Facebook Users – Please Stop Doing This

There is an annoying trend among Facebook users who come on board primarily to promote home business opportunities and products. Armed with hope and good intentions, they try hard but  just don’t get it.

Since I am involved in a home business and write a great deal on the subject, I often get friend requests on Facebook from people who are seeking to meet and network with other like minded entrepreneurial spirits. I check their profile, and if we appear to have similar interests and ambitions, I accept them as a new Facebook friend.

Lately, I’ve noticed a few that I wish I had never accepted as friends. One person in particular announces promotions and invitations to check out a home business opportunity on a regular basis – at least twice a week. Others may only send out an ad like this a couple times a month, but not surprisingly, that’s all I ever see from them. A promotion for something.

Folks, please think about this. Do you like people getting in your face and only communicating with you when they want to sell you something? Or sign you up to make money off of your efforts?

I know you mean well, and I understand your passion and enthusiasm for promoting your business. I’d rather get to know and associate with one person like you who has a dream and a passion for achieving it, than a thousand people who have given up and live life with a negative attitude and chip on their shoulder!

What I’d like to ask you to do is consider your approach. The key to getting what you want is providing value to others. If you use Facebook and have 100 people agree to be your friend, then send them little or nothing more than promotions and invitations to join whatever you’re doing, do you really think they’ll respect you and look up to you as a leader? Will they perceive you as a person they would enjoy knowing and working with?

I doubt it.

If you’ve managed to get a few leads and maybe some other action by doing it this way, you’ll probably think I’m just crazy. What you may not see, though, is how much you could have accomplished if you had focused on providing value instead of just concentrating on selling and recruiting people.

Ultimately…and please think hard about this…ultimately your best success in online network marketing, direct sales, and other “people businesses” will come from providing value and publishing content that brands you as an authority and leader in your niche. This will attract interest in you and your opportunity, and the quality of prospects you get this way is far superior to any you get from just blasting promotions out to everyone.

Leaders (the prospects you want to attract) are drawn to other leaders (that should be YOU) when they are looking for opportunity.