Reviewed from Uncorrected Proof

Friends with Benefits:  A Social Media Marketing Handbook by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo is coming out this month and their book publisher, No Starch Press, understands geek entertainment and they sent Boxcar Marketing an advance PDF. Yipee!

No Starch has also given us permission to excerpt a couple of sections of the book. The first one is our favourite lesson for people using social media marketing for business.

Friends with Benefits: Chapter 4
Lesson #7: Don’t Be a Social Media Spammer

Spammer is pretty much the worst aspersion you can cast on a web denizen. In the online world, being called a spammer is like being called creepy, desperate, and corrupt all at once. Marketers rightfully worry about demonstrating “spammy” behavior and often ask us how to avoid looking like a shady online citizen….

This behavior is the kind that will brand your forehead with a big red S:

• You send generic emails to bloggers and podcasters with saluta- tions like “Dear Webmaster.”
• You contact bloggers with grand promises of “link exchanges.” Bloggers value links but offers of link exchanges have all the appeal and personality of pyramid schemes.
• You post promotions for your own Facebook group (or worse, your product) on the “walls” of other Facebook profiles, pages, and groups.
• You haphazardly respond to blog posts, podcasts, and videos that discuss your competitors and leave promotional messages about your services.
• You don’t consider the topics a social media creator covers, and as a result, you pitch a chick lit novel to the guy with a hockey blog.
• You send press releases out to large lists you bought or culled from the Web without obtaining the recipients& permission.
• You sneakily insert links to your products and services into Wikipedia.
• You offer to buy editorial coverage on a blog. On that note, you should be skeptical of anyone who accepts payment to promote your organization without publicly disclosing that payment.
• You forget to listen first.

Download the Full Chapter, “Netiquette: Miss Manners for the Web” (PDF)
 

Boxcar Marketing highly recommends Friends with Benefits. It is perfect for seasoned veterans and social media newbies.