Spam is not Marketing Content

Okay, I've had about enough of this mindless, self-serving, me-me-me focused spamming. It was bad enough when it happened via email. Now it's happening with alarming frequency on LinkedIn, Twitter and Blogs.

Can't people restrain themselves? Do they really think that pelting people with irrelevant messaging is going to help their cause...or their companies?

Nobody likes it, so KNOCK IT OFF!

Calming down now. But chime in if you've experienced any of these lately:

A Tweet promoting some schlocky link made by a Twitterer you don't know and wouldn't associate with if you did. These look like this:

"best web affiliate programs on the planet [insert link here] @twitter1 @twitter2 @yourtwitterhandle"

Doesn't that just frost you over? We all hope people are smart enough not to pay any attention, but seriously...these idiots are trying to ride off your followers, credibility and good name.

A LinkedIn email sent to the list of a group you belong to that's a promotional piece of garbage along the lines of be my partner or use my products. Even worse is when the exact same email comes from many of your groups. Ah, yes, there's nothing like the smell of batch and blast in the afternoon.

These look like this (yep, here are excerpts from today's inbox):

• Subject: Special Announcement from Small Businesses Forum Members: Become a [Company Name Removed] Reseller

I am writing to you to discuss a business idea. My company is a website design company based out of NJ and we are a part of a 20 year old group named XYZ Corporation.

My company designs not only great looking websites for small businesses but these websites are high on features as well. Websites developed by us have content, features and functionalities needed by different verticals. All this at a “pay as you go” model wherein we charge a low monthly fee. Our websites come at 199 USD one time setup and 39 USD per month fee.

I wanted to explore a partnership with your company wherein you can offer our product to your network base and make a healthy return every month from each sale thus generating a considerable source of annuity income apart from using this as a marketing tool thereby adding value to your marketing efforts for your core offering...

[I also received this exact same email individually from the person. You know, in case once was not enough.]

Does this person think that I actually find my partners through unsolicited "me, me, me" messages? Do they think I'll be impressed with their unsubstantiated claims? This is not a good way to build the kind of awareness these people are hoping to achieve. The sad part is that I receive these kinds of messages several times a day. They smell of desperation and throw up flags that say - Run Fast. Danger Ahead.

Self-Promotional Comments on your blog posts that are purely to try and pull your readers to the spammer's website.

I'm talking about comments like:

"[My website] is a great resource for [your blog's subject matter] Click here."

Don't get me wrong. Contribute a thought about my blog post and then suggest a related blog post or article that you think will extend the ideas of that blog post. I'm all for expanding the conversation with useful information. There's a lot of good stuff out there and it's value is amplified when connected with other "like" content. But promoting your own stuff without consideration for the blogger, the topic under discussion, or the audience is intrusive, rude and will get you deleted, or even reported as spam.

Just because technology enables people to communicate, doesn't mean they should do so mindlessly.

So what is it with these people?
Do they want their reputations trashed? Or don't they care?

Do people actually respond to this stuff? I guess they must or else this type of garbage would die off. I just can't figure out why anyone would bother. These are the kind of people we all seek to avoid at social gatherings and would never consider doing business with.

Then again, when people behave badly they actually do great marketers a favor. Because the difference is startling, there's an instant recognition of something worthwhile with relevant content. Those inconsiderate, irrelevant people end up actually broadening the attention span available for marketers who focus on communicating something valuable to their audience.

Like a breath of fresh air.

There's a huge difference between marketing and spamming.

Marketing is respecting boundaries and interacting with people who have a high degree of likelihood of finding value in the message you send. It's about being considerate, helpful and generous.

Comments

[Joyce McKee]

Ardath - go girl go!!! I couldn't agree with you more!! The last section where you talk about how to show the difference between quality marketing and spam is spot on. Let's take the high road.

[Marci Reynolds]

Amen sistah! In the the past week alone I've gotten numerous @ reply spams about Google Adwords, Twitter Follower software.. and the most embarrassing one was "Guaranteed Herpes Treatments".

I agree 100% with your rant!

[Mark Galloway]

Ardath - It is amazing how quickly turnip heads find a way to screw up every great new medium for communicating. Love your material and I promise to never SPAM you.

[Jonathan Kranz]

Rock on! I see this most often on the LinkedIn groups where overtly self-promotional blasts are carelessly disguised (and not well at that) as "contributions to the community." Yeah, they've made an impression on me -- but not a favorable one.

[Jesse Kanclerz]

Unfortunately spam exists because it can be profitable.

For an interesting look at the economics of spam you might want to check out Berkeley's Spamanlytics paper:
http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/pubs/networking/2008-ccs-spamalytics.pdf

[Vaibhav Domkundwar]

Couldn't agree more. But I also think that all of us have become pretty savvy at tuning out spam and recognizing valuable content. Its a shame the spammers don't realize it and still continue to do what they do. The worst is that these spammers in B2B are spamming because of lack of creativity, lack of understanding of how to market and because they don't realize that the best way to market today is by teaching, educating and sharing insights that help customers trust you. I am not sure we are going to see the end of this anytime soon.

[Beth Hrusch]

I just posted about this. Yes, I was a victim of spam tactics recently and it occurred to me that, like everything else, if there was no market for it then it would disappear. Who are the people who are still responding to spam? These enablers are just prolonging the agony of everyone who has had their time wasted by this nonsense.

It seems obvious to me (and a lot of people) that spam is useless and annoying. I'm just wondering when everyone else will get the clue.