Last updated on October 14, 2024
Social Media Marketing – Use Your Head and Don’t Spam!
Social media marketing through different platforms is a great way to get your name or your side gig out in front of consumers. It just makes sense to pursue blogging, Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), online forums or similar avenues to target and reach as many people as possible. D’uh. And I’m pretty sure we’re all agreed that Spammers are the bane of our modern Internet existence. Never in a million years would we want to be lumped into that 3a.m. infomercial, fly-by-night, spray-on-hair category, right? Awesome.
Then while we’re busy flogging the you-know-what out of whatever it is we’re promoting, there’s something that needs to be kept in the forefront of our thoughts while we do it – there are rules. Why are there rules? Okay, aside from some behaviours being unethical never mind outright illegal in some circumstances, remember that using social media in the wrong ways can sink your reputation. It can turn you from Internet entrepreneur to snake oil salesman in a heartbeat. And that would be… what’s the word I’m looking for here? Counterproductive, yes?
You say you don’t, but…
I can already hear the indignant “I don’t Spam!” ringing out across the web. So, I’ll counter with a “Are you so sure about that?”
Email has raised our awareness of what is and isn’t Spam, so I think we’re all pretty good there. Although, to be honest, I still run into it in the course of my outside job every day. The saddest thing I see are regular people who have their email accounts shut down for Spam-y behaviour. How does it happen? They didn’t understand the way they were sending some messages would be perceived that way. That’s a discussion for another day, though. Let’s keep this to social media marketing.
At a very high level, no matter what social media community you target for promotion, abide by the rules and guidelines of that space. Not all of them are the same. How do you find out? Um, they’re posted. You have to read them. The insurance company isn’t going to help you out when you tell them you didn’t bother to read the car manual to find out where the parking brake was that would keep it from rolling down a hill and off a cliff. Social media spaces aren’t going to have any mercy, either. You’ll be banned and that would be… what’s that word again? Oh yeah, counterproductive.
Don’t spam your message
Use your good judgement every time you reach out to the Internet community, because the backlash could crush you.
Social media marketing doesn’t mean you sign up for every community in the universe and start broadcasting your message to everyone and anyone. It’s not auto DMing on X (Twitter) to flog your new book. Or logging into ten thousand community forums and posting links to your website without conscience. Or without even being aware of the space you’re in to know if that’s even an appropriate place to put your link. All a big no-no. Seriously, don’t do it.
There is nothing worse that getting those inane auto DM’s that negate the fact that you’re a human being on the receiving end. You know you hate getting them, so don’t do it to other people. Like X (Twitter) used to say, “You are what you Tweet!”. Be sure you find out if you’re even allowed to post links in the community forums you consider. Not all of them let you do that. Shocked? You wouldn’t be if you read their individual rules of conduct. Not assuming what was appropriate on the last forum you posted to will be applicable everywhere will help keep you out of trouble.
Oh, and my other pet peeve…
Don’t pose as a consumer to post recommendations for your own gig – totally slimy. You do that on X? That’ll end in permanent account suspension; they even have a separate portion of their terms just to cover impersonations. Clearly I’m not the only one who wants to drop napalm all over your business for catching you at that. It will lose mine and everyone else’s trust for a really long time. Takes about five seconds to kill trust and months or years to regain it, so don’t shoot yourself in the foot. Because that’s, oh there’s that word again… counterproductive.
Exercise good judgement, check TOS
Social media marketing can definitely make the difference in the success of your promotion. Go there boldly and don’t be afraid of it. But follow the rules and exercise good judgement, always. The FTC Guides on Testimonials and Endorsements (U.S.) is a good general place to start and you can find info on various topics. Here’s Instagram’s TOS and Facebook’s. And don’t forget to check X’s Terms of Service.