The Social Media Marketing & Communications guide for Natural Health and Wellness insiders.

Confessions of a (former) Spammer

"Whaaat... you didn't like my email?"

My name is Justice Marshall and I was a spammer.

I didn’t mean to do it. I just didn’t know better. (For the record – I wasn’t one of THOSE spammers. I didn’t pretend to be a Russian businessman with a once in a lifetime opportunity or a bored hottie looking to chat with strangers.)

My intentions were good. I had a product I believed in and I wanted the world to know about it. My mistake was that I didn’t understand the nature of online communications. I thought that “leveraging” the internet meant that I could simply send my message to lots of people quickly, easily and cheaply. Luckily, a colleague set me straight early on before I could do much damage to my reputation.

The technical definition of spam relates to email and can be found here:
http://www.spamhaus.org/definition.html

Spam is putting people on your mailing list without permission or recourse. But it’s also when you misuse permission or get it under false pretense. If you promise a “newsletter” then send out a series of pitches, that’s spam in my books.

And spam isn’t just for email (or the internet for that matter) anymore. All communication can potentially be spammy.

Facebook Advertising: Why Are Businesses Getting It So Wrong?

I clicked on a Facebook ad recently and was reminded how easy it is for businesses to miss the mark and alienate their audience. The ad I clicked promised a specific product for a specific price, then directed me to the advertiser’s homepage.

Here’s a screenshot of the ad:

The homepage where I got dumped had no mention of the deal advertised. I had a look around the site but couldn’t find the $695 offer.

I was irked, but curious. What were they thinking? Did they hope that the ad would get me to their website, then I would forget all about the promise of a week long getaway for $695 and just sign up for their (much) higher priced packages? Was this a bait and switch? Or did they think I’d take the time to search their site for the advertised deal?

So I emailed them. Here’s the email thread:

Friends, Fans, Followers and Contacts – An Argument For LESS

Whether it’s Facebook fans or friends, Twitter followers, or LinkedIn connections – there’s an almost unchallenged belief that more is better when it comes to Social Media numbers.

If Social Media channels were simply free advertising, perhaps this would be true. After all, the value of any advertising vehicle has traditionally been determined largely by its reach – ie: The value (and cost) of advertising is proportional to the number of people it reaches.

But Social Media is a different game – a game where “advertising” is generally the least effective approach and where numbers can be misleading.