{selling your thing} i just invented the word spam-ish. find out what i mean...
karen gunton
if you have a facebook page for your biz you may have noticed a new spot on your wall for ‘spam’. i just spent a few minutes reading through all of the posts facebook decided were spam, and moving them back to the wall. the new automatic spam filter isn’t perfect, but it did get me thinking about spam.
from Wikipedia:
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. While the most widely recognized form of spam is email spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media.
Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.
from spamabuse.net
Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it.
some spam is obvious (the nonsense comments that end up on my blog from fake Louis Vitton and the emails on ways to increase my penis size come to mind) but i am guessing if you are reading this blog you are a one woman operation with a very little business and NOT partaking in this obvious definition of spam.
what i would like to suggest is that you look at the way you are promoting your biz via social media sites such as facebook and twitter, blogging and even sending emails or personal messages. i have seen actions and read comments by people who have had experiences that can be construed as spam-ish. and the thing is, if it is turning people off, is it really worth it?
(btw spam-ish is my new word. you might not be sending those penis enlarging emails but your posts still have that hint of spamminess about them. not true spam maybe, but spam-ish nonetheless.)
blog comments
so you visit a great blog or read a fantastic blog post, and decide to leave a comment (which we bloggers LOVE byt the way!)
- thanks for the great post! i sell widgets and i really like your point about xyz. it is totally going to help my biz.
- i am having a sale on my widgets. 50% off. come check it out.
you probably wouldn’t dream of leaving comment 2 - it is pretty spam-ish - so i am going to assume you have the whole commenting on blogs thing down pat. but the same rule applies to facebook.
facebook page wall posts
yes, facebook is a great place to find fans and network. most of the time if you like someone’s page and leave a friendly comment they will follow you back. but sometimes the types of posts you leave on a page can feel spam-ish.
- hi my name is karen and i sell widgets @widgets’R’us. i love your page, thanks for sharing such useful stuff!
- hi my name is karen. i have a super duper sale on widgets this month. tell your friends.
comment 1 will probably get you a ‘like’ back. comment 2 will likely be deleted. most biz owners don’t want you using their page to sell your thing.
tagging on facebook
a lot of people are now using the tagging function (add an @ before you type the name of a page) as a way to post on another page’s wall or give a shout out. a true shout out is a welcome thing for a page (i adore getting a shout out), but sometimes tagging can be spam-ish.
- widgets’R’us would like to give a shout out to some awesome local pages – we love your stuff! tag @bizA @bizB @biz C
- widgets’R’us is having a super duper sale – 50% off everything! tag @bizA @bizB @bizC
comment 1 is a lovely shout out and will probably get your biz a shout out right back someday. comment 2 is kinda spam-ish, no? you are trying to sell your thing and just tagging my page randomly. delete.
besides, it is counter-intuitive: the only people who will see comment 2 are probably the owner of the page and a few people who happen to stop by when it is showing on the wall. but if the page owner likes your shout out and gives you one back, that shows up in the news stream of all of their likers. wouldn’t that be so much better for promoting your biz?
match your post to the purpose of the page
i have a biz ‘tips & help’ page. my fans are looking for tips & help. they are not looking to buy widgets, at least not on this particular page. try to add a post that matches the purpose of the page you are visiting.
- hi there, i love your page! i have a biz called widgets’R’us and i found this awesome site which tells you how to make your own welcome page. thought folks here might like to check it out.
- hi there, i love your page! i am having a sale on my widgets, 50% off for today only. check it out. better yet, let me show you how you can make billions selling widgets.
i love a post that is a tip or a question or advice or a resource! i would probably give you a shout out to show my appreciation for your participation. i might even remember your awesomeness and buy something from you. but if you only ever post to tell us all about your super duper sale, that doesn’t really match the purpose of my page. kinda spam-ish.
there are lots of pages whose purpose IS to promote your page. they want you to add a post about your super duper sale. go find those pages for those types of posts! try: Promoting Australian Small Business, Promote My Fan Page, The Mummy Tree Mall - Promote Your Products Here, Wahm Connect , Australian Fanpage Shoutouts, WAHM Canada , It's Your Shout...
frequency of sales pitches
if every post you send out on twitter, facebook, email etc. is an attempt to get people to buy something from you, that starts to feel a bit spam-ish after awhile.
- promote your widgets. ask a question. comment on a post. share a useful link. share a funny anecdote. help another biz owner. give a shout out. comment on a photo. say thanks to someone helpful. tell someone you love their thing.
- promote your widgets. promote your widgets. promote your widgets. promote your widgets. promote your widgets. promote your widgets. promote your widgets. promote your widgets. promote your widgets. promote your widgets.
see what i mean? option 2 is annoying. i have mentioned this before, so i won’t go on about it again, but you should read this post: stop selling your thing. i explain why it gets tiresome and give you ideas for other types of posts you can make. good rule of thumb – for every one post to sell your thing make 10 posts of the other variety.
social media is ultimately about connecting with people. selling your thing might be a result of those connections (that’s what we hope for, anyhow) but people can’t connect with a sales pitch if that is all you ever do.
be real. be present. be personal.
people want connections. they want to feel like they are valued clients/potential customers. so write posts and send messages that are personal and that you have taken the time to write yourself.
- hi karen. thanks for following me. i see you have your own biz and like to drink beer, me too! fun to meet you here.
- hi karen. thanks for following me. i sell widgets. check my page and get 50% off!
comment 2 is spam-ish, especially if it is sent as an automatic direct message on twitter. yes, it is nice to say thanks for following me, but take the time to type it out yourself and actually see who i am. impersonal, autoresponder types stuff feels a lot like traditional auto-generated spam, so best to not lean towards that type of action.
because you are a diligent biz owner, you may have managed to collect every email address of every person who ever bought or admired your widgets. do you...
- send an email to your customer when you think she has run out of widgets to see if she would like to order more
- send an email to your entire address book every time you have a 50% off sale.
even if people gave you their email address willingly, option 2 is still spam-ish. for all of your biz news, updates, sale information, special offers etc. that you want to share with customers take the time to set up a proper email list which people can opt in for, which also means they can unsubscribe if they no longer wish to get your emails. i set up my email lists with mailchimp (which i find to be way easier and more convenient than keeping track of email addresses and opt ins and unsubscribes myself.)
think before you post
so that is my run down of biz behaviour that i find to be kind of spam-ish and some alternative things you can do instead. take a look back at those definitions of spam and ask yourself this:
is your message...
- unsolicited
- indiscriminate
- repetitive
- impersonal
if so, then it is probably a spam-ish sort of message.
try instead to...
- have an opt in
- match the purpose of the site you are posting on
- mix it up with different types of posts
- connect with people
isn't it worth it if it means your posts actually get read, shared, tagged and enjoyed instead of DELETED?
what do you think? am i being too harsh here? do you find these sorts of posts to be spam-ish as well or do you welcome them? have you had someone call your post spam? were you offended or could you see their point? do you have other types of spam-ish behaviour that you could add to this post? please leave a comment, i would love to hear from you!
Reader Comments (18)
I agree totally with everything you have written about spam on FaceBook! I am friends with someone starting up their own business and almost every staus update has been about the sale that they're having. If I wasn't friends with her I would be tempted to 'unlike' her page or hide her on my news feed!
At Piccaninny Rugs, I really try to avoid the constant plugging of my business infavour of letting my 'likers' know what I'm up to in the business.
Thanks again for an awesome resource for us newbies just starting out!
thank you so much for commenting bec. i am very glad to know i am not the only one that finds that sort of posting to be spam-ish. i have seen people complain about there posts being called spam, so i thought it might be good to have a look at why.
i am glad you found my page and look forward to chatting with you more as you work on building your biz =)
Another really helpful social media post Karen! Have you ever thought of basing an ebook around them?
There really is a fine line, but when you spell it out like this it seems so obvious! I have to admit, we only launched our page about 10 days ago and looking back, are guilty of 'spamish' posts as we try to start up our biz! Thank you so much for your help and advice once again!
thank you helen =) i have about 10 ideas for ebooks, but i might have to give up sleeping!! i really appreciate yoru encouragement to keep going with these types of posts.
hannah, i am glad that you found some useful stuff in here. good luck with your new page and the launch of your biz!
This was a great read, and I totally agree with you! I am confident after reading this that I am not 'spamming' :-) I always worry because I don't want to turn people away or put them off my page but still want to promote my products!
I look forward to reading more of your blogs - thank you :-)
Spot-On!! Couldn't agree more.
I'm lucky, I haven't been swamped with a lot of these type of posts on my FB page, but when I do, it really gets me cranky! I posted on my page only this week that I will be deleting any posts blatantly advertising their wares and that there are dedicated pages for it.
This is a very well written article and I have posted the link on my page.
Thankyou for spelling it out for us!!!
Not at all harsh! I see a lot of these messages on Twitter (especially from etsy sellers who have their EVERY listing set to auto-tweet), which makes me crazy.
Twitter, facebook and email are all COMMUNICATION channels. Advertising is not communicating. A conversation is communicating!
But I know just as many crafters (and those are the ones I adore and like to work with!) that are SO afraid of being spamish that they NEVER share their thing. There's a happy balance that both respects the awesomeness of your thing and the time/mindspace of your people.
Thanks for the great post!
emily - glad this helped you think about your own posting. it is so worth it to be sure you don't lose fans =)
sandi - it is tough sometimes as a page admin to draw the line between a friendly hello and something more spam-ish. i delete the posts that feel spam-ish to me, it is not what i want my page to be about. thank you so much for sharing this on your own page.
tara- that is so true, and so well said! thank you =)
Thanks again for another great article Karen!
I don't think you are harsh at all. Honest and direct- yes, harsh- no. I find your articles are full of really helpful info and tips, and you deliver them in a clear easy to understand way. I am finding your articles an invaluable resource as I am getting started and trying to navigate my way.
I have been holding back a bit because I wasn't really sure where the line was, but thanks to you I now have some really clear guidelines. Much appreciated.
dani, thank you so much for your comment. i am just sharing things with you all as i figure them out myself, so it is really nice to know that these posts are helpful to you. good luck with your biz building and be sure to keep in touch, i love to chat with other biz builders!
It is SO good to read a post like this and think to myself "hey, I'm actually following all of these rules without realising it!" and its true. I really dislike pages that are constantly flogging their wares, and all they have to post about is what they are trying to sell. I also really dislike when people go to my page and invite MY likers to their latest sale etc. blatantly using my page as a platform for advertising! especially when we sell similar items! This is awesome info, thanks!!
ugh, jessie, i can't stand that either. seriously, you are going to use MY page to sell MY fans YOUR thing? move to spam immediately. what i don't get is why they keep trying, don't they see it doesn't work? oh well.
glad that this post reminded you that you are running things in a way that shows integrity, and good sense! keep at it =)
Hi Karen,
Thank you so much for the great information. I always look forward to your Sunday email, but this one more so after reading the threads this week about being spam-ish. With likes going up and down lately I have been getting really concerned about whether I was doing things correctly and after reading this, I feel a whole lot better. One thing,among many, that I had stopped doing is shoutouts, I love giving pages that I like, purchase from, who purchase from me and find, a shout, also doing them for newbies etc, but stopped because I wasn't sure of the "line", but will keep doing them, cause I love getting them. ( I was probs doing them 3-4 x a week, is this too much?)
Thanks again and hope you have a great Mothers Day too. :o)
hi celia,
thanks for stopping in to leave a comment. i am glad this post helped you out, i am actually planning a follow up after all of the conversations going on about fb spam lately. i think that if you are doing shout outs and it is working for your biz page, and it is welcome by your fellow pages, then go for it! i think the main thing is for people to have a plan and a purpose in mind when they use social media (facebook) for marketing. it does take some trial and error to see what works and what your 'right people' want and need from you. when you find something that works, then keep at it! as for frequency, again, do what works. 3-4 times a week seems reasonable, especially when mixed with other types of posts - i think it is quality not quantity that matters. =) good luck with your page and thanks for reading build a little biz!
Lots of useful information. I definitely don't spam other peoples pages, but I guess I am sort of spamming my own. I am going to start to post other information as well. Thanks for the tips.
Here is a story that peeves me though. I own a small boutique and once commented on a larger boutiques page. It was a truthful post! I sell accessories and they sell clothing, furniture, and some other items. I even made sure to check that if I commented, I wouldn't be stepping on their toes. My comment read how I thought their furniture was gorgeous and good luck with the opening of their store front. My comment was deleted, the owner tracked me down on etsy and wrote me an nasty message telling me not to spam her page!!! I was like WTH!?!? That was an honest comment. Well, stinks for her, I could have been a paying customer. I know MANY boutique owners that buy from other. ME INCLUDED!! (end rant...haha)
kristina - ugh that is horrible!! unfortunately one person's friendly gesture is another person's spam. the good news is for every one person who rubs you the wrong way in the online world there are 10 fabulous people who will probably end up being more than just online connections, more like friends!! keep reaching out and connecting and ignore - and don't forget about karma!! hee. =)
O no!! I am a spammer, this has been a fantastic eye opener to how I need to improve my page and STOP spamming. Thank you Karen for sharing, I have learned a lot and really appreciate the way you have explained it. Most blogs I have read state - you should do this - but do not explain how. Jade