Thursday, August 2, 2012

What a Social Media Quack Looks Like




This example just happened to waddle in! No offense to all the ducks in this world, but hey, someone decided at some point that the definition for quack is a faker among other things. 


Every picture tells a story, right? And I have several to share with you. And this is going to come off as perhaps a bit obnoxious and scathing. The point is…I need to make a point!


Got a new follower on Twitter. That’s nothing new, right? Looks fairly new to Twitter with about 1,100 followers. Checked them out. Here’s the bio (sounds promising):


Followed back, sent a DM, they replied. I'm in blue; they are in white:












The DM’ing continued. 


and continued...note that I make light fun of myself!
I admit I was feeling a little snarky...but they really weren't saying anything!
And the link I provided went to this post on my Groovy Reflections page. This is our most successful post to date with over 185,000 likes, close to 50,000 shares, and 86,000 comments (and yes, there's been others that have tremendous numbers like that too).


And the response? I was thinking maybe they were going to say "Nice going." I would have! But no. 

"Sure we can increase numbers." These guys are confident, arent' they?

I'll refrain from posting the snippet from their Facebook page. Rest assured that it is fluffy.      

Back to Twitter. Last 3 tweets: 
"Can Business Harness the Power of Social Media Marketing?" (with link)

"Retweet this is you have a Facebook page!" (with link)

"Like us on Facebook" (with link)

Other tweets are similar to this one: "Build a solid network on Facebook and Twitter. We will do it for your business."

They are using social media as a sales tool! That's the #1 NO NO in my book!


Let's move on. Checked out their blog. The last blog entry was August 1; that’s good! The previous one was July 19. That’s not good! There’s LOTS to learn from the last blog post. A question was posed:

“Which social media sites do you recommend for people who feel overwhelmed by the choices in social media?”


And their answer:


"The three websites that I recommend to people are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn."


Wow! What a revelation. Folks, I hope you understand that these ARE the big three by now and that it's a no-brainer to have a presence on all three. And no Pinterest? Or Google+? Hmmm. Also of note was the fact that only Facebook had a link. Why not have a link to LinkedIn? 


I think I know why.


Found the bio on LinkedIn for one of the two fellows that run this "firm". His profile went back to 2006 and he was a paper processor in the first position listed (not kidding on this one). Couldn’t find the other gent (name is too common).


In closing, let me share some thoughts from the About Us from their website: 


“About us:  two pioneers of social marketing, got together to form what is an industry standard,  non-negotiable social media group. Through consulting, managing, and executing, these two have created awareness in the marketplace, and have been successful in providing value to each and every partner.”


Uh, okay.


Moral of the story: Beware people. There’s millions, perhaps zillions of businesses in cyberspace that just don’t have creds. Where is the experience?


Quack quack.

They will post what you tell them to. They'll schedule your tweets and posts via a social media tool and charge you a fortune to do so. They won't create a strategy for you. They won't have your best interests and success at heart. They want to make a fast buck! And who knows? They could hijack your accounts. Don’t hire people like this! Do your homework! Search out the facts. What more can I say? Simon and Garfunkel sum it up with a hit from1967 below. And you can find me via my website, FacebookTwitter, and Google+ ...thanks!  





12 comments:

Tim Armstrong said...

Great post! Time to call them all out!

Anonymous said...

Too true!

I am finding there are 2 schools of thought in big(ger) biz when it comes to community management - an offshoot of SM. There's the "let's just get a college kid in and pay him garbage. This stuff's easy, right?" crowd. And then, after a year or so of floundering, not going anywhere, looking bad, etc. there's the "We need to pay someone with experience, savvy and patience." crowd. Sometimes they skip step 1 but I'm finding that's rare.

Seems similar with SM overall. I suspect your "pals" (who kept repeating their tweets - perhaps you were talking to Suri???) fall in step 1-land.

Sue said...

I think that there will always be people who want someone else to do the "details" of their marketing and it's scary to think what can happen when you don't do your homework, pass off the "details" to the wrong people! It if walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it'll tweet like one, too ....quack, quack....

Gerry Wendel said...

Janet, you are SPOT ON! The good news is that BIG businesses can recover. Small businesses hurt themselves BADLY but letting their unreliable son or a college-kid take care of it.

NO, it's not easy and there's lots of people out there that get hired and create an even bigger mess!

Strategy. Strategy. Strategy.

Gerry Wendel said...

Great point Sue. And sadly, there's a lot of "ducks" out there...

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised you sent out an auto DM.

Shannon Grissom said...

Go get em Gerry!

Gerry Wendel said...

Yes, I did...I experiment with it actually, forever being the researcher. Most of the time it's off...

Anonymous said...

Great post! I also had a client complain that the last person they had hired did ALL cross-posting. SOCIAL Media, people!
At least they read their DMs??? Ugh.

Gerry Wendel said...

I read my DMs and I even respond to some of them (at least the ones that make sense). Now about that client of yours. The previous hire didn't take the time to find out what the client wanted and probably snowed them over with razzle dazzle. That's a shame and it hurts us folks who are legit. Sigh.

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