I look forward to your comments and I love talking with readers, but …
My comment box is not your free advertising space.
You may be new to commenting on blogs, or you may be an aggressive marketer — but the following actions look like spam to me:
- Repeating your website address inside a comment instead of in the website address box
- Posting a comment that has nothing to do with the post, like "Nice post! Thanks!"
- Using an email address that does not match your name
I don't mean to be rude, but if your comment looks spammy, I'll delete it or edit out the selfish bits. If you do it a lot, I'll report you as a spammer (which means your IP address will be blocked from most blogs).
Most bloggers would do the same thing.
Andy,
Marketing 2.0 on Facebook has over 12,000 members – spamming has taken the fun out of running the group, I must have banned about 100 people by now.
What I find ironic is that someone could be so stupid to spam a marketing blog – first, it probably won’t get through and second, marketers are the worst market for almost everything.
Maybe we should start a blog about all of the idiot spammer-marketers out there
You must have had a dozy of a “comment” Andy to inspire this stern reminder (I agree with every word).
What if you kept the “best” worst comments (contributor’s name deleted to save them from embarrassment?) + launched a contest – asking others to forward theirs, post the “real lie examples” plus, by headline, in a poll format so that we can vote on our favorite “worst” examples?
Of course you could also have a contest for best name of this “worst” contest.
Apologies re typo in prior comment (must be a mental slip).. ahem…. I meant “real life examples.”
Nice post, thanks! *joking*
Seriously, you’re quite right; more now than ever people are using blog comments as a way of generating links for their own sites. While all good, the least they could do is add to the conversation and provide context.
This world would be a great place if we had just a little less spam to deal with…
New media etiquette is fuzzy sometimes, especially for new participants. But there are some bright lines which we all ought to continue illuminating for those non-predatory marketers. Thanks again Andy. Good material for sharing with clients.
Gino – exactly. What many companies fail to realize is how to use conversation marketing as a way to participate in the market conversation.
Businesses should not blast out their marketing messages into these conversations and engage in one-directional communication. They need to contribute in a way that enhances the conversation, motivates people to participate in the conversation, and adds value.
They should listen to what is being said. Share their views and opinions. Build relationships.
= Participate in the “dialogue”