This morning I got into a dialogue with one of my Facebook friends about passive marketing thru Facebook. The discussion was prompted when I was checking out the wall of one of the top executives at my company. Someone had gone to her wall and posted a link to an internet marketing program. I work for a company that is very generous about the sharing of ideas, and perhaps this person just wanted to help a co-worker.  But, I had to ask myself if this top executive would really want to be seen as promoting something that wasn't officially sanctioned by the company.

One of the goals of social media is to remind people from time to time of what you do. The issue I mentioned has to do with someone posting their sales related stuff on your wall, so that YOUR friends will see it and using YOU as a passive marketer for their product, especially if it's done without your permission.

I've had this happen on two business fan pages that I administer. The person posted links to their services and one of them was even a competitor! I politely messaged them and asked them to stop. What if someone had seen that post on my wall, assumed I endorsed the program, and was then disappointed in the program? Would that be a bad reflection on me?

Marketing yourself thru your friends is ok because they've given you permission. If they get tired of you, they'll just Hide you from their stream....marketing thru others without their permission...not so good (in my humble opinion)

What are your thoughts??

Beth