© 2007 - 2011 Allan Cockerill All Rights Reserved
Two Gurus . . . One Socialmedia Cup
It was a nice quiet morning here in Oz, as I sat down and started playing on Plurk.
It soon started to heat up though when one well known marketer started plurking. He plurked pretty well, even though he claimed not to understand the site.
He’s on Twitter as well, and I am his online friend on both platforms.
He started to collect quite a lot of flack, and what had started as a cool, laid back morning soon started to heat up.
People were getting annoyed with my marketer friend, as he was simply leaving his urls everywhere for people to click on, but wasn’t engaging in any conversation at all.
This is a common problem, and has been aggravated by “marketing courses” such as the Thirty Day Challenge.
Now, the 30 Day Challenge has a lot of great content, and I must admit that when I did the challenge last year, I gained a lot out of it.
But the teaching on social media, and social networking, was totally unbalanced!
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: Social Media, or Social Networking, is just that, social!
Being part of a social group means that you interact with that group, not misuse it and try to turn it into an advertising platform.
No one minds someone sharing an occasional link, and if I respect the person leaving the link, will always make a point of checking it out.
If I like it, I might share it on Digg or Mixx.
But if there is no conversation, or engagement, the plurks and twitters from these folks are spam.
Contrast this with Darren Rowse
Darren is on both Twitter and Plurk, but his messages always add value. He gives free information that helps other bloggers, writers and marketers, as well as responding to others.
In other words, he engages in conversation, using both platforms as they should be used.
As Teeg pointed out to me the other day, Darren makes a lot of responses to other people, as is evidenced by checking his profile.
Remember, whether you use Facebook, Pownce or any of the many other social networking sites, it pays to remember that you are dealing with people.
Upset enough of them, and they drop the friendship, which adds up to a big waste of time.
I won’t mention who the other guy is.
I don’t want to embarrass him, and there are signs that he is getting the message at last!
What do you think? Should social media sites be used for marketing at all? A little?
Feel free to leave a comment below!
© 2007 - 2011 Allan Cockerill All Rights Reserved
