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All Social Networkers are Spammers

Christian Russell made a great point about the amount of spam on social networks like Twitter.

I want to take the point one step further -

ALL SOCIAL NETWORKERS ARE SPAMMERS!

(Almost the only exception appears to be Active Rainers. But I'll come to that later).

I know this is a controversial statement. I spend a great deal of time marketing on social networks and I can tell you right now that in tough economic times (like now) everyone's a seller. Have you noticed that?

Everyone has something to sell and nobody puts their hand up to say "I'm a buyer".

That's why you have all the "Get Rich by Tuesday" schemes that will make you "$5K a day marketing on Twitter". The smart marketers have worked out that their real customer is the not so smart marketer who wants to make money from social networks like Twitter. So the smart marketer creates a product about making money on Twitter and sells it to the not so smart marketer. It's like selling pots and pans to gold miners in a gold rush.

I run over 20 real estate social network groups on Facebook, Linked In and Ning with over 38,000 members. I just looked at a sample of the last 30 posts on one of my real estate group on Facebook and all 30 posts are SPAM. Some are dressed up better than others but the bottom line is that they're all trying to sell something.

That's what I really like about Active Rain. There's a committment to sharing valuable information and a real willingness to teach others. You get quality participation and a fair dose of dissenting opinions. Heck, some Active Rain members are down right argumentative but I'll take that over a sales pitch anyday.

Posted by Ross Hair on 08/12/2009 02:39 PM

Comments (49)

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49 Comments on All Social Networkers are Spammers

AUG

Ross...

I very rarely visit Twitter anymore because of all the spam. I also limit my use of FaceBook. My home has always been AR. The real world on line scares the crap out of me sometimes :)

TLW...ROAR!

Here, here!

TLW you just have to unfollow and defriend folks. It's much more pleasant that way!

Ross,

You really seem to know what you are talking about.

At a recent conference in Toronto (Realtor Quest), there were at least 3,000 realtors listening to a presentation about Twitter.

I concluded that I had missed the boat, but maybe not. Thanks for the post, it's quite reassuring.

Brian

Well, Ross

Social networking is just a tool. I don't "live" anywhere on the Net. I have made many contacts and connections, but I have NEVER found an actual customer. My definition of a customer is someone that generates revenue for me. As a REALTOR, all my customers and clients have been through face-to-face contact. :-)

The only ones that make any revenue off of the social networks are the ones that run it. That includes AR.

I just started on Twitter and I can say that I am already sick of it! So much spam and useless information. Active Rain is, on the other hand, the bomb! (as the kids say these days)

I have made several sales over $400,000 each to people that have found me on the internet.

We are ALL here to make money. It's just that there is a social networking site that is truly out there to help us do that and then there are others that are not.

I agree and disagree with you. :)

I agree that Twitter in particular has a ton of spam on it. But I still see a great use for Twitter to promote great products, contests and give good information. That's mainly what I do. And I have few unfollows from people and most people appreciate what I have to offer... at least me anyway :)

But I do get sick of the spam, which is why I am only on Twitter a little bit each day. I'd say my BIGGEST pet peeve is with Facebooks absolutely stupid notifications that pop up constantly with dumb messages like "YOU'RE AMAZING" - I hATE those and I wish there was some way to disable all that garbage. But supposedly it is there to notify you when you get a comment or something, and yet most of the time it doesn't seem to work for me that way.

I keep my fb account clean and use it often. Twitter has become a joke. The rest I am a member but don't use often.

Before I found AR I was excited about all the real estate groups on fb that claimed join here and learn from more experienced players. I joined them all. Much to my dismay, as you pointed out, every time I clicked on a well disguised link I was redirected to someone trying to sell me something. Worthless. :)

I spend a lot of time here now listening to all the experience and learning plenty. Active rain is a virtual classroom for me. :)

Thanks AR

I don't interact with spammers on Twitter, Facebook - or for that matter ActiveRain. I will make real connections on all and I will grow my network that way.

@Terry, this year all of my customers and closings have come from the Internet - some I have never met face to face prior to closing. Your last statement just isn't true. There are several real estate agents I know that receive "revenue" from twitter, Facebook and of course AR!

I got all excited about Twitter and then realized it was being taken over by the spam and "sellers" like you said.

I am much happier with AR - at least so far - as I've been in for about a week and a half -- mostly because the blogging opportunities and the Google rewards - which drives traffic to my website - and I do make all the money I need from my internet traffic.

Great post...

@Terry, you've actually touched on a very interesting point with your statement -

"The only ones that make any revenue off of the social networks are the ones that run it".

I share exactly the same opinion but I've found a way to go with the flow and make it work for me. If this sounds cryptic let me explain:

The major social networks allow you to "own" your group. You don't really own it but you do have the main benefit of ownership which is the ability to mass communicate with every group member. I use this feature to reach the 38,000 members of my group and drive them into my marketing and sales funnels.

Now I don't make anywhere near the revenue that Facebook makes, but by allowing me to "own" my groups I now generate 10 referrals a week.

@Jo is also spot on - you can convert your "friends" into customer and get more closings. I know that this is true for me and many others.

It's just all so darn confusing and overwhelming at the beginning ....

@john - you da bomb's bomb

Hi Ross -- Right on man. Most people can sniff out a poacher looking to bag a client a mile away.

I think with social networking we are expecting them to run without any maintanance - like unfollowing people, blocking spam etc. You have to put work into anything you are going to do - including the social networking.

I will notice agents from a very large brokerage firm I used to belong to are Facebook Spammers big time - they ask me to be their friend not b/c they even know me but to open up their friend list - poachers. Uh ignore!!! I even had to contact one and say I have ignored your request for a reason please stop!

It's woth it if you maintain it and do it right - just like your blog just like your website.

Hi Ross - Google seems to think so too. They are moving away from the social networking content that isn't popular. It use to be you could use social media to get great rankings, but that trend has lost steam.

-Lisa

I love ActiveRain for some of the same reasons - educational, conforontational (in a good way) - but I'm not sure I agree with Terry's comment or your review of it. I try and be very educational and have derived a fair % of my business through education and sharing. So I see this as obtaining many clients via social networking, such as ActiveRain. But like I said, I'm not selling, just educating, and I let them come to me when they need more info.

And here is the windup and here comes the pitch. yes sir. You are constantly being bombarded with fast balls

I think it really depends on how you use the social media...

Yes, there are TONS of spammers out there, and the best way to get past that, as someone above mentioned, is to unfollow those who spam.

The best way to get clientele from social media like twitter: offer some useful information or product and you WILL find buyers for it. I just got started on Twitter a few months back, and have found that already I am having 2-3 people contact me a week to ask further questions about real estate in the area from it.

Like anything, it's all HOW you use it that matters.

Here's some techniques that I found personally useful:

-Send each follower a personal message that allows them a chance to get to know you better or ask you questions about your specialty when they begin following you.

-Respond to other people and engage in conversations with them

-post only items of use to other people; links to things of interest, blog posts, special offers, etc. and don't fill it with your minute-by-minute personal activities. No one cares what you ate for breakfast. They care about things that are useful to them. If you can't offer something of use, they won't buy it.

-search out people that are looking for your service! There is a search tool on Twitter and you can refine the search to find people in your geographic location, specific keywords, etc. Add only people who will be potentially interested in what you have to say and you will have much better luck than any twittertrain or add site. It makes more sense to have 50 carefully selected followers than 50,000 who are just there to spam.

Thanks for the post!

Twitter has it's place thought lately there has been alot of spam.

@Russ - One thing I don't mind about the new breed of real estate internet marketers (read spammers) is that they do give away a great deal of free quaility content as part of the sales process. I grab all the free swag - most of it's really good - like the five best jokes you see in a movie trailer.

@Rebecca - that's four great tips on how to use Twitter. You should convert them into an eBook and sell them on Twitter for $19.95 :)

Ross, I just recently launched a webinar product, It was a diificult decision to make to go from just "giving it all away" to finally packaging a product I feel has value. I am still very uncomfortable "pitching my wares" on Activerain. BUT I decided the time was right. I have been a member of AR for over 3 years and have shared for free just about everything I know about Real Estate.

I joined this network so I could share what I know and hopefully help others in their business. I feel I have done this well. Now I want to get paid for some of my sharing. I do however still respect the members so limit my "spamming" to one blog article a week.

I guess I just have to wait and see how it goes.

Hi, Ross

You are sooooo right about spamming instead of creating real relationships where people actually know each other.

The spammers are the same people you run into at Chamber of Commerce "networking" events. They rattle off elevator speeches and shove business cards in your face. Not one is listening. Yuck.

I decided long ago that Twittering is for Twits.

I run a group on AR. We don't have a zillion members because I block people who want to use the group for spam, usually to announce new listings.

But the marketing info we swap is truly valuable. I've made some great phone friends with a few of the people in my AR group.

Last year, I was asked to take over a particular type of contract work by a nationwide non-profit association. $80K a year. Turned out my state doesn't allow it. So I passed it along to another gal I know from AR. She's making the big bucks now.

I also seek out message boards with with tighly focused topics and intelligent participants. Some are in my field of business, some are social.

In all arenas I try to make true connections with people across North America. I stay in touch with my favorites via email and phone.

Another example of a REAL contact - Another message board friend of 5 years turned me onto a side business that I estimate will make me $20K this year and $40K next year when I have fully ramped up. She made $50K+ last year and will top six figures this year. (I'm doing it part time, she does it full time. Her demographics are better for this business.)

My motto: get off the computer and get on the phone and hit the pavement!

LauraV

@ Bryant - You're too honest to be a spammer LOL. What's your product?

@ Laura - the Law of Attraction and Reciprocity (I just added the Reciprocity part) will pay you back for your kindness to your friends.

Very well put. I use Facebook and Twitter across different groups - many agents that I exchange referrals with - and use Facebook for agents and friends. You just never know when a friend is going to ask about real estate in my area. So far so good - I got a listing, a sale, another listing, and another listing - just from a friend on Facebook.

You never know how far the rabbit hole goes until you jump in...

Social Networking is something you just can't sit out !!! Tell us more about your FB network !

Well thanks you Ross. That's a very good compliment. I have a partner who is a broker as well and we have put together an 8 hour 5 part webinar on Short Sale Training for Agents.

There's a lot of spam, but there's also some interesting information and a lot of good contacts and reconnects on social media.

Ross, 20 network groups? When do you have time to eat?? I am impressed. Spam ANYWHERE is bad and needs to be stomped out like cockroaches.

Hi Ross~ It is pretty obvious which people are just trying to sell us something. Twitter is the worse for spam, I have to agree. Activerain and facebook are just about the best out there. I get business from both and love it!

@ Gary Woltal - Too funny - one look at my big ol' profile picture tells you instantly that I haven't missed a meal for about a decade.

@Michael Perry - FB is the Big Mac Daddy. The key is to (1) make friends (2) start a group (3) invite your friends to the group. Once they join your group you can broadcast a mass message to every member. That way it take 1 minute to communicate with 5000 prospects. But be very careful with FB. They're still struggling to develop a policy on using FB for business.

@Christianne Gordon - the rabbit hole is real deep and run by a guy called "warren" :)

Great post Ross! My twitter account is all spam. I'm actually shocked when I see a tweet without a link that says something interesting or get a direct message that doesn't include free gift in the message. However if you are looking for buyers come to Lee County Florida right now. We have more buyers than ever...even during the boom. This market is hot!

Hi Ross, Social networking is an amazing tools for real estate agents. I find the largest problem being, no one has ever shown them HOW to utilize the tools that come with the social networking responsibility. I belong to several groups on AR for example. I would never post a blog I wrote about the local boat launch to Active Rain Newbies, but I would post to the Maine Groups. I still work with agents who have been using AR for months and never knew how to join a group! So everyone has been getting their "stuff" and "fluff"! Outrageous!

Same goes for Facebook. I post appropriate items to my LISTS. I would never send the cute picture of my dog to all the agents I'm friends with on Facebook! Nor would I send the blog I wrote about the Commission rule changes to my family! I can't speak for the masses, but most of the agents in my area, don't even know you can create lists on Facebook!

In the past two weeks on 3 separate incidents, I have happily called agents and asked them if they would like a referral for one of my Facebook "friends".

Social networking does work if used responsibly. Maybe you could write a blog about how to utilize the proper tools to not become one of those spammers!

Great Post!

It seems the future, faster than texting , emailing and reaching an unlimited amout amount of contacts I would never be exposed to and also bringing spam among legitimate contacts. I am on Twitter a few months wondering How to start a group?

You are right... but I find that there are a lot of people on Twitter and FB that aren't spammers... And to maintain the relationships with them, I limit my spam. And that is a tough balance.

Ross you make a good point. Don't leave out the Twitter porn. I pick up one of those followers daily.

You can start a group here:

http://twittgroups.com/search.php or http://tweetworks.com/ or http://www.grouptweet.com/....

Twitter itself doesn't have this feature yet. It is coming from outside companies right now.

Ross,

I think social networking is a great tool for keeping your name in front of those that you are not in contact with on a regular basis. My personal business has benefited from my activity on FaceBook and Twitter. I do get annoyed with all the pervs that try to follow you on Twitter, thank God for the blocking features.

Yepper.. lots of spam out there... I have slipped back from twitter a little as I'm on who still has not mastered it. I also slacked off mayspace.. Why.. I sold a house on there... but facebook is much easier to use and of course Active Rain is still my favorite network site

AUG

Where I draw the line on socail spamming is when on something like Facebook I am invited everyday to join a group or attend some webinar. It becomes like white noise drowing out the backgroud. I am becoming a huge Twitter person, but I believe that it needs to be local, and not about having a bad hair day. We all do it differently, but it should be consistent, human, and non-invasive.

Ross,

I love provocative statements like "ALL SOCIAL NETWORKERS ARE SPAMMERS!". Good job pulling us all in to comment! Here's mine:

Like David Letterman, "nothing, believe me, nothing is more satisfying to me personally than getting a great idea and then beatin' it to death." I tend to go from novice to power user pretty quickly. Facebook doesn't like power users. If you use any of their features too much, you'll get booted.

I can smell spammers and avoid them pretty easily. I've become a huge fan of FriendFeed. No games, no quizes, just good content from active users. Because FriendFeed pulls your profiles from all your social networking accounts, it's pretty hard to hide your spammy ways.

Ross:

So true. And Twitter is being used more and more by companies as a selling vehincle - restaurants, car dealerships, hotels, you name it. I guess that aspect of it doesn't bother me since that's what you would expect of that sort of user...I think. But it's the get-rich-quick-using-Twitter mentality that bothers me. I just don't follow those folks and unfollow if I find that is the case.

We find elements of this on AR here and there, and some profiles are a bit over the top, but for the most part it is the outsiders who are spamming.

Jeff

I have talked with several sales agents that do not want to be a part of Twitter, etc. due to the fact that they view it as one big sales pitch. You are absolutely right about AR. It is a great place to share information.

@ Jim Calabrese - I like your point about Friend Feed, they're very interesting. They were just bought out by Facebook, so let's see what happens.

@ all the Tweetheads - it seems that most people think of Twitter as SpamFest. I'm probably going to suprise you by saying it's the one site that really gets me excited. When I first looked at it I thought "What the heck am I going to do in 140 characters", but it just keeps giving me unexpected results. I'm certainly not a Twitter pro but I'm learning fast!

I'd say it depends on how you are using social networking and your definition of "spam." I don't just randomly add friends or contacts. I only include people I know and wish to keep in contact with. Therefore, I'm interested in knowing what they're up to -- so I don't consider that spam.

I also don't bombard people with RE information on my fb page. Instead I set-up a business/fan page where all my RE "stuff" goes. That way people who are interested can follow it and those who are not can ignore it.

I have to agree with the comments about twitter. I'm on it, but don't follow it that much as I've yet to find much of a point to it. It's either "I'm about to blow my nose now" posts or "BUY MY PRODUCT NOW!" posts -- neither of which particularly interest me.

Ross:

We feel that for social media to work you also have to be follow "worthy". We have found lots of good information on AR, Linked In, Twitter, etc. Yes, there are annoying people, but they are found in every aspect of life. That does not negate the power of social media and getting one;s name out there. It is a young medium and we are all pioneers so to speak.

One also has to pick up the phone and get acquainted with the people you like. We have met some delightful people. Our approach is friendship first and see how we can benefit from our talking together, and the benefit can be somebody fun to talk to and laugh with.

We agree with you about forming affinity groups. These groups have a common interest and common goals.

Thanks for this blog post, and congratulations on generating all these comments.

I definitely get tired of all of the spam. Many of my websites get inundated with spam on a daily basis.

@Jeff Dowler - I agree with everything you say (except your decision to wear a moustache - LOL). But stay on top of Twitter because I think it's going to be a huge marketing platform.

SEP

For everyone following this post I'd like to send you a copy of an eBook I just wrote called the Social Media Mind Map. It looks at the difficulties associated with social marketing and lays out how I convert social media marketing into more real estate closings.

It's free and can be downloaded at:

http://socialmediarealestatepros.com

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