Or at least it feels that way. Months ago when I first really started getting into social media, I wrote that one should treat it as a community and that the best way to use it as a tool for business is by becoming a contributing member to that community. Now however, social media has evolved into exactly what I hoped it wouldn't - in short, FREE ADVERTISING.
Marketers are killing social media for the rest of the non-marketing population without question. Now, granted, my online networks consist mainly of people from the network marketing and internet marketing fields so these oh-so-witty ad copy type posts are in part to be expected. But with the notably significant drop in the instances of actual two-way communication, I’m beginning to wonder whether it’s all even worth it.
No one’s listening. Everyone is screaming their deal or program at the top of their lungs but no one is really listening. I got into social media to meet and connect with, to learn from and perhaps help other network marketers. If I can no longer do that, then what’s the point?
Look at the picture on the right. This is what we’ve stooped to – door to door salesmen of the virtual world. The worst of it is the image we portray to the non-marketing public. This behavior certainly does nothing to help clear up the already delicate reputation of Network Marketing.
Shame on us. Shame on us for allowing this to happen. Shame on us for not better educating our people. Most of all, shame on us for not being better people ourselves.
Network Marketers, if this is what the future of our industry looks like, we are in serious danger of losing the very thing we’ve been trying to build. But know this: so long as I draw breathe I refuse to let that happen.
Who’s with me?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Social Media is DEAD
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4 comments:
So true, my man. These people are a blight on our industry. It seems like everybody online wants to make a ton of cash, but avoid actual contact with people. So sad.
You're absolutely right, Nathan. Thankfully, virtuous and principled networkers like yourself give me hope that there's a brighter tomorrow for our industry.
Stay tuned coz there's definitely more coming on this subject.
:)
I completely agree. If people just look at the short term and use social media like it's a pop up ad, then there's really no growth potential for this medium.
Very true. And it's really quite unfortunate because the medium has amazing potential. For example, before Twitter became a cesspool of bad ad copy, I was meeting and connecting with some very wonderful people from around the world.
The internet is the next step in the evolution of human communication. But because of it's vast reach people are unfortunately treating it more like a mass media outlet. It's been ingrained in our heads through television and print that the way to reach people is through clever and catchy adverts. That's the way big corporations do it and it works for them. Why not us, right?
Wrong. The internet behaves more like a community than a mass media outlet. People don't like it when you "paper" their community with sales pitches and ad copy. They don't like door-to-door salesmen in the real world so why would one think that they'd like them in the virtual world? And so what ends up happening (especially on Twitter) is that these "salesmen" end up pitching their deals and selling to no one but each other.
Thanks for contributing to the discussion. Let's keep it going.
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