The Hidden Costs Of Networking For Business On Facebook

“Thanks for the invitation mate!”

“I have enough Facebook applications thanks… I’m going away from it because there are just too many of them, and too many invites to install more!”

This was the response to an invitation to Coinjars that I’d sent earlier, and it really got me thinking about the expectations that many marketers have about social networking sites such as Facebook and Linkedin.

There is more than one cost to social networking.

While these costs may not be financial, they are tangible, and can come as a bit of a shock if you aren’t prepared for it.

The first cost is time. A lot of time if you aren’t careful, and for very little (immediate) return.

The second cost is the amount of content, information or invitations that you receive to other peoples’ activities, both business and social.

The problem with social networking is that other people want to network back – usually with their own offers!

And the reality is that if you aren’t prepared to at least listen to other people, then you really should consider whether you are in the right place.

Using Twitter is another place where some marketers come unstuck.

I have met people there who appear to only ever send out links to their websites or latest offer, but don’t appear to engage in any two way conversations.

To me, this is spam.

Social networking is spelled T I M E, and is one of the requirements of relationship marketing.

Relationship marketing is another term for network marketing, which is what these people are trying to do.

My recommendation for people who don’t have time to relate would be to put their resources into search engine optimization, and/or conventional advertising methods.

The networking option will only cause them frustration and grief, especially if and when the get complaints about their methods.

Where Does This Leave Social Networking

Where it’s always been.

Waiting for people who are savvy enough to use it, but who recognize that to in order to succeed, they need to treat others with a bit of consideration.

One Key To Remember About Networking:

When adding people as friends, it pays to remember that you are being added to their list, at least as much as they have been added to yours!

Treating others with due respect will prevent you from getting booted off their list, and possibly the social platform that you are on.