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How NOT To Behave on Facebook

Social media is a "must-have" for online marketers such as ourselves. We can use it either to generate traffic or - perhaps more importantly - to network with potential partners and colleagues.

Unfortunately, some marketers masquerade as networkers, whereas they are, in fact, aggressive pitchers for their product.

Two people who "friended" me on Facebook recently were of this ilk.

Fake Friend #1 was an individual who bombarded my direct messages with copy and paste sales copy about his product - often in intervals of only a few hours.

After I ignored all of these, he spammed several of my posts by leaving comments as a "warning" to other marketers: that I don't care about networking and will just brush off "serious" attempts to make connections.

Fake Friend #2 was a little more irritating, as he offered genuine words of encouragement, and for a while I thought I had made a connection with a potential partner. 

Nevertheless, he was also pushing his product from the beginning. Each of his exchanges in this regard was littered with all of the usual marketing platitudes: 

"This has made me X quadrillion dollars in ten seconds!"

"My strategy is changing the face of internet marketing forever!" 

Etc. etc.

(I'm exaggerating, of course, but you get the idea.)

The only link he sent me was to a squeeze page with minimal content.

At no point did he offer to furnish any serious proof that his solution works. He just kept telling me (politely but insistently) that I needed to get started with his methods immediately.

Twice I told him that I wasn't interested. On the second occasion, I explained that I was already dedicated to a number of projects (entirely true), and I had made a decision to not get distracted by alternative "opportunities".

At this point, the gloves came off; Fake Friend #2's prior pleasantries turned out to have been nothing but a pretense:

He then blocked me immediately, so I could reply no further (not that I would have done so).

What we can learn:

First, networking is networking, and pitching is pitching. Your attempts to network may lead to a pitch if a particular conversation happens to migrate towards you offering a solution to a genuine problem someone faces. 

But going in cold with a pitch makes the conversation all about you and your product, not about the person to whom you are speaking.

Second, suppose you wanted to buy a PC. Do you think Bill Gates would message you directly of Facebook?

Time is precious - seriously successful people wouldn't waste much of it on a cold lead.

Pitching directly to random people on Facebook shows that your business probably isn't doing that well.

Third, don't get irritated when someone doesn't reply on Facebook straightaway - especially over the weekend.

It is true, for instance, that I ignored Fake Friend #1 above, but many of his messages also came in on a Saturday or Sunday when - frankly - I have better things to do than answer cold calls. In fact, I rarely log on to Facebook at all on those days.

And again, seriously successful marketers are unlikely to be upset by the failure of one random person to reply.

Fake Friend #1's frustration was proof that he is probably struggling with his own business. 

Fourth, don't assert to someone that they need your solution or that you can fix a problem they have.

My friend and mentor Randy Smith calls this the "win the argument, lose the sale" phenomenon.

Suppose that someone really does have a problem, and you really do have the solution to that problem. 

If so, belittling or humiliating that person into accepting the fact will cost you the sale. Regardless of how correct you are in your assessment, they won't care about your offer because of how you treated them.

For all I know, Fake Friend #2 may actually own the very solution that would have made me tens of thousands of dollars in a few months.

But such was his attitude, he can b*gger off.

With regards to the skills he was actually able to demonstrate, the only product I would consider buying from him is a very specific course:

"How to Suck at Selling".

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That's it for this week. 

I'm sorry this has been another rant about irritating people I deal with. But I hope you take away some valuable lessons and manage to avoid what idiots are doing!

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