1. Mass inviting friends – C’mon I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but inviting a bunch of people from your area to be your friend because it’s going to benefit you at your new job is just lazy. Once you send them a message about your “new job” that “remove from friends” button just got a lot bigger.
2. 
Did you leave caps lock on? Is it your first time on Facebook? Yes, you want to get our attention, we can see that, but typing in all caps makes it sound like you’re yelling (go on, try reading a message in all caps with a small voice, it feels weird) Most people upon seeing a message in all caps chuckle to themselves then ignore the message.
3. Creating a group or a fan page for the sole purpose of creating a group or a fan page. – If you don’t have a clear idea or goal in mind about why you are starting a Facebook group or fan page then don’t do it (or do it and don’t invite anyone). Nothing is more mind-numbingly obvious that you have no clue how to market to people then inviting me to your fan page to give me updates about your company that I do not care about. Before you create a fan page or group please ask yourself, why?
4. Excessively bothering people who are a part of your group, fan page, attending your event, etc. – If I join your group you’ve obviously peaked my interest in some way. Don’t ruin it for yourself by bombarding me with messages. Plan messages out and have a purpose for even the simplest ones. The best way to get me to leave your group or fan page is to keep bothering me with messages that do not pertain to me. Update all you want, you’ll end up in my news feed, that is fine, but sometimes all it takes is one meaningless message that loses the trust I once had in you, leaving your group never to return.
Did I forget any? Please let me know what YOU think people should never do on Facebook in the comments below.
On September 16th the Executing Social Media conference will be held in Regina at the Queensbury Convention Centre. Now I may be a bit biased but I think they have a great lineup of speakers. Some locals and some from abroad all taking about our favorite topic, online media.
Besides myself the list of speakers includes:
Kip Simon – President, 22 Fresh
Mike Klein Senior Online Communications Strategy at University of Saskatchewan
Philippe Leclerc, Interactive Communications Manager at the City of Regina
Adam Herstein - Partner, Pitblado LLP
Doug Walker - President, WebWalker
Ryan Lejbak – CEO & Co-Founder, ZU
To see all the speakers and presentation outlines click here. Let me know if you are attending as we may organize a small Tweet up the night of the conference.
Photo Credit: Hubspot.com
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The other day I found myself in a very interesting conversation about strangers.
Her: “I always try to be as nice as possible to strangers”
Me: “Really? Why?”
Her: “Well, you never know who that person is and what if they’re the most important person in the World?”
Me: “So you assume everyone you meet/talk to is the most important person in the World?”
Her: “Precisely”
Me: I didn’t say anything just had a small explosion go off in my head.
My boss has always told me when going to a small town bar, make sure you treat the waitress like gold because she probably owns the place. I think this is a great metaphorical life lesson.
The person who I know who is the best at dealing with people does this all the time. You can see it when he talks to anyone, yes I mean anyone, he gives them the time of day, he truly cares about what they think and he makes them feel like they are the most important person in the world. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, this strategy works wonders for building your personal and professional relationships.
Where can you start? Remember peoples names more often. To anyone the most important word in the english language is his/her own name, if someone remembers it, it’s a sign of respect. Here’s a few tips on how to remember better.
If you have a story about treating a stranger really well that resulted in something amazingly spectacular I’d love to here about it in the comments below!
Helping out at Regina’s Canada Day in Wascana Park I met a young gentlemen who was volunteering for the day. Blain, a quick-whited kid, just a bit younger than myself, had an adorable dog named Dewey with him at all times.
Just after sunset in the park, a man rushed over to Blain and I, he had a severe problem on his hands. Here is how the he started the conversation, “I have to go to the washroom but when you close the outhouse door you can’t see anything in there and the Legislative building is locked, I need to go to the washroom, what should I do?!?” Without missing a beat in a condescending tone Blain snapped, “well I could guild you!” Trying as hard as I could not to laugh at what just occurred in front of me, I helped this guy explore his washrooms options, apologized to him for not having lit outhouses, and he went on his way. It was a very interesting moment for me.
You see, Blain is blind but that doesn’t really stop him from doing anything. He can golf, get to and from places on his own (via talking GPS device), volunteers in the community and can go to the washroom in the dark on his own. Blain doesn’t complain very much and he makes the most out of life. I think if we saw the world through Blain’s eyes we wouldn’t be so quick to complain over a dark jiffy biffy.
So smile, we have it pretty good.
Photo Credit: Steven Wilde “Fireworks” from the Regina Canada Day Facebook group
