If You’re Getting Banned, You’re Doing Something Wrong

Photo by Redvers

This is only the beginning. It’s going to get much, much bigger.
Social marketing is all the rage right now and if the signs are to be believed, this is a mere taste of the future. Part of social marketing involves joining various online communities in your niche and adding value to those communities.

Social marketing is most definitely not about joining as many groups as you can, regardless of their relevance to your niche, and spamming the living daylights out of everyone with “ME! ME! ME!” kinds of advertising and requests. This will get you banned, and rightfully so.

I wrote a post earlier that basically said marketing is really about making friends and exchanging value honestly and transparently with others in your community. I especially emphasized the importance of giving freely without immediate expectation of return, or profit.

Recently I’ve noticed traditional marketing folks who are excited to do this “new” social marketing thing and botch it up terribly by forgetting the cardinal rule of all human interaction. Namely, give before you request. Offer your assistance, advice, service and do so without expecting anything in return. Be a member of the community first and then you won’t be a so-called marketer.

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