At the recent Cosmprof North America trade show in Las Vegas, the Professional Beauty Association (PBA) hosted and moderated a panel discussion on social media, "Join the Social Democracy: How to Manage Customer Feedback in the Social Media Landscape.”

Patrick McIvor, Matrix Artistic Director, was one of the panelists.  McIvor has made it his mission to help the most social people in the world--beauty professionals--harness the power of social media. 

The discussion ranged from how to respond to negative reviews ("That negativity was existing already; it's just a cancer in the system.  You have to separate the personal criticism from the professional in order to know how to respond") to knowing your client, to controlling your brand message, to positive word of mouth.

"The best thing I could hope for was someone stopping my client on the street and saying "Who does your hair?" Today, even if you're a one chair salon or a small distributor, you can show the power of the people who love your brand with social media."

Best takeaway: McIvor says that most companies don't respond to positive feedback, they only respond to the negative.  So, the consumer thinks that in order to be noticed, they have to say something negative. Start saying "Thank you!"