In my last post I ranted on Facebook events, particularly how event organizers use the event lists to spam their invitees. (If you’re unfamiliar with Facebook Events, you may want to read that post first).
Here’s one of my social media commandments: honor thy followers. You break that rule when you erode trust and abuse access to everyone. The goal is to turn your followers into raving fans, not send them running for the exit.
That much said, this week I did something on Facebook that went against my own philosophy… but in the spirit of transparency, I want to share with you how I dealt with it.
Oops… My Bad
I detest it when people create Facebook events then start sending message after message to ALL on the invite list. We all understand the temptation, but remember: just because you CAN do something doesn’t always mean you SHOULD.
- Yes, your event is important and perhaps life transforming.
- Yes, you need the prospects.
- But… No, you don’t want to turn people off early in the game with hard selling tactics.
So guess what I did?
I sent a message out that was intended ONLY for the people who replied “Maybe” they’d attend an event, but accidentally sent it to ALL invitees. Oops, broke my own rule.
I could have just swept it under the rug and hoped people would forget about it, but I realize that I have a great following of people who rely on me for best practices in attracting leads and opportunities with social media.
If I model that it’s OK to spam your list, then my reputation goes down many notches.
Here’s what I did when I realized I made that error:
1. I composed a short message and intentionally sent it to ALL.
Eeek!
I just sent a message to ALL invitees of my event and I intended that last message to ONLY go to the “Maybe” responses. That goes 1000% against my style so please know it was an innocent mistake.
And I’m sorry for clogging your inbox with this additional one but I #$&!!!@^! hate it when people abuse event lists and spam their contacts so I need to clear my name.
Big time “Sorry!” to everyone who didn’t need to get that last message.
stay my friend OK? I’m not one of those evil list spammers.
Nancy
2. I went on my merry way and said a few words of gratitude.
3. Then I checked my inbox and saw a flood of replies! I haven’t gotten permission from peeps to publicly share a private message but let me say I’ve got a PR big wig, a Twitter superstar, and a couple of up and comers. A few samples:
- You handled this “mistake” with first-class professionalism. Way to go!
- ohhhhhhh, all right. You are forgiven. I guessssss ;- )) But you did prove ONE thing to me. You; Are; Human.
- re: mailout to invite list.
You’re forgiven
- Not offended at all. I can only imagine what word went into the statement before the word”HATE”. Glad to see that I am not the only one that kicks themself for “F-ing” up. Bless you girl. Have a great afternoon.
I know a lot of you panicked when you read my last post on Facebook Events because you didn’t realize you were annoying your contacts.
Today’s the first day of the rest of your life on Facebook. Make good with your peeps by not clogging their inboxes. If you make a big mistake, it’s OK to admit it without getting defensive. People will admire you for your honesty and continue to build trust in you.
What do you think? Anything on your plate you need to clear up? Have another opinion? We’re all interested in your feedback!
About Nancy Marmolejo
