I have read a lot of articles lately about social media practices like buying followers etc. and I'm kind of glad this is being highlighted because I've found in the last while that so many people are using social media in a spammy, intrusive way. I'm not sure if this is because they have been advised to do this or if they are just employing an aggressive sales technique type of approach, but either way, it's extremely annoying.

The following are some of the things that are likely to leave me with a very bad impression of a business or individual.

Firstly, the whole follow/unfollow technique - this is obviously used to boost your numbers and make it look as if you are very popular. So if you follow hundreds of people, chances are that many will follow back. You then unfollow them all, making it look as if you have far more followers than are following.  This is a common tool used by people on Twitter and Instagram. With the advent of apps, however, it is now easy enough to see the people doing this and I just promptly unfollow them.

Auto direct messages - they drive me mad and I just can't understand why people still use them. I'm seeing them more and more on Instagram, unfortunately, although it used to be mainly a Twitter thing. They go straight into trash and I would never bother clicking into any links sent with them. 

This one is Facebook - I've gotten a lot of friend requests lately from people who are members of groups I'm in. This is totally fine if the person feels they relate to me - we might have commented on each other's posts or have something in common or some reason to suggest that adding me as a friend might be appropriate.  What I really have a problem with, though, is someone adding me as a friend with the sole intention of promoting their business to me.  This is cynical and completely inappropriate and I've recently done a cull of people who added me just to send me a page 'like' invite and then never interacted with me again.

Also cropping up lately has been an invite to 'like' a page if I have commented or liked something they have shared. Maybe other people find this ok but it irritates me no end. It's far too 'hard sell' for me. If I've been on your page and wanted to follow it I would have done it already.

Another FB problem is people who gather names from groups and send private messages about their business directly to the individuals.  This is total spam and incredibly intrusive.

Next up, spamming groups directly with your business advertisement without ever interacting with other people. This is frankly just RUDE. It's a particular technique of those involved in Multi Level Marketing companies, although not exclusive to them. And in relation to MLM companies, the lack of transparency in posting is absolutely wrong. The entire system of how this marketing works should be made clear from the outset, so that people can make an informed choice about becoming part of the business.  This lack of transparency has most certainly been part of the training given with these organisations and it's frankly duplicitous and immoral.

So now that I've finished my rant I thought I'd suggest some good practice for Social Media :)

Interact with people - if someone has gone to the trouble of liking your posts or commenting, maybe give them a like in return next time they post something. It can help boost their views and it's just a nice thing to do.

If you've bought a product you loved or have stayed in or eaten somewhere good, maybe consider tagging the page and giving them a shout out. They will definitely appreciate it!

My technique for Instagram (which is probably my favourite social media tool at the moment) is to go on several times a day and like people's posts.  This is a deliberate effort to be supportive of what other people are sharing.