The Cynical Use of Social Networking and Rules On How To Use It

Social media is a sham. People and organizations use it to sell their products to the public. – You knew that already?

How many new ‘friends’ are simply marketeers and cross-sellers employed to sell into the market-space instead, often selling into the same market-space as each other.  Soon we will see the market-space wars, as competitors vie for the same social group and target the same products competitively into that group. We will see new strategies evolving about how you can outsell your competitor in that space by ‘getting closer’ to your target audience and becoming even more devious.

Social Networking is not sacrosanct and some marketers display no integrity at all. People cannot discriminate between genuine social exchange and the opportunists that are selling blithely at them. The corporation and individual, that sells in this manner, will be perceived as being a nuisance. However before it is picked up and identified, its message may have reached many thousands of potential customers.

Forget the social networking courses and presentations that cost thousands of $$$, you have it all here in a list. These are the rules to social engagement for commercial gain.

The rules are:

1. Contribute – to the social media discussion. Make sure what you say is relevant, and appropriate.
2. Help – discussions along. If you are interested in them or they can be directed towards your organizations’ interests, more comments the better as you are usually allowed to comment freely. People like to get close to others they know more about, so the more you open up, the better people will like it and want to be your own personal ‘friend’.
3. Engage – with others. Educate them, engage them in dialogue, or simply flatter them.
4. Establish – relationships. Very important to be seen as credible in social media. This way, when you mention your brand, they will believe you.
5. Personalities – learn them and use them to your advantage, get closer to influencers by agreeing with their viewpoint. Select groups that you know something about, that your own personality and knowledge will shine through.
6. Sensitivity to others. Watch how others post. See what they are looking for from you. Positive feedback, reinforcement, agreement with their viewpoint? Supply it.
7. Help – others. When people appear to be at a loss in the discussion or maybe are losing the argument, support them – they will see you as a good guy and want to help you spread your own messages around.
8. Interest – show lots of interest in what other people are doing, they will be very flattered and willing to introduce you to other ‘friends’ who they think will like you too.
9. Time for action. Once you have softened your target audience and they are trusting, they will be likely to spread your messages broadly. This could be the time to go in for the kill. Use it – hard and fast.