Want to buy a social media list? Don't. | Small Business Internet ...

Buying large email lists is quite easy these days, and it?s a practice with a number of years under its belt. But things have changed over the years, and it?s no longer seen as an acceptable practice ? after all, many of the people on those lists never wanted your emails in the first place!

Likewise, buying a social media list isn?t only a hard sell ? it may even get you in trouble with the social media powers that be! Before I get too far into that though, let?s backtrack for a bit. Why would someone consider buying such a list for their social media business pages in the first place?

The Loner

If you?re in charge of social media at your company, you may sympathize with the Loner. This person includes any social media admin who just can?t seem to get any friends or followers. Day after day their pages are like ghost towns ? either none of their followers respond to posts or there are few (if any) posts at all. Oftentimes both cases are?simultaneous?true. Not exactly a welcoming place, eh?

Buying a social media list is not your ace card here. Shoot, it?s not even your friend.

Purcashing a following of 300 people is worthless if none of these folks are truly engaged and contributing to conversations, news, etc., setting you right back where you started.

The quick Fix

Some business owners want easy money, and they want it now. In fact, they may be willing to push for this at the cost of their long term goals. The Quick Fix can often be seen taking on clients of questionable credentials and disregarding the well-being of both their company and its employees.

This doesn?t bode well for their interaction with social media either.

The Quick Fix may buy a social media list that has hundreds if not thousands of members depending on what they can get their hands on. This path can lead to a banned account, since many of these are probably just robots and/or relatively blank profiles that quickly prove their fake roots.

The Innocents

Maybe the social media admin in a given company is simply a newbie and doesn?t understand the nature of the Internet?s social community at large. They find out about list buying with great excitement only to discover that their real followers have caught on to their game. In fact, this has happened before and a social media community can be quite vicious in their efforts to root out spam profiles. This can impart?irreparable?harm to your social media properties.

Don?t get caught with your pants down, folks. Forewarned is forearmed!

Instead, encourage your family, friends, and customers/clients to join your social media quest and provide genuine input. Maybe even start a giveaway or link to significant industry articles (and/or your own blog posts) to generate interest. You are the company you keep, and if this includes a bunch of fake profiles, your situation is a sad one indeed.

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GetUWired@gmail.com?

Source: http://www.getuwired.us/Small-Business-Web-Marketing/2012/12/social-media-list/

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