When etiquette, common sense, and sound marketing collide

This isn’t a rant.  It may have some of the climactic build-up and emphatic narrative commonly found in a rant, but make no mistake. This isn’t a rant.

If it were a rant, I’d exclaim how sick and tired I am of “social media marketers” that ask to connect with me (under the auspice of digging my blog content, knowing so-and-so whom I also know, or being a member of the same LinkedIn group) only to then promptly. Walk. Away.  Never to be heard from (read: zero personal messages, zilch comments on my status, nada clicks on the stupid Like button when I share videos or links) again until such time they want:

1. Me to like their sister’s cousin’s candle franchise.  Or their client’s muffler shop.
2. Me to participate in an obscure, infinitely niche market conference in either Spokane WA or Melbourne Australia (uh, I’m in Iowa).

This definitely isn’t a rant.  What this is, is an observation.  I’ve noticed that there are 7 or more of my “friends” who have used Facebook as a forum for casting a wide net for their own personal gain.  I can’t say what purpose, exactly, the net is intended to serve but I’m left to infer that to these folks see it as lead generation or awareness-building for the brand.  Personally, I’d call foul on both accounts.

I’m not a lead if I haven’t taken any qualified action.  Accepting your Facebook friendship is, to me, the equivalent of acquiesing to share a bench when the bus is full.  You wouldn’t ask me to loan you $5 bucks before we’d traveled a city block together, would you?  It’s too soon.  If you’re my FB friend but we haven’t exchanged anything, it’s too soon to use me.

And you’re not introducing me to the favorable benefits of the brand you’re hawking when you send some automated form lacking a personal message (which would serve to orient me to your line of reasoning) or context (why you believe the candle business would be interesting to me).  Again, we don’t know each other that well yet.  Talk about lack of social skills.

I get why some may be tempted to send invitations to everyone in their book, or why they might ask for a page “like.”  I administer small business Facebook pages and know the lure of the numbers can be like a siren’s song.  ”We had x number of engagements last week,” you might say, “We have to double that the next two weeks.”  While the strategy is hollow, the tactics are smarmy and evoke my distrust. Don’t message all of us, step away from the admin interface.

I think there’s nothing wrong with trying new things with prospects.  But take care to confirm your ‘friends’ know you see them as prospects, lest they decide to dump you for being disingenuous and self-serving.

I can’t recommend a blast approach if your business is focused on serving customers with legitimate products relevant to their lives.  Instead, tell your story – go ahead, get crafty with it – and you’ll have the opportunity for an emotional connection.  Make a difference to a few, and scale will follow.

For what is scale if there are no roots?