Our home of a decade and a half is soon to go on the market. It’s a stressful time. Choosing agents, sprucing up the gardens, patching, painting and packing. All make for challenging times.

Here in Perth, Western Australia it’s officially the start of autumn. It seems no one has told the weather though. A long, stifling heatwave would have any outsider feeling like it’s the middle of summer.

It’s not.

Soon leaves will start falling out of trees tired from a long summer of growth. The rake and leaf blower will come out of hiding to keep the yard pristine for a merry band of buyers and a host of nosy neighbours.

As much as falling leaves and leaf blowers are synonymous with autumn so is the never-ending chore of keeping friends and follower lists tidy on social networking sites. Neither job is glamorous.

Without regular maintenance gardens become messy and out of control. So do Facebook and Twitter streams.

On Twitter I regularly turn the leaf blower on spammers and folk who are only interested in pimping their eBook or affiliate programme. I clean out the gutters of my Twitter stream by unfollowing inactive accounts. With just a few minutes a day my Twitter garden is clean and tidy.

I keep my Facebook backyard in similar shape. New friends are added to lists – I have about thirty – that allow me to communicate with friends about stuff they’re interested in.

Almost all applications are blocked so my newsfeed only contains updates and news items. I don’t want leaves blowing across my front lawn and I certainly don’t want to see who’s had a psychic reading from Tara the Clairvoyant.

Occasionally I ‘hide’ a friend, a bit like I keep an old saw tucked in the back corner of my garden shed. I recently removed someone from my friends list altogether. They left a pile of spam leaves on my wall. And I take pride in keeping my wall neat and tidy.

Just like my front yard.

Best I stop writing now. I have a hedge to trim.

On Facebook yesterday I received yet another suggestion from a “friend” to join their fan page. It was the umpteenth such suggestion. As I was exhausted from hitting the Ignore button I decided to send a direct message. It said simply:

Hi Kim (not their real name),

I’m really happy to be your FB friend but would you mind not sending me invites to your FB page.

Thanks

Peter

Sure I could have gilded the lilly, wrote some crap about how lovely their page looked and how I just can’t possibly add another page to my newsfeed. Perhaps I should learn to be more diplomatic. Instead I chose instead to state clearly the action I wanted them to take. Their response was to de-friend me. Instantly!

It was an immature response. Rather than simply respecting my wishes their choice was to cut me off completely. It’s not how the “social” part of social media works.

There are a couple of lessons here for Page owners. First, don’t piss your friends off by constantly inviting them to join your page. Sure, suggesting your page to friends builds fan numbers. It’s a proven strategy. But once you’ve invited them, back off. Don’t push it too far. If you do you’ll start alienating people.

Second, if you get a message asking you not to send page suggestions don’t take it personally. Respect your friend’s wishes and look for other ways to grow your fan base. Remember, thick skin good, thin skin not so.

There are ways Facebook could help page owners. First, they could add an “invite pending” indicator to a friend’s profile pic. Currently when suggesting a page to friends those who are already fans are displayed with a slightly opaque profile pic and can’t be added to the invite list. Facebook could add a similar function with the invite expiring after a period of time, say a month or three.

Facebook could also add a “block page suggestions from this person” button. This would mute out serial page-suggesting admins. They’d never know their message wasn’t getting through. But then again they probably wouldn’t care.

This article was originally posted on The Real Estate Marketing Maven

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barelyfitz/ / CC BY 2.0

I accepted your friend request. I didn’t recognise your name, nor your face, but I was excited. Were you an old school friend? A work colleague from years gone by? Or perhaps someone with an interesting story to share?

I looked forward to your status updates, to learn about your adventures and  be teased by your Bali holiday photos. I wanted to be your new friend on the other side of the city, on the other side of the country, on the other side of the world.

Then you started sending me Facebook Page suggestions, which is great; if the pages had been relevant to my needs. They weren’t. You suggested I become a fan of pages about cosmetics and clothing, even a page about yourself. I scratched my head.

I began to question why you “added” me in the first place. Was it so you could get to know someone new? So you could make a lifelong connection? So we could meet up for coffee and discuss changing the world? Or was it that you saw me as a number, as just another fan?

I soon guessed that you were the one behind the Pages you were touting. Why else would you send me recommendation after recommendation? You could see I hadn’t joined but still you persisted. You never bothered to send me a message, to write on my wall, to ask about my interests. No chat, no conversation, no attempt to get to know me. Did you assume I’d be interested in your Pages? Or is it that you really didn’t care?

What you may now realise is that I see your behaviour in the same way as I do a spammer. You know, the kind that assumes I need Viagra or Cialis or the $27 million locked in an overseas bank account. The spammer cares nothing about what I need or want, about what’s good for me. All they care for is themselves, their sale and their own petty existence. And I’ll bet that you’re really not like that.

So tell me, just why did you add me as a Friend? I really want to know.

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I’m in the process of re-theming my site so if you see some things that don’t quite look right, be patient. It should be all finished by about 12 midnight Perth, Australia time. A big bunch of kudos to the magnificent Téa Brennan from Linkartist for working to a totally unreasonable deadline.

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I recently linked my Facebook fan Page to my Twitter account. The thinking behind the move was simple. First the audiences for both my Page and Twitter accounts are similar making the content of the Page post and tweet relevant in both cases. Second, when I update my Page Facebook creates a tweet giving me one less thing to do. Sounds simple enough, but it’s not.

I imagined that any link contained within the Page post would be sent (probably in shortened form) in the tweet.  Instead Facebook send Twitter a link to the post on the Facebook Page (here’s an example), and not the link posted to the Page.

What this means is that users are taken to a page on Facebook  that contains the original post. From there they must then click through to the article. It’s a long way around.

Facebook may be trying to help Page owners by driving traffic back to the Page post and therefore the Page. I’d like to think that’s the case. A more cynical view is that Facebook is attempting to grab a few extra ad-carrying page impressions. Maybe that’s going too far.  Whatever their reasons it’s a clumsy arrangement that doesn’t work well for the end user.

As of yesterday I’ve unlinked my Facebook Page and Twitter account until they get it sorted out.

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There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to social media marketing. There are plenty of ways to get it right; and wrong. Treat these 10 mistakes as ways to think through your social media tactics. They may even serve as useful guides for your marketing more generally.

Mistake 1 – Don’t listen

Listening is social media skill number one. If you’re not listening to the  community chatter about your company, products or industry your making a big mistake. That mistake will lead to a two-fold risk. First, you risk ignoring legitimate complaints about your service and that can really piss people off. Second, there’s the real risk of missing opportunities to create connections that could generate more business opportunities.

Mistake 2 – Don’t respond

Your Google alert has identified a blog post that’s a scathing attack about the quality of your service. Do nothing and you’ll appear ignorant at best or arrogant at worst. A better course of action is to leave a comment on the post. Optus does that regularly.

Mistake 3 – Be overly sensitive

There are other times when it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie. If you see a tweet and it gets your blood boiling don’t respond. Take a day or two. And a chill pill. If you’re thinking of suing someone about a single tweet think again. Just ask Horizon Realty how their “sue first ask questions later” strategy turned out. When it comes to PR on the Internet suing is rarely a wise strategy.

Mistake 4 – Ignore people who help you

Social media thrives on reciprocity. When someone tweets your blog post or shares your content on Facebook say thanks. Or return the favour. It takes no time at all and builds a bank of goodwill. But if you want to annoy the good folk who are trying to help just ignore them. Pretty soon they’ll go away so you can play in the social media sand pit all on your own.

Mistake 5 – Be unclear about with your intentions

Facebook and Twitter are THE places to waste lots of time. And that’s what will happen if you’re not clear about what you want to achieve. To avoid this mistake connect your social media efforts directly with your business goals. Being clear about your intentions will help you avoid wasting time on networks that don’t add value to your business.

Mistake 6 – Be a fake

If you’re faking it you’re going to be found out so don’t try to be something you’re not. Some of the biggest companies in the world have found this out the hard way. Sooner or later your fake “I became a millionaire in 15 minutes a day” blog is going to be exposed as a sham. The ferocity of the community backlash will be in direct proportion to the degree people felt let down.

Mistake 7 – Don’t put social sharing buttons on your site

If you don’t want your blog posts or articles shared or bookmarked don’t put social sharing buttons on your web pages. If you do want people to share your content – and let’s face it, that’s probably the case – then get them on their pronto. And a Twiiter and Facebook logo on your home page isn’t what I’m talking about. Share buttons. Every page, Now.

Mistake 8 – Use social media as a broadcast medium

Ever walked into a party and used a megaphone to introduce  yourself? Probably not, so why do it on Facebook or Twitter? Let’s face it, advertising is an important part of any marketing budget but please, mix advertising and social media sparingly. If you want to advertise use Google Adwords or Facebook’s advertising platform. Social media works best as a conversation, not a broadcast platform.

Mistake 9 – Focus on the numbers

Anyone can have lots of Facebook friends or Twitter followers. Getting big numbers is easy. Just keep clicking the Add of Follow buttons and soon you’ll have big numbers. But so what? if people aren’t listening. What really counts in social media is relationships. If your message is concealed behind the Hide button or tucked away in a Tweetdeck group what’s the point? Relationships thrive on conversation and deep relationships make good business sense.

Mistake 10 – Be a Lurker

Lurking in social media is like people watching at a party. Sure it may be fun for a while but you’ll be going home alone. That’s no fun. It’s much better fun get known, so get out and start connecting. Say “hi” through a blog comment, the Like button, an @ reply or an email. Whatever you do, don’t lurk.

Mistake 11 – Abandon your Twitter account (or blog or Facebook Page)

Want to look super uncool? Start tweeting, tweet like there’s no tomorrow, then stop. For 6 months. It’s the fastest way to show the world your management team has the attention span of a gnat or they you’re adept at backing the wrong horse. Either way, not a good move.

There they are, the top 10 mistakes to not make in social media marketing. I’ve made several. Be ye not so foolish.

11 Social Media Mistakes That Will Turn Your Brand Into a Train Wreck was originally posted on The Real Estate Marketing Maven

Just posted to The Real Estate Marketing Maven:

If you’re a newbie blogger you may be wondering what to do next. If so, you can’t go far past commenting on other blogs as a sure-fire way to learn the craft. Picture yourself at a barbecue. It’s not your usual crowd so you’re feeling a little nervous, a tad apprehensive. Aside from drinking your inhibitions away there are plenty of ways to start a conversation…read the full story.

Just posted to The Real Estate Marketing Maven:

I’ve scoured the Internet for the top 10 tips to help grow your Facebook Page fan base. Here they are in no particular order.

1. “Call your Fan Page a Fan Club and include an invitation to join your Club on your email signature file.” – Mari Smith
2. “The best way to grow your fan base on Facebook is to interact with them often and regularly, and to keep your Facebook page fresh!” – Social Surrogates
3. “Make sure you use a Fan Box to publicize to your customers your presence on Facebook. Once you do that, watch for your numbers of fans to increase.” – Brand5 Blog…read the full story.

Email is a great way to build relationships. It’s cost effective and, done well, can result in lots of sales inquiry.

Here, then, are 25 ways to build a database of people keen to hear what you have to say.

1. Add an invitation to subscribe to your e-newsletter on your business cards.
2. And your open home brochures.
3. And your other personal promotion handouts.
4. Invite home open visitors to leave their email address…read the full story.

A recent article from Mari Smith highlights the dangers of putting all of your marketing eggs in the Facebook basket. Imagine for a moment that you’ve started a Facebook Page, added an attractive landing tab and started building a fan base. You decide to run a competition offering a prize for the best photo uploaded to your Page or profile wall… read full story on The Real Estate Marketing Maven.