As a blogger or freelancer, it’s important to create awareness about your blog/freelance business. I spend a lot of time on the internet trying to publicize Fashion and Style Police, and get my content in front of my potential readers and clients. Although it’s necessary to put your work and business out there, you need to do it with caution so you don’t become a nuisance.
There is a thin line between promoting yourself, your blog or your business and outright spamming. Some people don’t know the difference and because of this they unknowingly spam on the internet everyday. More often than not, such people get bashed doing it but some never know how annoying their continuous noise promotion really is.
If you promote yourself tactfully, you’ll find yourself building a loyal following, making great connections, building relationships and grabbing many clients. To guide your activities, here’s a test you can use to determine whether you’re spamming or self-promoting. Whenever you want to write a post or create any sort of content on social media, stop and ask yourself; “Will this post or piece of content make my business grow in the long run, nurture my audience and still tell people know about me?” If it won’t, then you’re most likely spamming. If it will, then you’re self-promoting.
Just to keep you in the clear, here are 3 characteristics that will help you know the difference between self-promotion and spamming.
1. Frequency of posting
One of the first things you notice about self-promotional content and spam is the difference in the frequency at which the post is made. A piece of content becomes spammy when you post the same kind of content several times a day using the same medium. For example, you post the same link to your blog 5 times in the same Facebook group. That can be annoying, especially to someone who has already seen the same link several times before.
When you are self-promoting you talk about yourself or your business frequently but not so frequently. So you can share an Instagram story highlighting what you have been up to that day, tweeting links to different blog post once in 2 hours, chit-chat with your followers, and go live on your Facebook page. This way you are promoting your business, but in different ways.
2. Value of the content
Most times, as you promote you give value to your audience especially when you share tips or tricks as a means to show your expertise. The goal is to inform as well as create awareness.
When it comes to spamming, spammers share little or no value with their audience. You gain nothing of benefit. Spammers just drop links and don’t share actionable steps. Their primary aim is to get you to click, buy or download. There is usually no value added for spammers, but professional promoters know there should always be something in it for the readers.
3. Build relationships
Spamming creates no reason for making connections or building relationships with people. Spammers do not care about whom they should share their content with. They can post to anyone and to anywhere. Oftentimes they pick random social media accounts or emails and send their content without caring whether their content will be useful to those people or not.
Those who self-promote take time to identify their audience and build relationships with them through helping out or sharing useful information. They do not post just anywhere. They carefully select where they post because they believe that it is more effective to show their expertise to those who will really need it. Those who self-promote build real relationships and grow their network. They also share other useful content from fellow bloggers/freelancers on their social media platforms.
What do you think of self-promotion and spamming? Do you have any tip to share?
This is a good post, there’s such a huge difference just like you pointed out. There’s no need to be be OTT with links and there’s other times for it to be shared. People need to find a balance and like you said build relationships because it seems they’re only there for one thing.
Glad you like it LaaLaa..
It’s really all about being personable and caring enough about your business AND your audience to truly engage in a genuine way. It’s good that you brought some light and clarity to the issue.
True that Yaya.
It really is such a fine line isn’t it. Twitter is probably the place I get most irritated by it. No I don’t want to read your “vintage post” about Christmas, in July. I just want to have chat!
Lol..Twitter is notorious for spamming.
This is such a good post and it is a really thin line between the two and im not keen on tweets which start #bbloggers incase you have missed it….then a link, where is the interaction x
Thanks Rachel x
I think that is why blogging groups are so important because you can publicize your blog without annoying anyone. There is a very thin line .
Yea the groups are fab.
It’s tricky to find the balance, but as long as you focus on the person rather than the click it is easier to be sure you’re not a spammer.
Yea true that..
I hate reading promotional tweets and updates and unfollow a lot of people if that’s the only kind of thing they post.
Yea me too..
Really good tips – I completely agree with mixing how you promote your posts up a little x
Thanks Sam xx
Adding value build trust and earn you follwership. I ahve experienced this a lot especially from my FB fans. The only problem is that they keep leaving their comments on FB instead of the blog. Not that is is bad but it means I answer questions their too. Any suggestions.
This is a great post Stella.
Well done.
Thanks Moji..Some readers find it easier leaving comments on social media. I have that a lot on Twitter..Maybe you could make it easier to leave a comment. The maths spam checker for the comments can be tricky sometimes.
*high five* to this Stella. As always – very nice tips. xx
http://www.annanuttall.com
Thanks Anna xx
I think it can be a real fine line between the two, I think if you promote yourself alongside other things then it’s fine but if it’s all you do then it’s more like spam x
Yea agree.
I agree with these points. You really have to have an awareness of what people want to see and if you’re just coming off as a spammer.
Yea true.
I think it’s all about balance. On my channels I try to balance promoting my own stuff, promoting the work of friends and peers, and fun, interesting content from elsewhere.
Yea I try to do the same too..
I definitely feel there is a huge difference when it comes to self promoting and spamming. There is no need to put ur link to a post more than once in groups
At least not on the same day..
A thought provoking post, this. Gosh I hope I don’t come across as spamming…. :/
Lol…
Identifying the difference makes a blogger professional, I guess. These are great points. 🙂
Thanks.
interesting read. ive seen people spamming the same link so many times a day and it does get irritating 😐
It can be annoying.
It really is such a thin line isn’t it. I try my hardest to make sure I don’t spam people’s timelines!
Yea me too…
This is a great post and it’s definitely a fine line. I don’t like it when people spam my comments with links.
Yea don’t like it either..
Really useful tips! I hate when people spam, it can be done in a way that doesn’t annoy people 🙂
Yea it can Harriet.
This is a post that really struck a chord with me. I’m a big believer in posting with purpose and not just for the sake of it xxx
Yea true that.
I do repeat some posts on twitter more than once sometimes in a day but they tend to be competition ones and ones that might be missed by evening followers if I had tweeted in the morning only for example. I think spamming doesn’t help as it does annoy followers.
Yea it does but it is OK to repeat on Twitter at different times in the day. Not everyone is online at the same time.
It’s so important to build relationships with your readers.
Yea it is…
This is really helpful, thank you! I’m new to blogging and knowing what to do and what not to do is really important. A x
Glad you found it useful x