Have you ever watched a slow motion train wreck happening? Horrifying, repulsive, all you want to do is run away BUT your eyes remain GLUED to the scenario unfolding … I watched a Facebook TRAIN WRECK  happen over the course of a few hours yesterday. It turned my stomach. A really good person was USED and ABUSED by a well known marketer. On the surface, it was all about "training" people on how NOT to market on Facebook using a new auto wall posting software that just came out on the market.

But, in taking the time to REALLY think about WHY a marketer does anything, it is very obvious that the INTENT behind this training video was to create a BIG CONVERSATION on Facebook, get lots of people involved in the conversation, have their friends get involved in the conversation through "liking" , "sharing", "tagging", "commenting"  on a hot trending conversation within Facebook …

WITH THE INTENT OF MAKING IT GO VIRAL …

The subsequent result of that being …

HUGE EXPOSURE FOR THE MARKETER …

WITH THE INTENT ( and distinct possibility) of INCREASING THEIR MARKETING LIST and FUTURE SALES

This whole episode was a PERFECT EXAMPLE of what is commonly called CONTENT SYNDICATION (viral marketing)  and in this particular case what I call SOCIAL PIMPING … using Social Networks to Drive Content Distribution in a BIG WAY.

I want to make something really clear here.

I totally believe in and support  content syndication, IF the content that I am syndicating is of high-value to the people in my niches and IF the author is someone that I have EVERY reason to TRUST.

What I do NOT believe in and support is a person manufacturing content at someone else's expense to make themselves look good. That is just not right. There is no integrity in doing something like that. Stuff like that HURTS PEOPLE.

Let me talk about  that for a moment.

If someone does something to you that you don't like, say something to them PRIVATELY. Ask them NOT to do it again. If they don't honor your request, you have two choices. Either learn to live with what they do, or disassociate from them.

SIMPLE and HONORABLE

If you see something that you can help someone with, have the courtesy to speak with them directly FIRST. If you feel that you can help alot of people by making a video, writing a blog post or an article using their name, face, private information, and their boo-boo as an example … get their permission FIRST … and give them final rights of approval.

SIMPLE and HONORABLE

Good Lord … anything that you put on the internet is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN. ANYONE can see it. Google has a LONG MEMORY. How would YOU feel if someone did something like that to YOU…?? How would you feel if one of your friends let you know that someone was making a public example of YOU and you didn't know anything about it …???

Reputations get RUINED like that. Businesses get DESTROYED like that. And, if anyone REALLY UNDERSTANDS what is happening … the person that just did that to someone else has lost every bit of their credibility and trust worthiness.

I don't know about you, but my reputation and good name are something that I FIGHT to keep pristine and above reproach. It takes a long time to build trust. It take only one second to destroy it. People have been burned so badly in the past that they have more defenses in place than ever before. And the old saw it only too true nowadays … People like to do business with people they know, like and trust.

It is totally reprehensible to see someone socially pimping themselves while they are riding on the back of someone else's name and reputation.

SIMPLY HEINOUS

There is a good reason why Social Media Marketing is all the rage right now. It is a FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH because it is hardwired into our DNA.

Human beings are hardwired with a basic need to belong … to be part of something bigger than themselves. And, being in a position to like, comment and share things that they resonate with gives people that feeling of belonging, of making a difference, of being heard by other people. It also gives people a huge feeling of satisfaction knowing that they have given YOUR information their "stamp of approval". Good so far … right …???

You can do all of those things on Facebook. You can even tag specific people so that your information gets put directly on their wall so they can see it without having to search through their feed for it. Their friends can see it as well. Getting even better … right …???

You comment on the information you were tagged with. Your friends chime in as well. THEY share the information on their walls so their OTHER FRIENDS can get in on the fun. This is something the every marketer on Facebook DREAMS about … a piece of their information going VIRAL. If it is GREAT information … a wonderful gift was just given to alot of people … and the marketer just got HUGE exposure … maybe even some optins …

Every person that shared, commented and liked that marketer's information just helped build that marketer's reputation and business a little bit more. If the marketer treats the people on their list right … and does a great job marketing their offers to their list … they will get sales in the future. 

If something like this happens when another person or their mistake is being used as an "example of what not to do", the marketer has in effect committed "Social Homicide". Depending on how egregious the example is … how viral the information becomes … how much of a frenzy people get worked up into … the person that is the "example" can get destroyed … both as a business person and a human being.

Let me give you some numbers to illustrate my point …

Rose has 3349 friends
Terry has 2345 friends
Susan has 1309 friends
James has 4389 friends
Scott has 2786 friends
 
If you have those five people like and share your information you are now being advertised to…
 
14,178 people …

Let's say that each of those people has 500 friends in common ..

That means that 500 people are seeing the same information 5 times …

 

People REACT at a gut-level when they see things MULTIPLE TIMES.

The more they see it … the more familiar it becomes.

If alot of their friends are involoved …

"Ummmm … where is the party and why wasn't I invited"  is the question that they will be asking.

The next thing you know … 50-60 comments later … a whole bunch of shares later … a bunch of "likes" later …

Someone's reputation is RUINED … and they don't even know it.

They were never given the chance to make it right. They were never given the chance to LEARN what not to do. 

This is NOT teaching at it's highest level. This is NOT content syndication that serves a better purpose.

This is EXPLOITATION of the worst sort because it was done with the DELIBERATE intention of looking like a HERO to LOTS of PEOPLE at someone else's expense.

 

Take some time to REALLY think about how YOU would feel if something like this were to happen to you.

Take some time to REALLY think about whose stuff you are promoting … sharing … syndicating

Take some time to REALLY think about …

Whose Business Are YOU Really Building …??

 

==>P.S. It  really is appreciated when you share and retweet these posts. It’s easy to do, just hit the buttons right below this post