RSSNobody likes a spammer
Mar 12
Online facebook, fans, spam No Comments
After another cafe chat with a good friend, I found a new topic to rant about.
Spamming, and the many forms it has today.
With the popularity of Facebook these days, you’re bound to have people join your fan page or your group or whatever they’re even calling it at this exact moment who may have stumbled upon you for many reasons. Maybe you toured and they happened to be at the bar, maybe a friend of a friend of a cousin joined and they noticed, or maybe they heard you on a mixed tape (does anyone even make those anymore?), or your song was played on the radio. Either way, if you have more than 30 people on your page, chances are they are not all from the same city. So, this is where my gripe about spamming comes in.
I’m not talking about the usual “cheap cialis” or “my great African uncle seems to think you deserve millions of dollars” sort of stuff that one has to deal with when you keep your Hotmail account. I’m talking more about the constant events or updates that a Facebook user can get from the pages they are signed-up to. Somewhere in amongst all of these updates is where you come in.
The fact of the matter is that you need to realize that your message is just one in a pile, and whatever you can do to make sure those kind folks who signed-up to receive your words continue to read them is very important. That being said, sending them constant updates about your upcoming shows far away from where they are, or live broadcasts or contests that they can not enter because they live somewhere out of the appropriate region is not a step in the right direction.
Luckily, the days of meticulously choosing all these people from a pile of beer soaked loose leaf and then typing them all into your email account, addresses included, are over. Through the beauty of Facebook and other fine services, you can send out your messages to the people who will be happy to hear about your intimate, free record store performance in two hours just down the street from them instead of those who are still waiting for you to come back to their city after your festival date four years ago.
So, with a little more time you can be sure to keep from having your fans ignore your messages or leave your group because nothing is ever of interest to them. Plus, by inviting only those who can come to your shows, you can avoid a long wall of people apologizing because they live on the other side of the country, and the count under “who’s not attending” will not seem so large.
In summary, take the time before you hit send or invite to see if there is an option in amongst those buttons to “customize” or “select network” and everyone will end up a little happier.
It’s a win-win, right?
