There has been discussion, normally by those guilty of it, who are irritated when I remove their blatant self-promotion from one of my Facebook Fan Pages.
I define spamming a wall as putting content (including pictures of your own work) without invitation to do so, on someone else’s business social media – mostly a Facebook post. But could be other social accounts as well.
The reason this is spamming is that for the most part, the content posted isn’t relevant and the person doing it hasn’t asked permission to do so. They are simply trying to piggyback off the work and good-faith another person has created in order to promote themselves.
Here’s my take on Facebook/ Social Media Etiquette. Don’t self promote on someone else’s page or account. This doesn’t mean don’t comment, and don’t get involved on Business Pages or Group Pages. It means add value first. Then build a relationship with the person who owns that page. Then see if something you do and they do, tie in together.
People will promote you ON THEIR OWN if you are offering value. If you are contributing to the conversation. And if after some time, you want them to promote you – then ask – via a private email. See if they feel what you are offering is in line with what they are offering.
There are two exceptions that I know of to this – that fall under the agreement to post on a wall. The first is something like Link Love – because everyone on that list has agreed to self promote (in a very specific way, in a very specific place). The second would be a forum set up specifically to promote art. There are a few on Facebook.
The exception to this is – sometimes you will be in a group around a particular topic and they will have 1 day where everyone in the group can post what they do, and share a link. In that instance, it is possible to get sales from that. It is also easier to get people to sign up for a freebie if you have a funnel you can share. And this can be with your target market – it just depends on the group you are posting in, and your actual client base.
(I personally have given up on both Link Love and posting anything in a self-promoting forum because it was not a good ROI activity. Because if everyone is just out for themselves. And no one is adding value. Who actually is paying attention and reading the posts? Very few. )
Sometimes a small group of people, with shared interests in a mastermind like group, will agree to re-post each other’s content, or comment on it. That is a little different – and yet a much better way to promote your work, while promoting and helping other businesses.
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