The Dark Side of Facebook Fan Pages
Picture this: I’m working away in a cramped London hotel room. I’m there for SES London, along with many other of my geeky SEO friends.
Suddenly, I get a Facebook fan page request from a person who shall remain nameless.
And then I got another. And another. All from the same person.
At the end of the deluge, this person had sent out about eight “become a fan” requests (it could have been more, actually,) all within five minutes.
A few minutes later, I head downstairs for dinner. One person checks his iPhone and groans about all the “become a fan” requests. Another person checks his email and makes the same comment. We compare notes and realize, yup, these requests were:
- All from the same person, who was…
- In our industry, so he was probably…
- Setting up Facebook fan pages for his clients (most of which were local to this man, and therefore, we had never even heard of the companies) and…
- Sending out bulk “become a fan” email requests to everyone in his Facebook network on behalf of his clients. You know, the companies that none of his Facebook friends had ever heard of.
Within five minutes, this person was “unfriended” by five people. Probably more – I’m sure we weren’t the only folks in his network to feel this way.
Folks, I am all for Facebook fan pages. I think they offer businesses a fantastic way to reach customers and engage in a two-way dialogue. Heck, even I have a SEO copywriting Facebook page.
But when it comes to promoting your fan page (or your client’s), please, please use some common sense. Sending out client fan requests to everyone on your friend network is just plain irritating. How could I have any kind of “connection” to a company that’s across the U.S. from me? How is that targeted? It reflects poorly upon the marketer and poorly upon the company.
If you’re cringing a bit because you’ve done the same thing, I know you meant well. You really did. I’m sure the guy who sent out all the Facebook notifications meant well. I’m sure he wanted to build up his client’s fan network and show some initial success. The thought was nice. But there are other ways to reach that goal.
So, before you send out “bulk-fan” notifications, ask yourself:
1. Does my friend have any connection to the company that I’m promoting? If you’re promoting your own company, it may be appropriate to email more folks within your network. But if you know that your friend lives in California, and you’re asking them to become a fan of a small, local Vermont-based business, you probably aren’t going to get much play.
2. Do I have a page that’s worthy of fandom? If it’s a brand-new fan page without much interaction, consider bulking up your content before trolling for fans. Otherwise, you’re asking folks to fan (otherwise known as “recommend”) a page that’s not even ready for prime-time.
3. How would I feel if I received this fan request? Just because people can easily ignore a request doesn’t mean that you should make them spend the time to do so. If you’re on the fence, don’t send it.
Friends don’t let friends send spammy Facebook spam requests, m-kay? Think about it.
Finally some said it! I have most of my notfications turned off because of stuff like this.
Any consultant who helps set up fan pages for a client which are doing nothing but spamming people is doing a real diservice to their clients.
This is interruption marketing posing as permission marketing and will always be counter productive.
Why not send invitations to people you KNOW will be interested and then let them invite the people they KNOW will be interested. Then you have a genuine fan club and will have something that can gain real traction for your client. They will thank you in the end.
I also agree that this is often done with good intentions but it does display a little bit of misunderstanding about what good marketing really is in my opinion.
Less spam please guys.
Understand the frustration. But this might be a situation where the social [media] Darwinism works. Somebody does something stupid and annoying, they lose many of their best connections. Since it isn’t easy to start anew at Facebook they will take a big long term hit. If only there was a way in email to make the jerks pay.
Ha! I never thought about “social media Darwinism” (that’s a blog post by itself!) Great comment. Thank you! :)
I’ve read a handful of blog posts that promote Facebook fan pages, but only this one has discussed how to use it successfully. Isn’t it interesting that people think they can create an unflattering Facebook page, send it to all their “friends” and expect results. Success comes through research, hard work, and a little bit of common sense. This article tells how to do that. Wonderful!
Thanks so much – I’m glad you enjoyed the post. :)