Common Social Networking Mistakes

There are a few mistakes that people make when using social networking sites to try to get more exposure for their business. These mistakes can be minor and not amount to much, or they can be fatal and cause you to lose your business and never make contact with anyone.

Naked Profile.
If you try to use social networks by just signing up and sending bulletins and emails to people, you’re missing the point entirely. If you don’t have a profile that’s the first thing people notice. You’ve already ruined your credibility and made yourself look like a scammer. Anyone who doesn’t take the time to at least set up a simple bio page has nothing to present. Even if you add friends, what are they going to see? No one wants to do business with someone they don’t know. To them you’re like a stranger lurking in the shadows with no real identity. You also want to have a nice picture of yourself so they will see it when your activity comes up in the search engine of the site. If you don’t have a picture people see you as the default no pic blank photo and this makes you look like you’re not professional or trustworthy.

Your About Me Page is all about your business opportunity
This makes you look like you’re broke and you need someone to sign up for your opportunity because you need to pay your light bill. Your about page should be about you and who you really are. It’s not the place to promote or advertise. People want to know you, not what you do or how much money you make.

Too much hype
We already know that your business is the next best thing since buttered bread, but when you have too much hyped up claims about how your business is making you a millionaire in three days, we can see right through it. If you’re that rich why do you need to use social networks at all? You should be on a warm sunny beach somewhere enjoying your good fortune.

Sending ads in comments and friend emails.
Oh boy..that one is a big no no. When you use your friend’s comment box to post an ad or banner for your business, you’ve shot yourself in the foot. Do you honestly think they’ll sign up for your business just because you shove it down their throat?

Put a link or a banner on your profile just in case someone wants to know what you do, but the main thing you want to do is present YOURSELF as someone who is credible and has a handle on who you are as a person.

Social networking is all about making friends, being helpful, and being REAL.
People want to do business with people they can identify with and who they can get to know as a friend first and foremost.

If they want to know what you’re doing to make money online they will ASK YOU. Then you have the opportunity and the PERMISSION to tell them and they won’t feel like they’re being sold to.

Rebecca Beasley has been online for 16 + years and has written
hundreds of articles to help newbies and oldies alike.
© July 13th 2008 All rights reserved

Tags: branding, bulletins, e-mail, howto, internet, introductions, marketing, networks, profiles, social

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Daniel Pyle on July 15, 2008 at 5:18pm: Rebecca,
This is a great post. Thank you! Oh and one other thing......I am sure everyone
has a current picture of themselves....no one is too ugly for internet marketing....look
at politicians for inspiration....icons and avatars of mythical creatures are good if you
are 7 or 8 or trying to attract that kind of crowd.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by KARYNE HENRY Add me as a friend! on July 23, 2008 at 11:08pm: LOL!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Christine Hasbrouck on August 14, 2008 at 9:54am: Daniel... I was thinking along those lines as well... Also, please leave the photos that are inappropriate for a business space somewhere else - we've seen them here and on other sites.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Krystal Morehead on July 15, 2008 at 6:30pm: I agree too much harassment can look bad in the long run hurt your business goals rather than help them. Sometimes people are just so excited to get their name out there they forget that these are people that are receiving their scripted message not robots. Good Post!

Krystal
www.ievmedia.com; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Carla Hannibal on July 15, 2008 at 10:56pm: Definitely very good advice. I will remember this and pass it on to others I know as well. Thanks and keep it coming.

Pepper; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Etienne A. Gibbs on July 19, 2008 at 8:24pm: Excellent article, Rebecca! Couldn't have said it better myself!

I particularly like your use of the expression, "naked profile". I've seen too many of those to know that they're nothing more than masked accounts created for one purpose only. And that is to get the fraudulent users to be admitted to the social network. And once in, and sometimes using US cities and states as their hometowns, they let go their barrage of spam emails. These emails usually direct the recipients "to meet me on Yahoo IM so we can chat and get to know we other better. And then I can send you my pics."

My reply, when I get these sorts of emails, is to ask them, "If you want to get to know people better, why not put your information on your profile." This usually chases them away and confirms my belief that they were spammers to begin with.

Gee! I just came here to leave you a congratulatory comment, and here I am rambling on. I guess the issue is too close to my heart!

Thanks again, Rebecca. Like you, I have tons of how-to articles published across the web in ezines, newsletters, and websites. Perhaps, we can enter into a joint-venture opportunity one day either in my group here or on my talk show, each of the same name, "Staying Safe Online".; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SUp.biz, COO on July 19, 2008 at 8:37pm: Feel free to click on the Report and Issue link so that we can ban anyone that is running a scam.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Etienne A. Gibbs on July 19, 2008 at 9:24pm: Thanks for your prompt reply!

I guess I didn't make my self clear. Thank goodness, I've never experienced any spammers/scammers here, just solid and legitimate businesspeople of like minds! I was referring to coming across the naked profiles of scammers on other social networking sites!

I'm really impressed with your quick response. I was on another social networking site where I took it upon myself to volunteer and serve as "the Scammer Alert Master", for want of a better title. I would alert the site's webmaster and it took like what seems forever to get his response. He did ban the individuals eventually based on my recommendations, but it took forever.

In the meanwhile, the members came to know me as "the Scammer Alert Master" because of the constant and timely Scammer Alerts I broadcasted as a resuklt of the ones they reported to me. For all the borderline and above potential scammers I found during my investigation, I issued a Scammer Alert.

It unfortunate that such actions have to be taken, but it's a sad reality about today's dark side of the Internet.

Don't worry. Should I encounter any potential scammers here, I know where to report them and the swift discipline that will be administered.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rebecca Beasley on July 22, 2008 at 10:30pm: I've also found some scam artists on social networks and one of the main scams they try to run on people is they set up fake profiles with pictures they find on other sites and prey on lonely people who are looking for romance. They will often send them flowers and candy purchased on websites with bogus or stolen credit cards then try to get these people to cash money orders and wire the money to them or send them clothing, computers, or anything else they can sell and try to have it shipped to them from the United States residence. This almost happened to me and if I hadn't realized what was going on and contacted the police they would have wound up arresting ME for receiving stolen merchandise.
If anyone approaches you from the internet and claims to be living in the US and working in South Africa or anywhere else abroad and you receive anything in the mail that doesn't look legit, contact the police, call the post office, or ups or fedex or wherever it was sent from and report it. Have the police to come and get the merchandise. It was probably purchased with someone's stolen credit card and they would very much appreciate them being caught. You can also get their ip address by viewing full headers and take it to whois.net and enter it there to find out where they're really at.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sal Marroquin on July 20, 2008 at 2:13am: Your Networking article is excellent. Thank you for posting....Sal; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Gary A Wilson on July 20, 2008 at 9:30pm: Great advice - thanks; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Abhijit banerjee on July 21, 2008 at 1:04am: Thanks Rebeccafor such useful tips. I have a bit of a tricky problem and would like your advice badly. I am quite new to social networking and am into it because I have a cause in hand. We are building up what we call a wisdom bank of information for people wishing to live lives sustainably. Called
Copperwiki, it already has a sizeable number of articles but we have a long way to go.

I was able to interest a number of like-minded people to join and contribute, but I have learnt the hard way.

Considering a cause of this nature, and being non-profit, what would be my ideal approach?

Love to have your guidance on this.

Regards

Abhijit; ▶ Reply to This