But really this is a pet peeve of mine.

Why on earth do people insist on using online networks as SPAM vehicles? It’s such a waste of a (potentially) powerful interactive tool.

It happened today again, and it was just about the time where I was thinking about writing anyway, so here we are.

I don’t know about you, but I get this a couple of times a week. There is an Edinburgh-based business (I won’t name names yet) that runs networking events in the city. I am connected to the MD on LinkedIn.

Now pop-quiz:

Hands up who think that your online networks should be treated with the same respect as your offline one?
Hands up who thinks your online networks are there to be an cheap sales platform?

(I’m not normally subtle – the first answer is correct)

So this morning I, yet again, get a message from LinkedIN. MD-man has sent me an invitation to an event. Again. This happens every month.  Multiple times. And you know what? I’m actually to the point where I am going to block him from my network. I mean, what’s the point? He doesn’t think “gee Jordan’s business might really benefit from this event. He hasn’t been in a while, so I’m going to get in touch with him and see if he’d like to come”. No, instead I’m pretty sure his thought process is “right we have an event coming up and I need to sell my tickets, let me go into my handy online community and send it to everyone. It’s easy and free and it’s the law of numbers, right?’.

Well you know what? He’s right. It is the law of numbers and I’m sure he’ll get his attendance.

But he’s lost me. Absolutely. He’s lost me for good. He’s lost any referrals, any relationship, and business, he might have received from me.

And I’m probably not the only one.

Your online community is no different from your offline one. You build relationships and you build trust. If all you’re going to do is SPAM me with sales messages, you’ll see how quickly I get rid of you – and you’ll lose me for good.

It’s not that hard. Treat your online community with the respect they deserve. That is the surest way to building a mutually beneficial (and profitable) relationship.

(And stop sending me all those fucking LinkedIn invites please)

- j

Or alternatively, if you’re anything like me, sigh…

This won’t be particularly shocking to most of you. For those of us who work in the field (well, marketing in general) it’s even less so.

I think we’ve finally reached the point where spam is starting to outweigh the good in some of our favourite social media tools.

I don’t know who first decided that all sales is a numbers game, but if I could I’d go back in time and punch them right in the mouth. I’m sure they meant well. I’m sure they meant to say something along the lines of “you can’t get if you don’t ask” in order to convince people that it takes effort to get sales.

I’m very sure (I say in a “oh please” tone of voice) that they didn’t mean that you should just spam everyone you can see with any old shite.

Why this topic?

In the past four days I’ve had four emails (sorry inMails) through LinkedIn and five twitter DMs that were directly trying to sell me something that is absolutely no use to me.

No attempt at seeing if the opportunity was relevant to me. No attempt to engage me and tempt me to it. Just very easy and very direct spam.

Buy this.

Sign up here.

And what is worse is that these are coming from people I know. People who I have met. People who, for all intent, are part of my ‘trusted’ network.

And what do they do with that trust? They send me spam. They use their network of social media contacts and send out spam.

Guess what the result has been – I delete their message and I evaluate my relationship with these people.

30 seconds of quick spam = serious doubts of a future business relationship.

Is that really the best they can do with these wonderful new tools?

I can sometimes sound quite negative about social media tools. I’m actually a big fan. I love them. More importantly I see how powerful they can be for interaction and relationship building – with your customers, your employees, your public.

And what happens? You devalue it all with a 30 second piece of spam.

If you’re in someone’s network, you have a responsibility to respect that relationship. Regardless of the toolset (be it social or not) you have a responsibility to you network to respect them and build your relationships.

Enough already.

It’s a very quick way to losing a network. It’s a very easy way of losing my business.

(and I’m not the only one)

- j

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. I’ve been really active on the meeting front recently, and it got me thinking how much my business is dependent on meeting new and varied people.

I was talking to a friend the other day who was bemoaning a lack of new business coming in. One simple question diagnosed the problem (and pointed to the solution):

How many meetings have you had?

The answer, of course, was none.

Now I should qualify this. I’m not talking about spending all of your time out and about having coffee and attending networking events. I think we’ve all seen people who spend all of there time doing that. Just because you’re out there doesn’t mean it’s time well spent – and yet you see a lot of people trying to convince themselves the opposite is true.

But most businesses (especially in the smaller category) are dependent on meeting new people. We form alliances, get to know one another, see mutual opportunities….it’s how we get new business in.

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently out and about forming relationships. It feels good to do it again, and it’s crucial to getting new business.

How are you doing?

- j

A lot of people talk about it. Few people seem to practice it.

A few years ago I learned the hard way that I didn’t know everything, and couldn’t do everything. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a lot of skills, but the reality is simple: sooner or later we all run into things we can’t do.

Some businesses seem to see this as a weakness. The integrated agency model is a good example of that. How many bloody agencies feel they have to do everything? They have to have every skill in-house (some not very good)? I can’t stand the integrated agency model. It leads to bloated overheads and inflated cost structures – two things I fight against tooth and nail.

Collaboration is key to my business. It’s critical. I am a big believer in getting the best people for the jobs and trusting them to produce results. But the key word there is trust. It takes time to develop these relationships. You need to feel each other out. You need to feel comfortable with each other.

What does this have to do with marketing? Everything and nothing.

My simple (see? Marketing & simple – it must be appropriate) mantra:

Don’t trust anyone who says they can do it all. They can’t. Get the rights skills together and lead them in the right direction. You’ll get there quicker, and way more efficiently.

- j

One of the hazards I find I face in my job is keeping my mouth from saying what my brain is thinking.

In this case: enough already.

Honestly, I was at a function this week (no names, I’m not THAT stupid) and one of the groups couldn’t stop talking about social media.

It’s the only thing they are focussing on.

Sadly, none of them had a clue what they were talking about.

I swear if I’d stayed longer they may have nailed social media to a cross. (oh, that’s not very PC)

I grow discouraged ;-)

-j

The last year or so has seen an absolute glut of networking groups get formed. Some are good, some are bad. Some are somewhere in-between. I’m personally not a fan of this practice. It is starting to feel like anyone who has a business that isn’t working out right just decides to start up a networking group. And then there are the new national ones that seem to open a new chapter every week. I was at a meeting once where at least 25% of the people in attendance were from networking groups.

Don’t get me wrong – networking is hugely important to my business. But I’m also very selective in what I do. Every year I evaluate what networking I’m going to focus on. i look at a few simple things:

- Is it in line with the business that I’m going after? Are the people in the room going to be the right type of people that can introduce me to my targets. It helps if you know what type of business you are really going after, but that’s another conversation.

- Is it appropriately focussed? I want any networking I do to let me be laser-focussed with what I’m trying to build.

- Is it worth the time/money? There are simply too many networking opportunities around. I focus on three each year, and leave the rest alone. I have to do this, because I can’t spend every week spending money and time on the vague hope of it turning into a useful event.

Networking has been one of the key founding blocks of my business. It really has. But, my god, be selective.

-j