there have also been changes over the years that included member-generated content, including discussions, job postings and news articles. However, one thing that has not changed is how many groups a user can join. At the moment, the limit is 50.

Though 50 groups seems like a big number, long-time users have found no problem reaching that upper limit in a very short period of time. Meanwhile, new LinkedIn groups pop up at a relatively fast pace.

Because of this, the question then lies in which groups are the most useful to you?

To figure out which LinkedIn groups are right for you, consider the following elements:

1. Industry or Field – Search groups based on the industry or field you’re in or about to enter.
2. Location – Professional organizations in your region tend to have groups, along with regional groups created by individuals.
3. Company – There are many groups associated with companies or former company employees.
4. School – LinkedIn groups are constantly launched for schools either by the institutions themselves or by fellow alumni.
5. Hobbies or interests – You never know if a particular hobby or interest could turn into a business opportunity for you.

After joining the groups you want, observe the discussions, job postings and news articles for the next couple of weeks. If you find that these groups have a great deal of useful activity, you will certainly want to remain an active member.

During your trial period, you should also make note of any users who are attempting to use the group as a mailing list for their own purposes rather than the groups. If this is the case, you will probably want to either think about limiting the group e-mails you receive or, in the extreme case, leave the group altogether.

Always remember, of course, the you can get a great deal out of LinkedIn Groups, so long as you are able to utilize this feature properly.

Understandably, the subject of this could cause a bit of confusion. Most of you, at this point, would consider personal role models to be parents and prominent figures. However, when it comes to your own professional development, who can you look up to?

A role model, from a business standpoint, can simply be defined as they person who you can look to for any information. They serve as a mentor and can provide the blueprint for a work ethic you would be proud to follow.

With the volatility of the professional world, however, finding that role model, for some of us, has become increasing difficult. It’s almost impossible if you happen to find yourself in an organizational role that has been newly created and that no other person has any previous knowledge of what is entailed in your position.

Do you have to go it alone? Of course not. It truly is incumbent upon you to seek out knowledge. And realistically, that knowledge shouldn’t be too hard to find.

The first step in finding a professional role model is to seek out professional organizations that cater to your industry. Don’t be afraid that the people you meet work for other companies. There’s a good chance you will come across veterans of the industry who have been in the same position you’re in right now. And most of them are gracious with their time and would be more than happy to be of assistance.

Once you’ve been able to establish contact with a potential professional role model, take it slowly. Nothing turns people off more than inundating them with a thousand questions all at once. There will be plenty of time for that in the future.

Instead, consider scheduling something informal, like a lunch or coffee. Nothing breaks the ice like a sit-down at the local Starbucks.

Once you’ve eased into your professional relationship, you will find that your role model can be your greatest key to success.

Everyone has seen them. They invade your e-mails with useless information ranging from bogus vacations to prescriptions for pills that either don’t work or you don’t need. And in an online community, they’re worse, pitching their wares in public.

You know them as spammers, the scourge of the Internet. And historically, spammers and their non-human counterparts, spambots, have made life for community managers miserable.

The problem has always been what is the best was to counteract these constant nuisances so they don’t flood your community with ads for porn, Viagra or fake watches.

Adding captcha to allow for user registration or posting is one possible answer. Realistically, asking a user to type a random set of letters, number or words can weed out the spambots. However, the human spammers will be privy to this little trick, and many have found ways to sidestep this.

For forum programs such as PHPBB, an internal solution in the form of modifications, or add-ins to their software, can be the answer. Their site contains a wide array of anti-spam mods for community managers to use.

Registration tools can also be used. The most restrictive is admin user activation. While this can guarantee that no spammers can get through, the process can be time-consuming on the adminstrator’s end and could be potentially off-putting to users. E-mail activation can also be useful, given that many spammers don’t register using valid e-mail addresses. Again, there is a risk of spammers side-stepping this hurdle.

Like the vanquishing of trolls, a topic we’ve recently tackled, ridding your community of spammers will take constant vigilance and monitoring of your community. While there is not surefire way to complete eradicate spammers,the above steps can get your community as clean as possible.

No matter the economic or employment climate, the need for professional development is a given. For a professional in any management capacity, part of that development should involve gaining an understanding of the work that your subordinates do on a daily basis.

That idea has already crossed over into popular culture with the airing of the CBS reality series, “Undercover Boss,” in which corporate executives go undercover to one of their local offices and do the work of the people on the ground.

I bring all of this up because of a recent experience I had at a local Wendy’s, in which I was served by not a regular crew member but a member of the management staff. What I found on this visit was astounding. The management member had a difficult time utilizing the touch-screen cash register and had to ask me numerous times to repeat items in my order. Truth be told, I wondered if I was ever going to have my order completed.

What I took away from this experience was this: No matter what your capacity in a particular organization, you must have at least basic knowledge of what your co-workers do, if, for no other reason, you may be called upon to perform that very task.

As a member of management, go beyond reading the written job descriptions. Schedule cross-training opportunities for yourself and your subordinates. The skills you gain by participating in these events can help you both in your current position and potentially down the road.

How you grow professionally has always depended on what you learn. And by learning about the various tasks, you can increase your value within the organization.

After a great deal of testing and numerous release candidates, the day we have been waiting for has finally arrived – OpenOffice 3.2 is now available to the public!

You will be able to download the new version via the OOo Website – http://download.openoffice.org. Also, for those of you following along, here are our posts as part of our Countdown to OpenOffice 3.2:

Part One – The Countdown Begins
Part Two – Writer
Part Three – Calc
Part Four – Impress and Draw
Part Five – Base

Also, be sure to check out the Features page on OpenOffice.org.

The OOo team has touted this version as one with better compatiability with proprietary software, faster load times and improved security. For our part, we’ve already downloaded our copy and will provide a full review next Wednesday.

Until then, download away! And, of course, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

As a job seeker, researching prospective employers is part and parcel to the entire process. Not only do you get to find more information about an organization prior to an interview, you can also seek out opinions from clients and former employees in order to determine if this is a right fit for you.

However, as an entrepreneur or freelancer, doing the same thing with prospective clients may seem, at the very least, awkward and at worst intrusive. After all, here is a potential source of income for you, and how is it going to look if you make mention of the fact that you want to research them a little further?

Obviously, there are differing opinions about whether or not conducting background checks on prospective clients is appropriate. But the truth of the matter is that, like when you were a job seeker, you want to make sure that the client is the right fit for you.

This subject hits pretty close to home for us. On at least a couple of occasions, we have agreed to do business with clients who turned out not to be on the up and up. The end results became a massive loss of man-hours and money. Effectively, we wasted our time and efforts and turned down other projects.

As much as we, as entrepreneurs, appreciate the business our clients have to offer, clients, conversely, have to understand that this is no game to us. We didn’t get into business for ourselves to give away our services. And 99 percent of clients do understand this.

So, how can we spot that other one percent? Or, a better question should be: When is it appropriate to do more research on a prospective client?

Normally, this is the part where we lay out advice on what to do. However, we’re interested in hearing what you have to say on the subject. Please feel free to comment on this post or reply to us on Twitter at @togsolutions. We’ll follow up on this subject next week.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Just like clockwork, you see the announcements online and in the media. It’s one of the signs of spring.

And no, it’s not the groundhog.

It’s the start of spring job fair season. And like in the fall, organizations and job seekers alike are gearing up to meet each other.

We have made it a note to discuss job fairs during the spring and the fall as it has consistently been an opportunity to at least speak with organizations to get an idea about the overall job market. Unfortunately, for many job seekers, there been more talk than opportunity, as the touch economic times has increased the number of fair attendees and slashed the number of employers.

Now that the employment outlook is looking better, it’s important for you, the job seeker, to get back to the fair circuit to see what’s out there. Unlike the last couple of seasons, though, you’ll find that the number of employers will likely be going up.

That, of course, leads us to the job fairs themselves and a pertinent question: When times were good, which job fairs were effective and which weren’t?

During 2006 and 2007, when the job market was still good and there were plenty of opportunities to be had, my work afforded me the chance to attend a variety of different fairs. As a result, it allowed me to conclude that not all job fairs are created equal.

At the top of the list are job fairs conducted by colleges and universities. These events are aided by a strong career services staff, alumni employers and venues that can accommodate large numbers of organizations.

Next up are non-profit and public organizations, such a local urban leagues and unemployment offices. Again, their community connections allow for a more diverse group of potential employers, giving you a better chance to connect with places you may want to work for.

Job fairs sponsored by employment periodicals and online job boards are hit and miss. In the past, some have taken the wise step in partnering with a non-profit or institution, in which case they are able to present more prospective employers.

Some, on the other hand, do no such thing and bring around the same employers over and over again. This does not bode well for you as a job seeker, who, even in the best of times, would be staring down the barrel of an hour and a half wait to see the same half-dozen employers you saw the last time they set up shop.

With all job fairs, be mindful of what employers will be at these fairs. If you see a job fair advertised that doesn’t have a list of employers, it’s probably best to skip it.

With 2010 in full swing, one thing that won’t be carrying over long into the New Year is the 2.x version of OpenOffice.org. With version 3.0 being released in late 2008, and with the upcoming public release of OOo 3.2, the 2.x version, with its last release being 2.4.3, has achieved legacy status.

In its “end-of-life” state, OpenOffice 2.x will, at least from a community standpoint, cease to be maintained. That means support no more bug fixes or security releases. Translation? If you have a 2.x version, you’re pretty much on your own from this point forward.

That’s not to say that all users with older versions of OOo 2.x are completely out in the cold. As with most legacy software, there are numerous resources available online. In the case of OpenOffice, the community itself will be your best bet to answer questions about your older versions.

Also, if you happen to be running a system that came with the older version installed, you may also be able to get technical support through them.

Meanwhile, the long, winding journey that has been OpenOffice 3.2 is slowly, but surely, reaching its send. Since December, there have been numerous Release Candidates available, the most recent being today’s availability of Release Candidate 4.

And while we spent most of the end of last year in our Countdown to OpenOffice 3.2 series discussing the new features, OpenOffice.org has gone on step further, postineven more information about OOo 3.2′s new features on the OpenOffice Web site.

With news like this, users can be confident that a public release is just around the corner.

December 14th is here. Is OpenOffice 3.2?

Yes, and at the same time, no.

As we’ve been counting down to this date with the new

features that will be a part of all the programs that make up OOo 3.2, in anticipation of this day, December 14th, in which, according to the OpenOffice Wiki page.

But, since the holidays are upon us, the development team decided that perhaps this wasn’t the best time to release a new version. So, the wiki has been updated to read that OpenOffice 3.2 is pushed to a January release.

Meanwhile, as it has been for several months, a beta version of OOo 3.2 is available for those brave enough to check it out.

For this week, though, we can look for a Release Candidate version of OpenOffice 3.2 that will be ready on December 17th. For those scoring at home, the Release Candidate isn’t a beta, but not quite the finished product, as there are, as with any software, some remaining bugs that need to be worked out before being ready for public consumption.

While a definite release date is looming (though not concrete at the moment), we will, for our part, be switching back over to our regularly-scheduled OpenOffice Wednesday next week, but will certainly get into any news that we can find regarding the release of OOo 3.2.

Hopefully, we will see 3.2 in January, mostly because it looks as if the development team is already setting up to get OpenOffice 3.3 out the door next June.

Note: This is the fifth in a multi-part series on OpenOffice Wednesday that will focus on some of the new and upgraded features that will appear in OpenOffice.org 3.2, which is slated to be released December 14, 2009.

Part One – The Countdown Begins
Part Two – Writer
Part Three – Calc
Part Four – Impress and Draw

The development team for OpenOffice.org certainly had a field day with the database program, Base, the open-source counterpart to Microsoft Access. In fact, the number of changes and additions to Base far outstrip those of the other OOo programs.

• View/Zoom Menu Item - With Base, all documents within the database could be zoomed by using the View/Zoom menu item, with the exception of forms. That restriction has been lifted, and you will be able to manipulate the view of all your database items.
• Sun Report Builder - The report builder within Base will feature three items that will allow the removal of excess space. The top shrink and bottom shrink removes top and bottom spaces, respectively, while the Shrink command removes space from both directions
• First Line as Column Names – When rich-text format and HTML pages are copied to a database, there was no ability to allow for the first column of the copied material to be used for column names. With OOo 3.2, that capability has been added to Case with the click of a checkbox.
• Multi-line Text Controls – Multiple cut-and-pastes should be easier with the addition of the multi-text controls. That means the formatting will go with the text when it is copied.
• Form Property Browser – With 3.2, more information will be displayed in the property browser, including font name/style/size, plus the ability to change the positioning, size and anchor, which is very useful in the event you wish to modify multiple shapes.

Next week: OpenOffice 3.2 is available, and we will present a special Monday edition of OpenOffice Wednesday to review everything!

In deference to the famous line from the movie, “Anchorman,” the truth is that if you have noticed in job ads that more and more employers are seeking candidates with Spanish-speaking abilities.

This recent trend should come as no surprise. Because the Hispanic community is one of the fastest-growing demographics in the United States, along with a sharp increase in companies expanding operations in Latin America, the ability to speak Spanish is an ever-useful skill.

However, foreign language education of any kind tends to stop after high school, as many college students focus more on their specific majors. As a consequence, they will find themselves shut out of any bilingual opportunities.

The trend has gone beyond Spanish. Language ability has also extended to Chinese and Arabic as well, again because of the business growth in those regions.

So, if you are interested in seeking out these multi-lingual opportunities, you will certainly want to find educational opportunities that will allow you to market yourself to these positions.

First, and foremost, it’s never too late to return to school. Many two-year colleges offer foreign language courses at the fraction of the cost of their four-year counterparts. Also, some two-year institutions have taken their courses online, allowing for schedule flexibility for people with busy lives.

If you are looking for a more specialized and concentrated option, there are companies that cater exclusively to foreign language training, the most popular of which is Berlitz.

Software training options are also widely available. Rosetta Stone is the most popular software, plus foreign-language tutorials can be found for free all over the Internet.

When searching for opportunities to learn a foreign language, it’s always important to find a situation that is right for you, especially when it comes to price and schedule. That way, you will get the type or training that can help you to move at your own pace.

Once you have mastered a particular language, be sure to add this skill to your resume. And prepare yourself before the interview, because it’s a good bet you will be asked about it.

If you’ve gotten to this point, you have already assessed how you’ve gotten to the point where Changing Your Game is an option and you are certain that your current situation isn’t just a case of bad times hitting everyone. The tough questions, however, are not finished being asked.

At this stage, you are now ready to figure out if you have the financial capabilities of making such a change. This is broken into two categories: The employed and the unemployed, each with their own set of questions.

Let’s start with the unemployed. The situation, obviously, is a bit more flexible to pursue what you want to do rather than what you have to do. Your financial situation, of course, is also different. For instance, you may be receiving unemployment benefits, or those benefits my be close the running out.

For the employed, on the other hand, it is a far different matter. It then becomes an issue of how long do you need to get your other interests off the ground before you can leave.

In any case, you have to look at your finances, particularly your current expenses. As many financial experts can attest, your ability to save money is helped by cutting out the nickle-and-dime expenses like that Frappucino from Starbucks.

Your transitional time frame is equally important. We will make delve into the subject of training in greater detail at a later time, but it could play a role in how long it will take you to leave your situation.

Also, consider the income level you are at now versus where you want to be. If you have opted to strike out on your own, when did you plan on leaving your current position? Regardless of the answer, you should make sure that your finances are in order and you can sustain yourself in case you income fluxuates.

In the end, it is crucial for your to have a grasp on your finances before making any changes. So, if need be, seek outside financial advice before moving forward.

So, that was a rather awkward an unexpected layoff.

The good news is, though, that after a week of trying to get our Web host provider to figure out where they had put our lost database, the TOG Solutions site is back and fully functional.

And not a moment too soon. Due to our technical issues, we had to delay our Countdown to OpenOffice 3.2 temporarily, but we’ll be wrapping that up next Wednesday with all of the changes that will be featured with their Base program. And, as part of the public release, we will present a special Monday OpenOffice post on December 14th.

Our regular articles dedicated to digital media. online community management and career advice will also be back on track. And because it is Friday, we’ve got a Changing Your Game post on tap, so stay tuned!

For those of you who are regular visitors to the TOG Solutions site, we appreciate your patience and thank you for your continued support. It’s been a difficult year for all of us, no doubt. Hopefully, our technical difficulties serve as a signal that the worst is behind us, and good things are coming in the year ahead!

As always, we are here to help you with any of your needs, so feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.

Define irony: Posting a blog article about how social media is about trial and error, then, soon after, you made an error with your own.

That’s kind of how it went down on Friday, the day after we put up When Your Fans Turn Against You. I had the opportunity to speak with Susie Hall at Aquent, the organization whose Facebook activity was the subject of that article. While we were pleasantly surprised by their openness and receptiveness towards bettering their efforts, we ended up finding a shortcoming on our end.

If you have wanted the opportunity to post a comment on the TOG Solutions blog, you have likely found it difficult to do so. And that was because we asked you to log in.

Log in to what, you ask? Well, since we use WordPress for our site, anyone who has an account with WordPress.com would have no problem posting a comment. Those with no such credentials? It would have been a problem. Plus, from what we could tell, it looked to be kind of hard to figure out how to go about getting an account.

So, to fix that, we’ve went ahead on our end and did away with the need for you to have a WordPress.com account for comments. So, if there was an post that you wanted to weigh in on, we encourage you to do so.

When it comes to making a change in your life, self-reflection is important. In Changing Your Game, this part of it is crucial to your overall success. But not for the reasons you would think.

From time to time, you read about how you may be your own worst enemy in the workplace, most recently in a Yahoo! Finance article I came across. Understandably, at a time when your self-esteem has been taking a beating, articles like this don’t exactly bring about much of an ego boost.

But with Changing Your Game, denial isn’t an option. When you read something like this, rather than shaking your head and saying, “No, that’s not me,” take a good look at what they’re trying to say to you.

You’re in the process of making a decision to change the direction of your career and your life. This means undertaking difficult tasks like looking at yourself and asking honestly if things are really that bad.

Consider this: When you’re at work, do you find that your co-workers feel the same way as you do? When you talk to them, do they seem as frustrated with their jobs are you are with yours? As they are vocal as you are about your troubles?

By far, this part is the hardest thing that you will do in this process. We all like to have a high opinion of our abilities and the work we do, so, as a consequence, when things aren’t going well, we tend to look outside of ourselves for answers.

This is not one of those times. It’s especially true if this is a field that you chose. If that’s the case, think long and hard before you take the years of training and experience you’ve put into it. Maybe this is just a rough patch you’re going through, as many are these days.

In the end, it’s about making informed decisions, and you should take as much time as possible to make the most-informed decision about yourself. After all, it’s about your career.

Earlier this week, I had to ban a troll. I only consider it memorable because for the online communities I manage, trolls tend to be few and far between. However, if you happen to manage a community that is prone to these type of users, you may run into this issue much more often.

Trolling has been around as long as the Internet. They are, in their basic form, one of the most potentially disruptive and, as a consequence, damaging element to building and manageing your online community.

First, to clarify, trolls are not the same as spammers or spambots. These are a whole other class of user, who are generally dealt with by immediately deleting and blocking their access. We will delve into taking preventative measures against spammers at a later time.

Trolls, on the other hand, are typically human, non-bot users who, for one reason or another, enjoy being a disruption to an online community. Their trademarks are controversial and off-topic comments and posts created with the sole purpose of stirring the pot.

Identifying trolls can vary in degree of difficulty, again, depending on your community. For example, political communities, usually filled with emotionally-charged posts, make spotting trolls a tough proposal. On the other hand, less contentious communities allow trolls to be more easily identified.

The standard fix for trolls, on the user end, is to simply ignore then, classically dubbed, “Don’t feed the trolls.” The idea is that if the troll is craving attention and doesn’t get it, they will either go away or get in line with the normal conversation.

Moderators, for the most part, don’t generally need to step in unless the troll becomes more active in the community, menacing users by increasing their post counts. If this is the case, you have several courses of action.

First, you may wish to warn the user that their activity is not appropriate for the community. This is the least effective option, as trolls have a tendency to let a warning go in one ear and out the other.

So, with that in mind, you may want to consider banning. This can entail blocking posting privileges to a user either by username, e-mail address or even IP address. It is up to you to decide whether you wish to make the ban temporary or permanent.

Ultimately, as a moderator, the decision is up to you how to handle trolls. And always remember that your actions here will play a factor in the direction your online community goes.

Social media tends to be the place of trial-and-error when it comes to marketing and brand management. But for some, it becomes an embarrassing lesson in what not to do.

Take the marketing and design staffing firm Aquent, for instance. Recently, on their Facebook page, they posted a note, telling all of theirs tans that, like Jerry McGuire, they were there to “Show them the money.”

Their fans, in turn, took issue with that statement, to the point where some of them posted comments about the lack of money, or even the common courtesy of a follow-up, for that matter, that Aquent had showed them in recent memory.

An ironic reaction, given that one of Aquent’s core competencies is to staff for such fields as online marketing. You would think that they could have this this potential backlash coming, especially since they experienced similar comments in previous posts.

Realistically, some attempts to get the word out about your organization can potentially have the same negative effects, especially if you happen to be a staffing agency in this economy (Which, we’ve actually posted about some time ago).

The issue is never if a problem arises. The issue, rather, is how you and your organization deals with it. There are typically three ways to go about it, two of which are, well, wrong.

The first way to address backlash from a social media campaign is to delete the negative comments altogether. While this might seem like a good idea, you open yourselves up for even more attacks, and from Web sites and social media you can’t control.

Second, which appears to be how Aquent has dealt with it, negative comments are ignored, and you go about your business. This poses a worse threat, as those who are bashing you will not only continue to do so, they will feel that they can do so without impunity. Pretty soon, more users will arrive, telling their stories, until you’re stuck with a mountain of complaints in your own venue!

This is why it’s recommended that you engage these comments tactfully. In a society where the customer is always right, you want to start out the conversation with apologizing for how they were treated.

From there, you want to proceed to ask questions as to how best the situation be resolved. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are there for the interaction. Go ahead an take full advantage of it.

If not, you’ll be in a similar situation as Aquent: Pages full of disgruntled users who will continue to inflict damage.