How Not To Build Your Online Presence

By Robert Hacala · Leave a Comment · In Brand Management, Getting Started, Presence

A majority of traditional advertising was based on interruption, with the most obvious example being television commercials. The early years of email and the Internet brought deceit into the mix, with untruthful messages designed to sell you shoddy products or scam you for your money.

Then came along social media, and things began to change a little. There were more conversations happening between companies and consumers, and more conversations between consumers and other consumers. People were becoming increasingly wary of which messages were legit and which companies were worth their time. They started sharing their positive and negative experiences far and wide, while warning others about spam and companies with questionable business practices.

The social business mentality has been changing, and more and more companies are realizing the way to build an online presence as they move deeper into new media, content marketing, sharing, and user-generated content (two-way communication). Business owners and marketers are getting the point that they can’t simply broadcast their message and expect people to take action, let alone listen. In the past, a broadcasted message may have hit more than a few interested people, while they sat on their couches watching sitcoms. Not so much in today’s noisy world; people have to know you, like you, and trust you… now more than ever.

Building an online presence for your self or your company takes honesty and integrity. Being anonymous online is becoming less and less the norm, as you need to have a real face and a real name in order for most others to even consider adding or following you. The point is to present yourself pretty much how you would face-to-face.

That said, there are still those who don’t understand how annoying they are when the message me on Twitter saying, “Hey, I just saw your tweet. You have to check this out right away: {some url}.” Their link sends me to a landing page with a product that’s completely irrelevant to who I am, what I do, or even what I tweet about!

Please make sure you’re not one of these people. Trying to make a quick buck this way is so counter-intuitive to building an online presence that it will get you nowhere. Help make the Internet a real place with real (awesome) people by showing what you can actually offer the world.

The ones who send spammy messages like this obviously don’t get it yet. They are simply playing the odds, sending links to as many random people as possible on their social networks, hoping that a few will be deceived into buying something. They certainly don’t understand what having an online presence means or how to run a business in the conversation-driven social consumerism of the 21st century.

Now it’s time for you to share your experiences in the comments below. What kinds of totally irrelevant spammy messages have you received through social media? I know you all have lots of great stories to tell.

Image by Andreas Eldh under a CC BY 2.0 license.