The possibilities that social media sites such as Facebook offer internet marketers can indeed be great. As business or marketing orientated Facebook users, we can build networks  consisting of interested stakeholders.

We are able to communicate directly with our prospects, and we might receive valuable feedback on how we are doing our work.  As a result, we can adapt our internet marketing strategies, build better brands or maybe even increase sales.

With all these benefits, it’s no wonder that many businesses are starting to build a social media marketing plan as part of an integrated internet marketing strategy.

Keep that paragraph in mind while reading the next story :

A while ago, as I was checking my facebook page I noticed a friend request. It had a message attached to it.  So, I opened up the message and there’s this person introducing himself (I will not name him).  He seemed like a nice guy and aside from that I saw that he is the CEO of some kind of internet marketing related company. Something to do with increasing your conversions …

Since many people who have something to do with web marketing, seo or related topics are on my list, I figured I’d  just add him. So I did …

Next day, I log in to my facebook account and find another message. I open up the message and it’s him again. This time he’s asking me if  “we can work together, and what I do”.  Not a strange question, as this happens to me from time to time.  For instance he may be trying to recruit me for some work, or maybe his company is to have a review written about their service.

Anyway,

So I reply, to him and tell him that I blog at newmediatype and that I do internet marketing, seo, web consultancy, affiliate marketing. My question to him however was : “what would you like to work with me on ?”. I asked him this question because I figured that he probably visited the blog or knew about me before asking me if we could work together.

Days pass, no reply,

Turns out that this person, who initiated communications with, who asked me what I do and if I can work with them took me out of his friend list without replying.  Now, what would that mean ?

It took me around 10 seconds to understand that this person, who owns an internet marketing company is doing his thing on facebook in order to sell people his company’s service.  But he’s not doing in a very decent or effective way.
He’s primarily spamming people that are in marketing related groups, trying to befriend them, in the hope that he will find a person that’s trying to learn internet marketing. Then he’ll try to sell them his service. When I replied to him that I do internet marketing and such he just took off.

What I don’t understand though, is his method and how he thought it would be a good idea to integrate such ‘absolute type of marketing’ into social media. Even though I wasn’t a potential client for his service, he neglected one of the most essential benefits that his social media could provide him. Building a valuable network.

The biggest social media marketing mistake that is made

Instead of taking off without communicating to me because he didn’t think I’d buy his service, he could have built a relationship with me. As a result of that, I could have mentioned his service on blogs or even referred potential customers to him. But now, the only thing he essentially did was make me dislike him.

It’s called social media marketing, so try to be social

Social media marketing is as much about marketing as it is about building networks. Building networks and effectively pushing products or services within a network is a long term process which needs to be handled with care. It’s about cultivating reciprocally beneficial relationships.  Going for short term gain and dumping a contact because you probably can’t get their money simply means dumb marketing.

In my opinion, the best way to use social media for marketing purposes is to look at it as a balancing act between marketing methods and socializing.

I believe that one does not work without the other …