Chris Spagnuolo’s EdgeHopper

How many emails have you received that start this way: “Hello, My name is Van Curtis. I work as an international auditor for the Delta Lloyd Bank (ALM) Asset Liability Managerial department monitoring five branches including Singapore, Belgium and Netherlands. I have taken pains to find your contact through personal endeavors which I may explain to you upon your response. A possible family member of yours (name withheld for security reason) died nine months ago leaving behind an investment total of EU5.95M (Five Million Nine hundred and Fifty Thousand Euros) with my bank.” I looked through my spam folder today and found tons of these. But, we all know these are spam and we don’t think about reading too far if we even open these types of messages. (Although I love to think that I’m suddenly five-million dollars richer!)

I also get lots of emails with subject lines like “Time to Sleep Well” or “Succeed in a BIG Way”. And wow, to my surprise, when I opened these they were ads for, you guessed it, Viagra and Cialis that looked like this:

Tricky eh? I would have never expected a Viagra ad with the word BIG in the subject line. So, OK, this is really lame spam and I don’t think anyone reads these and I don’t think the senders really expect to get many responses either. But what about “spammers” who expect to get responses to their unsolicited ads they send to us. I get plenty of email from advertisers who believe that I’m really interested in their products or services. They may be a legitimate company selling a real product or service, but did I ever ask for this? No I didn’t. So why do companies waste their time trying to sell where they don’t have permission to sell? The better question is, why do companies try to sell to me if we don’t have a relationship?

This little romp through my junk mail folder made think of how companies and individuals are trying to sell on social networks these days. I can’t tell you how many people follow me on Twitter and lead off their conversations with me with a direct message that reads something like: “Thanks for following me. Now turn your Twitter account into a cash machine! http://somelamelink.com” or “Want to know the secret to SEO success, check out http://seo_loudmouth.com” and my recent favorite “Thanks for following me, Chris! Squirrel Chair Feeders are both entertaining and I donate proceeds to Make-A-Wish”.

I mean really, what’s with the rush to sell to me or anyone else on Twitter? Why is it that so many people and companies think that their very first interaction with folks on Twitter has to be an opportunity to sell? Why not get to me know me first? Chris Brogan put it very well when he Tweeted this about to trying to sell too soon: “In relationship terms, I’m reaching out to shake your hand and you’re trying to put your tongue in my mouth.” I couldn’t have put it better myself. Slow down partner, can’t we just be friends first?

So here’s my message to social media marketers and those who are trying to sell on Twitter: Do me and everyone else on Twitter a favor; we don’t mind if you’re trying to sell or do your marketing using Twitter, but please stop sticking your tongue in my mouth every chance you get. I’m just going to end up ignoring you anyway and you’ll be wasting both your time and mine. The better approach would be to work hard on building trust and relationships in the social media world. Then, if I really like you and what you have to say, I’ll come to you for whatever it is you’re selling…and maybe I’ll even kiss you.

Related posts:

1. The power of social media and word of mouth
2. Social Media is Not a Fad, It’s a Revolution!
3. What the F**k is Social Media?
4. Enough with Bad Auto DM’s Already
5. Social Business by Design