It’s late Friday night and I’m at a bar, hanging out with a few old friends and chatting it up with some new acquaintances.
At first we talk sports, bonding over our mutual hate for a certain baseball team or our love for a certain hockey team. Then the conversation switches to the old drunk at the end of the bar and his pathetic attempts to hit on the barely 21-year old college girls. Then comes the inevitable…
“So, what do you do for a living?”
This is a bar. Attractive women are listening. I have to look as debonair as possible.
“I do Internet copywriting and marketing,” I say. All the pretty noses and eyes scrunch in confusion.
Damn! Failed again.
“So like… can you give me an example?”
“Alright. Sure,” I say. It’s my big chance to recover. Here I go. “Right now I’m in the middle of a social media marketing campaign. I’m using Facebook and blogging to get a product that has an older customer base in front of a younger demographic.”
“Ooh. Okay.”
Oh good, I lost her interest. Picking up strangers in bars is creepy anyway. But then again…
Bars Are A Lot Like Social Media Platforms
The next morning, when the alcohol was filtered out of my system, I started to run through the conversation again. How can I better describe social media marketing?
Well, actually… it’s a little bit like picking up strangers in a bar.
Alright, so that makes it sound less than ethical. And if you hang out around too many people calling themselves social media marketers, you’ve probably seen some things that confirm for you that it’s less than ethical.
But not all guys are like the creepy drunk hitting on 21-year olds.
We all know what’s on his mind. He’s out to get a little instant gratification, to make an immediate “sale,” without putting any real work into it.
That’s obviously not the best route to take, and while he may have a once in a lifetime success (with a girl we can only think of as a victim), those tactics are ultimately destined to fail. And they should.
If you’re not willing to put in the work and build the right kind of customer relationship, any sale you make is one that will induce buyer’s regret later on.
Social media marketing isn’t actually about the “pick up” or the immediate “sale.” It’s about laying the foundation for a future successful relationship. You’re not trying to take the customer home, you’re just trying to get a number so you can talk to them later. Keep them thinking about you and whether or not you’re a good fit for them.
Next time you see that guy or gal lurking around social media sites like twitter and just posting affiliate links, think of them as a creepy drunk.
But it’s a bar. Everyone is there so there’s bound to be a creeper or two. Just make sure it’s not you or not the marketer you’ve hired to represent you. But hey… it’s your reputation on the line. Are you being the creepy guy or making fun of him?
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Henry Bingaman 
