Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus are becoming increasingly popular in B2B, but are we in danger of social overload? Claire Weekes investigates the rise of ‘social spam’
Social media has broken down barriers of communication, which for businesses has opened up exciting new ways in which they can interact with customers. But for those that aren’t careful in the way they use social media to approach leads, its open nature as a channel of communication can be something of a double-edged sword. Social spamming has overtaken email spamming as the most talked about irritant when it comes to receiving ill-targeted communications.
We’ve all heard of, or been an unfortunate recipient of, pointless spam on Twitter or Facebook. More worryingly for B2B marketers, is the fact they too can become social spammers – albeit unwittingly – by streaming poorly thought out content into social media channels.
“Spam is anything seen as irrelevant [and] is harmful to a business looking to develop trusted relationships en route to encouraging prospects to transact,” says Rene Power, digital director at London law firm BDB. “Just because you can track someone down and make an introduction to them, it doesn’t always mean you should,” she adds.
Direct, deaf and blind
Those who deliberately target social media account holders with (mostly) pointless information are often referred to as direct spammers. But in the B2B world, there are two types of spammer that are a little more subtle in the way in which they try to interact with potential peers. According to Jim Woodhead, account director at Marketecture, these perhaps more unwitting spammers can be classed either as (metaphorically speaking) ‘deaf’ or ‘blind’ in the way they approach social media networking.
“Your typical blind spammer is often the random request on LinkedIn from a person or business you’ve never heard of, who claims to have done business with you or flags themselves as a ‘friend’. They’re the group member who sends messages out to everyone they’re connected to without any real regard for, or knowledge of, the people they’re contacting,” says Woodhead.
“In effect, they just blanket message all of the people in a group irrespective of their role, their industry or area of expertise. The blind spammer doesn’t take the time to understand their audience, where they are located and what they actually do. They just spray and pray.”
Deaf spammers meanwhile, are those that ‘hang around’ on social networks talking about themselves. “They don’t actively engage with their followers; they don’t reference the world around them; they don’t even join the debate. They just tweet about their latest product, service, client or award. These are the people who retweet every mention of their business but who never so much as offer you a #FF,” explains Woodhead.
The personal touch
So how can B2B marketers make sure they don’t fall into either bracket? The usual rules apply: make sure you’re posting relevant, fresh content, only talk to customers and prospects that you could offer a genuine proposition to; and importantly, don’t just post relevant content – but listen and respond to the feedback you receive via your social media channels too. Brands are now finding that Twitter, in particular, is an effective tool from which to manage customer service output. A carefully managed Twitter account that strikes the right tone can actually serve as a great advert for your brand overall – and stop you looking like (and being) a spammer.
One example offered by Power involves the adding of personality to accounts. “[Try] having individual accounts on Twitter such as @ThreeUK_Jess rather than @ThreeUKSupport – or consider individual daily handlers to add some personality to accounts.”
Unintentional spamming
Across all of the major social media channels, one activity that any brand can easily engage in is that of social listening to identify those who are talking about them, and then follow them to establish an on-going relationship. Yet what might be considered a relatively straightforward approach in identifying potential leads to engage with online can lead to its own pitfalls that might deem a well-intentioned brand ‘spammy’.
Simon Nash, senior planner at digital consultancy Reading Room Studio – himself a recent recipient of what he considered unintentional spam – has these insights to offer. “A brand could find people talking passionately about it and follow them. You could argue that such an approach might be welcomed, but you should judge the success of such approaches by monitoring the reciprocal follow rates,” he says. “As a rule of thumb, one-in-three would suggest that your approach is meeting with general approval but use carefully as you still risk getting your profile blocked if too many people use the block or report for spam functions.”
Nash was the recent recipient of unintended spam when he was followed by a company offering PA hire in Staines. He reveals, “They used my frequent mentions of music as a steer but they completely neglected the fact that I live in Hackney and have no relationship with Staines.
“I would argue this is a spam approach and on average I am receiving several follows a day. I routinely delete and block such follows but they consume time I’d much rather spend doing something else.
“Marketers do need to self-censor and think twice before contacting people. As ever in social it all comes down to making appropriate and highly targeted interventions into social spaces. If you are not sure your presence will be welcomed then don’t even consider making an appearance.”
Anti-spam measures
Use of social media by B2B, or indeed any marketer, is still something of a learning curve and finding your social voice is a skill that takes time to acquire.
Thankfully, B2B brands don’t generally intend to spam. As Power puts it, “We’re smarter than that.”
But be aware that increasingly, intention not to spam is not enough. Social networks are putting in place their own spam filters that you will fall foul to if you look to be causing online ‘harassment’ in their eyes. Facebook, for example, now recognises spammers via its EdgeRank algorithm, which picks out those sending frequent and unengaging posts.
“If a user consistently publishes posts that no one likes, comments on or shares, the user’s EdgeRank score will decrease. The greater the frequency of posts that people ignore, the lower a user’s EdgeRank score. That means Facebook users can sometimes unwittingly ‘spam’ their way out of people’s news feeds if they are not sharing the right type of content in the correct way,” explains Annette Iafrate, UK managing director of SME marketing provider Constant Contact.
As a rule of thumb, for B2B brands looking to find and maintain a footing in the social media space, its best to remember to check in with your audience as often as possible. If you haven’t the time to devote to cultivating your presence on these networks properly then simply don’t do it at all.
“Above all, remember social media is just that – social. It was designed for one-to-one relationships and businesses getting involved because they have sniffed out an opportunity. Users look for like-minded people to connect with, to talk about the issues and topics that they are passionate about,” concludes Power.
“B2B brands need to spend more time listening and counselling [in this space] and a lot less time selling.”
The seven social spamming sins
Avoid these anti-social sins with savvy content management tips from Jim Woodhead, account director at Marketecture
1. Hashtag spamming
Overuse of hashtags in one tweet can make you look desperate to pick up followers and may actually do your brand more harm than good. It’s far better to use hashtags sparingly and only for conversations where you can add real opinion or value. Remember hashtags should be used to tag content, not as #random #words #of #a #sentence.
2. Social SEO suicide
Being a social media spammer not only hurts your reputation, it can also damage your SEO efforts, certainly in the medium to long term. If you consistently post the same link or content over and over again, this has the same effect as a website with lots of duplicate content and may increasingly start to devalue your page rankings as search engine algorithms evolve. (See page 40 for more about Google’s latest algorithm update and how to avoid SEO suicide).
3. Social address harvesting
As with harnessing email addresses, think carefully before you start harvesting social addresses from social platforms for the purpose of sending out spam (yes we know LinkedIn is a great B2B information source). Not only is this illegal in some territories, it can also gain you a spammer reputation.
4. Zero relevance
Relevancy to your audience cannot be underestimated. However tempting, spare your followers pet-posing photos on the corporate account. Take time to listen to what your target audience wants or risk spamming them. When followers sign up as your social disciples, they do so for a reason – to engage with the relevant and interesting content that originally attracted them.
5. Blatant broadcasting
Don’t think of social media as a broadcast medium – all social channels should be considered as a platform for genuine engagement, not a brand name awareness facilitator.
6. Retweeting for tweet’s sake
Don’t retweet like a sycophant – make sure all your retweets have a strategic purpose and are of interest to your audience. Don’t just retweet the things that you are interested in, carefully select those tweets you think your audience would be interested in.
7. Over-sharing
Think before you tweet. What makes you laugh while out entertaining clients, or at the pub after work on a Friday, may not be something you necessarily want to share and spam your followers with.
