Stop the Facebook Insanity

Who's marketing on Facebook? Quite a few. Now who's sick of spammers? That many. As a marketer who also receives plenty of unsolicited information, I can see both perspectives. If you are a marketer, you need to promote yourself sensibly. Facebook is a social community, not a place to advertise unless of course, you are placing paid ads. And if you are a consumer, you need to control what you can and not what you can't.

Everyday I receive messages with a full page business overview along with a company replicated website links that I didn't ask for. It goes like this.

"Hello, Now Eat It"

If you are pitching about your company or product in your initial communication, you are spamming. Do you really think people are waiting to hear about your opportunity? If I wanted to learn about an MLM company, I'd just Google it, or go to Npros.com and look it up. Sending out unsolicited information is like an information assault.

Now That We Are "Friends"

So what about after you become friends? What about when someone asks you, "What do you do?" Is it ok then? Well, did they ask specifically for information on your business? If not, you are still semi-spamming. See, there's a difference between making general conversation and requesting specific information. When you meet someone at a party and they ask you, "What do you do?", you don't just hand out your brochure, do you? Don't take it as a chance to stuff people with your presentation.

"What Do You Think?"

Ok, so what if you were more subtle about it? What if you innocently said "Hi, here's XYZ Company. Take a look and let me know what you think." That's not pitching, is it? Yeah, I've seen that one too. If you are not sincerely asking for opinion, people will see right through it.

Let Me Advertise On Your Wall

Don't post self-serving comments or links that have no relevancy on people's walls. You wouldn't write and put up junk on people's houses, would you?

Why would people want to look at your information? What's in it for them? If you never established the value and benefits in what you offer, or never built a relationship with your audience, not only is it ineffective, but you are also damaging your relationships. Once you do, it's difficult to earn back people's trust.

Control Is Beautiful

Now let's talk about the receiving end of these unwanted information. First, keep in mind you can never control others. No matter what, there will be undesirable activities in the world. What you can do however, is what you do about it.

Are you adding or accepting friends you don't know? Are you blindly taking all invitations to groups, pages and events? If you do at least some of these, you are somewhat asking to be spammed. If you really want to limit solicitations, don't accept requests you know nothing about, or better yet, keep your profile private.

But if you are on Facebook, most likely it's because you want to be seen. So next time you want to complain about something, take that time and do something about it instead. Are you getting too many event notifications? Turn them off in your account settings. Unwanted posts on your wall? Delete them, or unfriend the people who are doing it. Too many group messages? Leave the group. If all fail, just make a decision to not let them bother you.

Many of us were never taught how to use social media, so of course we are bound to make mistakes. When done properly, it can be an excellent marketing tool, and a place to gain genuinely valuable information.