Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Businesses, Social Media and the Problem with Silly Posts and Shameless Self Promotion


Social media for businesses shouldn’t be about pointless posts, shameless self-promotion, or posting silly messages just for the sake of creating content- social media should be a two way street, a way for businesses and their constituencies to engage in meaningful dialog. Social media should be a conversation.

We all know those people- the ones who fill our Facebook and Twitter pages with ridiculous post after ridiculous post. “It’s a great day to eat tomatoes”.  “Who loves tomatoes more than us?” “Company X- Enhance your world with tomatoes!” The problem is, companies like that never actually teach us anything about tomatoes. They post and they post just for the sake of creating content. Eventually, consumers realize this and those companies become irrelevant. We all know who they are.

My point is- I already get 3000-4000 brand messages a day competing for my attention. If you are going to post, don’t try and be funny (unless it is a really good joke or a great link), just give me something that I can use. Don’t make me wish I had back the 2.1 seconds I actually spent reading your pointless post.

Just my two cents…