Social Media Marketing is Not Easy

I’ll be the first to admit that social media marketing is not as easy as other forms of business promotion. There are so many rules, spoken and unspoken, that it is all too easy to make a mistake. However, there is a big difference between making a mistake and making a social media pest out of yourself. The guiltiest of the bunch in this latter group are multilevel marketers using Twitter, and other social networking sites, to do what I like to call Nuisance Marketing.

Nuisance Marketing is when you, either purposefully or inadvertently, use spammy social media marketing tactics which push away prospects and make the whole industry look bad. I’m not sure what is being taught at some of these company’s training seminars about how to use Twitter as a social media marketing tool but there are a number network marketers who are nuking their brands by becoming “That Guy”.

You may be “That Guy” who uses social media marketing wrong if:

Your idea of social media marketing is every tweet you post is a link to your program.

I get that you want people to look at your business and sign up. However, what you are doing is spamming your own Twitter feed and no one wants to read spam. Twitter marketing is about conversing with your followers. When all you do is post spam, there is nothing to talk about and your prospects find other people to engage with.

The only conversations you start are ones about your business.

So no one is paying attention to your Twitter stream because it is filled with links to your network marketing opportunity. Therefore, you decide to “start conversations” by sending your links directly to people in your target market using the @ reply button. This is like going up to someone at a party and yelling at them to go to your website.

You use the direct message function on Twitter to spam your link.

Even though people yelled at you for spamming your link at them or still completely ignored you, you decide to double down on the nuisance marketing tactic and start direct messaging people the link to your website. Then you wonder why people start mass unfollowing your or why your account is shut down by Twitter for spamming.

You don’t talk to anyone.

This is my favorite by far. Even though you are spamming like a mad man, there are a few people who actually want to talk to you. However, you don’t reply to their @ messages or direct messages. Why is this? Most likely because you are using a Twitter application, like Pluggio, to put your account on automatic pilot. Your brand of social media marketing is working and you have people interested in your business but you don’t have a clue because you are not there paying attention.

You pester people to promote you.

Okay, so you read advice by a social media guru who tells you that you can increase your popularity by getting other people to retweet your tweets and links. You then shift your nuisance marketing tactics into full gear and begin spamming people asking them to retweet your stuff. The problem is that you are not providing anything of value to retweet. So even if they did want to take pity on you and promote your stuff, you have nothing worth promoting.

You demand people follow you.

It’s crazy to believe that some people would be so bold but I’ve seen this happen and have had it happen to me. You realize that the bigger your follower count the more impressive you look to your prospects. But you don’t want just anyone. You want someone with clout who can really push your Twitter profile to the next level. So you begin tweeting to them to follow you over and over and over again.

Or, as a way of trying to avoid being called a spammer you follow and unfollow them repeatedly. You know that they are sent an email each time they get a new follower and you are hoping to get their attention by constantly showing up in the email.

If you recognize any of these social media marketing tactics as something that you have done or are doing, then you need to stop right now. You are actually doing more damage to your business than you are helping it. If you are interested in learning how to build a brand and get attention to your business the right way, then contact me. I can take you through, step by step, on the best way to attract prospects without having to resort to nuisance marketing.

Download my free social media checklist (sign up in sidebar) for a daily to do list of all the things you need to do to increase your following. For personalized help, contact me for a free consultation on the best way to market your business online including using social media marketing and other internet business tools.