7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People!
Who me…spamming? Never.
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People!
I have never seen so much spam on social media. And I don’t just mean Twitter and all the hacked DMs. Facebook, too. Even Pinterest!
I work really hard on my streams and for my clients, to ensure they’re getting real human, targeted followers to interact and engage with.
So this spamming stuff is really pissing me off.
Someone told me they didn’t know they were spamming. And for some newbies, I’m inclined to believe them. However…well….
Let’s deconstruct.
Do You Realize You’re Spamming When…
1. Emails: You send spammy emails asking for a book review? I’m not a book reviewer (look on my site, blog, Twitter or Facebook bio…anywhere. See where I say I’m a book reviewer? NO. Cause I’m not.). Sure, I’m a reader (isn’t everyone?), but that doesn’t mean you are allowed, according to FCC guidelines regarding spam, to blanket email strangers (or even selectively email us), asking, begging for, or demanding reviews.
I mean, you can, but I’ve blocked you and reported you for spam.
See, this is why there are these things called newsletters? Where people sign up and can opt in to receive junk? Or not. MailChimp is free, and WordPress has a free plug-in (described here on Molly Greene’s fabulous blog).
So please, stop. Or keep doing it to ensure I will never, ever read your stuff.
Ever.
2. AutoDMs: You add a link in automated DM (spam times two)? I immediately unfollow you. Think about it – don’t you hate those automated phone menus when trying to get to a real human on the phone? Why then, are you treating us how you hate to be treated? Or the dreaded ‘Like my Facebook page!’ Uncool, dude.
It’s douchbaggery behavior. Stop it.
3. Same Old Message: You welcome me to your stream with ‘appreciation and gratitude,’ which seems nice. Too nice (hey, I lived in NYC for a few years). So I immediately check out your stream to see you’ve sent the same message to hundreds of others. When I call you on it, you tell me spam has ‘no place in my world.’ *crickets*
4. Facebook Photo Tags: You tag me in photos that have nothing to do with me, and then include me in all the hundreds of replies? One lovely friend of mine does this and I truly do adore him. But…sigh. (I mean, if you’re going to tag me on a pic, at least be sure I’m in it and look pretty. Geez.)
5. Facebook ‘Friends:’ Friend me just to demand shares and RTs? Rude. I am not your friend. Step away from the smiley face.
6. Polls: Oh, this is classic: ‘I’m conducting a poll to see if you’ve read my book (IT’S ALL ABOUT ME http://asif.com) and if not, why not?’
Bitch, please.
7. Skype: Ooh, what about Skype? I use it for business, as I have clients all over the world. It’s a fabulous tool. Except several tools have now turned it into a pick-up joint. ‘I saw your picture and I’m dying to know (something intensely personal) about you.’
Yea, right.
I’m sure there’s a bunch more that I’ve missed, and I’d love for you to enlighten us below. Share! Maybe someone will read it and be all, ‘Whoa. I’m a spammer!’
That’s my hope for the world.
Well, that and world peace.
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7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! by @BadRedheadMedia http://t.co/3F7270Nb
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! http://t.co/rzi615Ev via @RachelintheOC
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! http://t.co/I3PcAvxH via @RachelintheOC
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Wow, I’m glad I’m not doing any of those. It’s weird, I’ve been getting more auto DM lately and I agree, they are ANNOYING. I don’t click on the link I just say thanks once in a while.
My new hatred for spammers have become the Instagramer spammers who just comment on a picture telling you how to get more followers – oh and there are the love spammers writing they love you on a random photo…both are equally unnecessary and annoying.
Yes! Isn’t that annoying? Sigh.
You’re right, it is annoying and it’s happening everywhere. What’s most interesting to me is that ever since Twitter closed their API to certain companies and gone to court to sue spamming companies, the spam has increased 100-fold. I’m hoping for big changes. And soon.
xo
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7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! http://t.co/s6nL5Wn8 via @RachelintheOC
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! http://t.co/5lZ2bhBq via @RachelintheOC
Loved the post – can relate to so many of these! Would have to add LinkedIn spamming to the list – most recently the rise of people asking for you to complete a survey to help them better themselves professionally. This is OK if sent to your closest work colleagues, but if it goes to every conference delegate and business supplier you’ve ever connected to it just reeks of spam!
Ooh, great one Tony! LinkedIn has always been the ‘professional’ place to go, but asking people to do things like this (kind of a poll sort of thing, really), absolutely reeks of spam to use your phrasing. It does nothing to help someone’s credibility, either.
Appreciate the insights!
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! http://t.co/JF0j1sx4 via @RachelintheOC
So true, and you are so funny!
Thank you, Kelly! I hesitated putting this post here, on my biz site, but my beliefs are my beliefs and my voice is my voice.
thank you for reading and commenting!
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7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! http://t.co/ubjlq50H via @RachelintheOC
So true, Rachel! I love it when people are hilarious AND right. Thanks so much for the mention and I can add one more spammy practice … please wonderful people, don’t leave comments on other blogs that include a link (in the comment) to your blog post that you think is so fabulous you MUST SHARE! Ugh. Unless, of course, the blogger has invited you to ;-O
Yes, that’s a great one, Molly!
It’s not about us, all the time. I suppose people want to take advantage of a situation, but I know first-hand, that inevitably backfires. Simply sharing or RTing someone shows much more class (or, leaving a comment with no link), than coming across as selfish. IMHO.
xo
Great post, Rachel. Most of the methods you described annoy the heck out of me, too. Especially the auto-DM ones that contain ‘requests’. I even received one of those where someone put muliple links in it, urging me to check out their 3 books (individual links) and like their facebook page at the same time. This all happened with no conversation whatsoever. I mean, wut? Frickin’ egotrippers.
Thanks so much, Bas. Happy to have you here!
Yea, I’m not sure why people do things like that on social media, when they’d never do it in real life (or would be embarrassed about it). It boggles the mind. Perhaps it’s because people see Twitter as a great way to market their books to a huge audience — though that’s rarely the case. It’s a passive ‘sale’ that comes across as very aggressive — not something I personally want to put out there.
xo
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! http://t.co/CQ7NU5J5 via @RachelintheOC
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! by @BadRedheadMedia http://t.co/DmD0QDcA
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! http://t.co/E64QAgUz via @RachelintheOC
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! http://t.co/ToXHZLoZ via @RachelintheOC
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! http://t.co/TaOKvIwR via @RachelintheOC
Funny and right on. “Unintentional” is right… Much of it is honest enough. But it’s inconsiderate: why WOULD this be okay? It’s unfortunate how many people don’t get that these tactics are rude and ineffective. I hope this post can change that!
You’re right, Ashley. It IS inconsiderate. I think most people think that they can get away with crap like this … given that social media is the new ‘wild west.’
But that argument is junk. Treat people well, be polite, all that good stuff — gets you further than spamming. No question.
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Read a good article by @BadRedheadMedia on how to better use social media and cut down on the spam. Content, content!! http://t.co/nUwcrdtr
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Mention @MollyGreene here (who doesn’t spam): 7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming by @BadRedheadMedia http://t.co/HBeCMz3V
Rachel,
I love this post! Another way people spam, without realizing it is by “blowing up” your Facebook timeline with reposts they Share. I just learned today from my twenty-year-old daughter that I am guilty of this. I never really thought about what the things I wanted to share would do to my friends timelines. I am definitely going to make a supreme effort not to be guilty of this anymore.
Also, I hate the spammers who become your followers, and you follow them back out of Twitter courtesy and then they pepper your Twitter timeline with “Do this (or see this site) to learn how to get 20,000 followers in thirty days.” Soon as I see one of those posts I block the sender and report them for spam. I want real followers who share my interests and care what I have to say.
Exactly, Tracy. There’s a plethora of sites that will build a fake following for you, but is that our demographic? No. Fake followers don’t buy real things.
It is something I’ve looked into for myself and my clients, and I even did a small test sample. I’ll write about this soon, because people really want to understand the specifics of building a following. A real one, not a bunch of eggs.
Thanks for sharing that Facebook tidbit — thanks for your girl!
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I love this post, Rachel!
Lately, the spam I receive has to do with SEO and design. The other day, someone used my email address in lieu of my domain name, and the name of my blog in lieu of my name. They then had the guts to tell me that my blog had a PR rank of 0 (when I know it’s higher than that, because I keep an eye on it) and could not be found on the Internet. Then they lectured me on my lack of knowledge of SEO.
Then, of course, they offered to help me take my business to the next level — with a nice “This message is not spam and complies with the CAN-SPAM Act” line at the end of the email. LOL
Awesome, thank you Cendrine! Yea, there’s all kinds of spammy tactics going on out there. The ones that are assumptive like this are insulting as well as just ridiculous. Sadly, there are people who will fall for it.
Where’s there money to be made, there’s always a con.
thanks for your comment and sharing. x
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I hate the auto-DM’s on Twitter and rarely read mine anymore because they’re almost always spammy. Most of all, I really hate the “buy my book” or “my book is free today” DM’s. If someone follows me on Twitter and has nothing descriptive in their profile, I always check the timeline because I’ve accidentally followed heavy-duty spammers which somehow caused my Twitter account to auto-follow other “real” spammers. It was a vicious cycle hard to break until I realized which ones were doing it so I could unfollow and report them.
It is an ugly, vicious cycle. ManageFlitter.com is by far the best tool I’ve ever used to manage fakes, spammers, and bots. And if people haven’t followed back within a week, I unfollow. It makes it much easier to manage, for sure. Thanks for commenting, Madison!
very smart, Madison, to check their profile and TL. I do the same thing! I’ve found that using ManageFlitter.com to be very helpful in identifying the spammers, fakes, and bots and deleting them off my stream.
Someone I worked with at one point said ‘why bother? they help increase your numbers.” but here’s the issue with that: If I don’t delete/block the spammers/fakes/bots, anyone can see that my followers are not real. Besides, do fake followers purchase anything? NO.
thanks for the comments!
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Been avoiding twitter b/c spam. Maybe I should reply with this link? http://t.co/4I7Qk1xd & ways you’re spamming people @RachelintheOC
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“I am not your friend. Step away from the smiley face.” Are you spamming people unintentionally? http://t.co/gzomqcPZ
that was fun to write. 🙂 thx for sharing. x
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[…] of course, spamming your own book links repeatedly is pretty douche-ish, […]
[…] 7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! […]
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! by @BadRedheadMedia http://t.co/zA3Mo8bP
[…] 7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! […]
Rachel, you’re spamming all day long whether you admit it or not. Your Facebook profile, your FB page, and your Twitter feed is filled with annoying nonsense, to the point where your actual insight and intelligence are lost in the constant chatter. Rethink your strategy!
Thanks again for your comments, anonymous. I appreciate that you’re so familiar with my work and social footprint to have an opinion.
Have a great new year!
I enjoy interacting with Rachel on Facebook and Twitter. I don’t find it spammy at all.
Rachel interracts with people AS MUCH (from what I’ve seen so far) as she posts about her business. It’s a fine balance and she’s figured it out. Siddown, shuddup and take notes, “Anonymous.”
Thanks so much, sweet Deliza. It is a balance, for sure, of sharing useful information, resources, humor, and promotion (of myself and others). Part of why I started my four author promo sites was to give authors another outlet for a reasonable cost ($10/month) because it CAN be very difficult to get the word out about our work.
Hugs to you, sweet, and enjoy your 2013! Come back soon 🙂
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! by @BadRedheadMedia http://t.co/QSPP3oaw
The auto-DMs are the absolute worst! I hate those so much, I’ve actually taken a new approach to dealing with them. If I get an auto-DM asking me to check out a product, I now reply that I’ll be happy to, as long as they check out mine. I figure, hell, if they’re spamming me, there’s no reason I can’t spam them back.
Otherwise, I do my best to not spam anyone, because I hate that shit.
That’s awesome, Elise. The amount of DM spam, especially with links, is so annoying. The sad part is people think it’s somehow effective. They don’t realize how they look.
sigh.
xo
7 Ways You’re Unintentionally Spamming People! by @BadRedheadMedia http://t.co/Wi62FBLW
[…] IMPISH for Kindle or Kindle app—no strings attached. If interested, shoot me a DM!” My friend Rachel has a great blog post about this. As a quick heads up, auto DMs are considered a faux pas in […]