eBid Widgets

The scope of the problem

As a viewer of social networks I’ve been making a couple of changes to my usage lately, and it’s got me thinking about the rights and wrongs of using networks as a marketeer. 

I’ve recently added Pinterest to my Social Networking sites, which means the list now reads: Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter. Since these days I’m pretty much working full-time (albeit in a variety of places) plus still keeping a toe in the eBid waters (newsletter, selling, forums and support via eBid Widgets and eBid Help), I’m aware of being quite demanding about quality over quantity. 

Most SNs (as we’ll call them henceforth) provide some filtering and opting-out facilities so that one is not compelled to read absolutely everything one’s friends and colleagues put forward. 

Facebook allows us to choose the type of updates we see, or to unsubscribe and at dire need unfriend an individual whose posts are becoming tedious or undesirable. Google+ operates on the basis of circles, making it a simple matter to drop those who bore us into a forgotten ring of tedium never to be viewed. Pinterest allows individuals to be followed en masse, or via individual boards so that topics that tire can be excluded from one’s stream. Tumblr operates as a purely opt-in function so boring blogs are never seen and reciprocity in following is not the matter of insistence (Facebook’s friendship model) or etiquette (Twitter’s follow/follow back) as it is with the others. Twitter is rather an all or nothing choice, with unfollowing being pretty much the only option.

Rule of three

I have found that my tolerance for marketing Tweets, Pins, status updates etc is fairly consistent across the platforms. Three’s my limit at any time. If three price-marked Pins appear on my Pinterest board I can live with that, and more so if they still conform to my ethos of style and interest. If the thing you are selling is beautiful and well photographed, or interesting and well photographed, or funny and well photographed… I’m happy to look at it. If you have a blurry pic of a dull box of grunge, don’t expect to stay visible on my boards. If, on the other hand, you do a great job, I’ll happily re-pin. Pinterest is about visuals, so the images have to cut the mustard. Well-photographed, remember. 

Facebook status updates and Twitter tweets are less visual (though both can carry thumbnails) and so it’s simply a matter of not over-loading my timelines. Three posts is about right (none is lovely, but that’s not what we’re trying to achieve here!) Send me more than three, fill my timeline, push my other friends off my screen and there’s a good chance that I’ll unsubscribe or unfollow your posts. If you post a lot of otherwise interesting content, use the SNs for real socialising, I may turn a blind eye or try to tweak my options to remove the ads. But make a habit of it, however funny and chatty you are otherwise you’re probably destined for the bin. 

Google+ is so much in its infancy that at the moment, like many users, I’m pretty non-selective about who gets on my radar and who stays there. But I am using circles to be selective, and only real updates with real content will make to my friends circle, pure marketing goes in the circle o’ spam (not it’s real name, but probably should be) which gets looked at about as much as you’d expect.  Google+ updates tend to be fairly bulky things, especially when accompanied by links and pics as selling notes always are, so not many are needed to fill a page. Three is probably pushing it here, but is still tolerable. One would be better and less likely to irritate. 

Tumblr’s a different beast and was only included for completeness. I’m not aware of anybody abusing Tumblr’s functionality to load me with spam, so it’s a non-problem and will promptly (no offence Tumblr, this is a good thing) be ignored. 

Improving your chances

There is a way to stop your messages, however many you do at a time, from being viewed as spammy. Add value. Mmm… horrible phrase, but memorable and snappy, so let’s go with it. How do you add value to a marketing post? Tell a story, give some background, be amusing. The same way you make any post to any SN or forum worth reading. Selling a fabric off-cut? Cut off what? What’s the story there? Tell your audience something they want to read and you’re not just adding value to the message, your adding it to the item too. People like stories, they like to be drawn in, and they love buying things that have a tale attached. Spare wheel for a bicycle? How come? Where did you find it? Did you bend the rest of the bike so badly only the wheel was left… don’t tell me there’s not a story there!

As mentioned above, good quality photographs matter. They matter anyway when selling - don’t let anybody tell you otherwise, they’re crucial - but when selling or marketing via an SN they are pivotal. So many SNs have a visual element, with Facebook’s becoming more prominent weekly as they move to the timeline model, and Pinterest being entirely graphical, the quality of the image is becoming paramount. If you post a really corking image you will find it spreading across the SNs on its own merit, your marketing blurb being dragged along as a happy bonus. 

Practice what I preach

Now that I’ve thought all that through, and understand how I really feel about it as a reader, I’m ready to put my ideas into practice. Thus far I have largely avoided marketing via SNs since the prevalence of bad examples had led me to believe it was better avoided completely. But I don’t think such extreme avoidance is absolutely necessary (while accepting it would still be nice in many cases). So I’m going to make the occasional marketing post. I hope that you’ll barely notice it’s happening. My goal will be to make interesting and attractive updates that just happen to promote some item or other I’d quite like you to buy.  If you want to do the same, that’s great. Let me know. I don’t expect to notice unless you tell me. :o)

Happy networking,
by Kimbo!

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