If you have an amazing product or service that could greatly improve the lives of your ideal clients, it is only natural that you’d want to share it in your social media posts with great enthusiasm.
Every moment your ideal clients don’t have access to your product or service is another moment they unnecessarily suffer from whatever problem or challenge they have. Or perhaps they are missing out on ways to take their lives or businesses to the next level to enjoy more success and happiness.
I get it!
You are passionate about what you do and want to share it with those who need it the most.
As such, you might want to:
- share your product or service with the world so that those who need what you offer most can get the help they need to succeed
- find, connect and build relationships with as many of your ideal clients as possible to build a profitable business
- be seen as a competent, trustworthy professional who is an authority on their topic.
But in your enthusiasm, you might accidentally come across as a social media spammer.
How, when, what and with whom you share on social media matters. If you don’t approach your social sharing the right way, your messages might be perceived and labeled as spam and ignored by the very people you are trying to help.
I don’t have to tell you just how much this can hurt your ability to accomplish any of the three goals I mentioned above.
In this article, I share three vital tips on how to conduct yourself on social media so you never come across as a spammer and instead are seen as a professional, trustworthy authority on your topic.
3 Things to Do to Avoid Being Labeled as a Social Media Spammer
Did I make it about me?
The first question you must always ask yourself before posting on social media or sending out a message is “Did I make it about myself or my ideal clients?”
If it isn’t about your ideal clients, do NOT hit the post button!
They don’t care about you or your business. They care only about their problems or challenges. Remember that everything they see or hear goes through their WIIFM (what’s in it for me?) filter.
If they don’t care about it, they’ll see it as SPAM. And in business, it’s their perception of spam that matters, not yours.
Now, this doesn’t mean you can never talk about yourself. What it does mean is everything you post, every message you send must be viewed through the WIIFM filter. Always remember your ideal clients are the stars of the show.
When you do share about yourself or your company, make it clear why your prospects should care about it and how it benefits them.
For example, customers prefer to work with experts and will often pay more for their work. You can share your expertise to establish your authority on your topic and increase trust with them.
For instance, if I wanted to share this blog post on social media, I may caption it with something like this:
Each week I share status updates on LinkedIn that get thousands of views and hundreds of people engaging with them. In this article, I will show you how to get this kind of engagement without using tactics that make you look desperate or foolish.
As you can see, I demonstrate my expertise while telling my readers why it is relevant to them and how they would benefit from it.
While you can occasionally share information about yourself or your company, the majority of the time it needs to be about your ideal clients, their desires, hopes, fears and challenges.
When posting on social media, keep these three questions in mind:
a) Does this solve one key problem or challenge of my ideal clients?
If your newsfeeds are anything like mine, they are littered with noise.
Do you quickly scroll past posts from people and businesses that don’t immediately catch your attention? What is most likely to catch your attention?
Something that directly addresses a problem or desire you have.
When possible, ensure you share content that solves a problem or challenge your ideal clients face. These are tied to the fears or dreams that are top of mind for them.
When you focus the content you share on these hot topics, you will get your prospects’ time and attention and avoid being labeled as a social media spammer.
b) Is it relevant to them specifically?
Have you ever been tagged in a post that had nothing to do with you or anything you are interested in? Annoying, isn’t it?
Never tag people in a post that does not directly relate to them. This is SPAM.
It is right up there with posts that have too many hashtags or irrelevant hashtags. They provide no benefit, look spammy and make it harder for people to be interested in what you have to say.
c) Is it easily consumed by them?
If your preferred content is videos, and not blog posts, but a company you are interested in shares only blog posts, how long will you follow it on social media?
We all have a preference for consuming content.
Find out what content formats your ideal clients prefer to consume, whether that’s blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, etc. And then share plenty of content in those formats.
Additional Reading: Is Your LinkedIn Content Strategy Making You Look Desperate?
Did they ask for it?
How annoying do you find it when the first communication you receive from the person you just followed, connected to or friended is their sales pitch?
Yet so many professional and businesses do that.
I cannot stress enough the importance of asking permission to market.
Your ideal clients will often treat anything they didn’t ask for or agree to as SPAM.
That’s why even messages with links or attachments to valuable content you send to your ideal clients could be seen as spam by them.
To avoid that, first work to establish some rapport with your clients. Begin by having a conversation with them about them. Find out what is important to them, and identify any commonalities you share.
Once you have built some rapport, you can ask them for permission to share a helpful piece of content with them.
When asking them, share some interesting facts, stats or quotes from the content they will find particularly compelling. Then you can ask them if they would like for you to send them the link or document.
When they say yes, you’ll know they are interested in your offering. They will likely consume the content, appreciating you respected their time and attention.
Change the conversation
You must change your approach and mindset on social media from “What can I sell you?” to “How can I help you?”
“What can I sell you?” says:
- I care about your money.
- What else can I sell you?
- Thank you for your business.
“How can I help you?” says:
- I care about you and your business.
- How else can I add value?
- Thank you for helping us do business better.
Which type of conversation do you think is less likely to be perceived as spammy and ultimately lead to more engagement and foster relationships?
Am I engaging in conversations?
Have you ever left a question or comment on a social media post of a business and never got any reply or acknowledgement? How did that feel?
It’s annoying when you hope to have a conversation with a person or business, and they can’t be bothered to engage with you.
Think about it this way. Would you ever go up to someone at a networking event and say “Hi, nice to meet you. Now buy my stuff!”?
Of course, you wouldn’t. Don’t do it on social media platforms. It’s SPAM!
If you don’t want to be seen as a social media spammer, engage with your ideal clients when they ask questions or leave comments on your posts.
People want to be seen, and they want to be acknowledged. Your response can often be as simple as clicking the like button or leaving a quick thanks.
Instead of blasting your ideal clients with sales information, post with the intention of generating more engagement from them.
If you aren’t getting engagement, you aren’t having conversations. And if you aren’t having conversations, you are not building relationships and establishing trust. And that means you are not generating clients and sales.
Remember, people buy from people they know, like and trust.
Ask yourself “Would I consider this spam?”
The best way to ensure you do not become a social media spammer is to always ask yourself “Would I consider this spam if I received it?’
If you would find it annoying or irrelevant, chances are your ideal clients will feel the same way.
By approaching social media the right way, you will build a community made up of your ideal clients. These clients will be interested in what you share and will want to know more about how your solution can solve their problems or fulfil their desires.
What are some of the social media spamming practices you see? Let me know in the comments below.
