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I have a pretty decent online presence between my websites, podcasts, twitter and facebook.\u00a0 As such, I tend to get a lot of PR emails and comments.\u00a0 This week, I received enough to prompt this blog post about Self-Promotion Spam.<\/p>\n
The emails were all form PR releases with a “Hey check out my cool new blah blah…” sort of thing with links and whatnotall.\u00a0 Two PR comments were left on another site of mine, which happens from time to time, but they were left on a static page and not a specific post and were the same kind of me-me-me thing as I received in my inbox.\u00a0 Then, to top it all off, I had someone mention me in a tweet along with four other people saying, “My new book is out, buy it here: <link>”. Clicking to view that persons account opened up to a twitter stream full of similar tweets, all tagging four different people each time.\u00a0 Sadly, there was no interactions or personal tweets from the user that would have let me know them.<\/p>\n
What do these things have in common?\u00a0 First, no personalization or attempt to connect with the audience – in this case, me.\u00a0 Just a form letter fill in the blanks and blast it out sort of thing.\u00a0 This falls into the check-out example I started the post with, where you cast as wide a net as possible without any regard for who your audience is or might be, and then cross your fingers and hope the number of people who respond is larger than the number you annoy.\u00a0 In my opinion, too many people and companies do this and consider it a worthwhile endeavor and use of their time and marketing dollars.<\/p>\n
Second, it was all me-me-me.\u00a0 Self-Promotion Spam, a sad new trend in social marketing.\u00a0 Of course the goal is to build your audience or sell your wares, but if that’s all you ever do, you won’t win yourself any fans.\u00a0 Especially when it’s your first communication, as these were with me.\u00a0 Ask yourself which would be more effective with you, a personal message of introduction maybe with a compliment, “Hey, I enjoy the blog and really appreciate what you do.”, or a cold call form letter asking you to buy something?<\/p>\n
Last, in each instance, I tuned them out.\u00a0 I deleted the emails.\u00a0 Deleted the website comments.\u00a0 Ignored the twitter account.\u00a0 Now that door is closed to them.\u00a0 I do a lot of promotion for other people on the podcasts, websites and social media accounts I have.\u00a0 I’m happy to do so because these people have taken an interest in me and often reciprocate when I have something to promote.\u00a0 It’s a sort of social currency, and something marketers need to think about, especially in today’s social media environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Marketing is a double edged sword.\u00a0 I bet you thought I’d say it was an art or a science.\u00a0 For most people, it’s a necessary evil.\u00a0 You have to market to get people to buy your stuff or use your … Continue reading