MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

How NOT to market on Social Networks

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Consider this – 140 characters is not enough to enable you contribute meaningfully to any discourse and the walled garden of Facebook is designed to lock you in to that site so that ever more adverts can be served up to you.

Here are two activities by Social Media ‘gurus’ that irk me:

  1. Posting links from one Social Networking site to other Social Networking sites – you are just increasing traffic between Social Networks and showing that you don’t really know how to decide which social network is best for you.
  2. Giving away stuff if people follow you – this can only lock you into a cycle of giving again and again to retain followers. You are probably someone who is so insecure that you BUY friends as well.

I shake my head when I see big brands advertising in other media (TV, Newspapers, Magazines) and encouraging people to visit them on Facebook and Twitter – valuable space and money that could be used to drive people to their web sites rather. When last did you see someone like The Herald encourage their readers to go to MyPE to find out more about them? So then why do big brands send people AWAY from their web sites to social networks? Just ridiculous I tell you!

The sequence of events should be: Web Site first and then social networks.

Your site is the place where you control the content and sales funnel. Social networks are the knock and drop or classifeds.

The rule is simple; “Post anything of value ON YOUR SITE first and ONLY THEN distribute to Social Networks.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.