HOWEVER, one event tool, the invite can really bother the bejesus out of people (the invite should not to be confused with public posts on pages or timelines). These excerpts from The Oatmeal's "How To Suck At Facebook" strip have always made me laugh.
Yeah. It's like that.
Laughter aside, would you like to see how overuse and abuse of the event invite works against your small business/band?
I had two people on my friends list who run a marketing company in the midwest (I am in California), one of whom constantly sent me personal invitation to events clear across the USA. After being invited to three events in one day, all of which were over 2,000 miles away, I removed her from my friends list. A week later, her business partner started serial-inviting me to events in Illinois. Yep - she got unfriended too. I had previously unliked their page, simply because they use it solely to promote their local events, which are too far for me to attend. It's not that I dislike these two or their company by any means, but I got tired of having my events calendar clogged with things I couldn't possibly attend. I would have stayed a fan of the page if anything was going on there - besides posts about events they were doing across the country.
Now before anyone gets all defensive and tells me how I "should have" handled it, hang on. I know I could have messaged them and asked them to create invite lists for their local area and and to please not include me. If they had been actual friends or colleagues/artists/DIYers with whom I interacted on a regular basis, I would have. I might even have pointed them to the Facebook help guide on creating lists.
However, this post isn't about how I handled an online annoyance from people I don't know well and never interact with. The point is that THIS IS WHAT MOST PEOPLE WILL DO. If people are deleting you/your company/business/band because you are annoying them with inappropriate personal invitations, you've lost a potential fan or customer.
If you want to run a successful company, and this goes double if you are representing others, make lists for event invitations rather than inviting everyone you've collected on your friends list. When you create these lists, only include appropriate people on them. Do you run online sales? Create an invite list of people who have purchased from you or expressed an interest on your page. Are you a musician/artist playing a gig/having an art show? Create lists of local fans. Don't bother inviting people from across the country unless you and/or the art is going where they are. And feel free to spam away on your own page - that way you'll pick up the stragglers and travelers who were left off the invite list.
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Amen.
ReplyDeleteWell, apparently people are up in arms that I would say this. I hear that some members of the DIY mob is running around with torches and pitchforks saying that these two "have to" invite everyone on their friends list to stuff 2,000 miles away so they can "make a living."
DeleteIf that's the case, then I "have to" delete people who do that to keep my sanity. Post on your pages and keep the personal invites to people who might actually attend. :)
gah, I have a radio show I listen to streaming that I unliked their page since they would make an event for every show and invite all of the people on their friends list. I already like your show, I alreay listen to it, I could deal without all the this is me in your face again making sure you do not forget that my show is tonight. It is one thing to post it as a status but do you HAVE to make an event for every weekly broadcast? I think not. I drove me off the page.
ReplyDeleteI rarely even open invites. That being said, I also find this behavior really disturbing. Merely because of the fact that when you are in a business that depends on customers or fans (YES! A band IS a business!!!! And should be treated as such!) spamming them not only makes them un-responsive, but it also makes them turn to friends, and tell them about your negative behavior. Remember, if you give great customer service, someone might tell 1-2 people about it. If you deliver poorly, you betcha they are telling TONS of people. Same goes for marketing, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I used to get tons of invites on Facebook from businesses who friended me, ostensively to advertise. I frequently declined their events, because I was nowhere near them. And sometimes they would post scathing comments about people declining the invites.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind getting invites to events that are local and/or might interest me, within reason. I do mind when I am being spammed with notifications...because I will just end up deleting them. Same rules would apply if someone kept spamming my email or snail mail.
I don't like getting invites for events that obviously are too far for me to go to. It shows a lack of consideration on the part of the business/person sending the invite. I will post general invites on my page for people, but I even get tired of doing that sometimes. I go to the events that are close and that's it...sometimes not even those! I just wish the business would be more aware of their invites and the people they send to. Don't waste time on inviting those you KNOW will not attend!
ReplyDeleteI can't stand Facebook invites. I go to events sometimes, but I'll only post about them in my timeline, and never actually send invites. I don't blame other people for using them the way you're asking people to, with the appropriate lists, but I will very rarely respond to them. They just remind me too much of why I left Myspace.
ReplyDeleteI unfriended everyone. There is no one left to send me annoying things ;) So far I don't get a lot of invites via my fanpage {I'm sure FB will decide to help me out there at some point} lolz
ReplyDelete