There is nothing worse than receiving a mass message that has nothing to do with our needs from a person that we have never even heard of, right? I remember 4 years ago this rarely happened on Facebook and LinkedIn, but today I can log-in and be hit with 10-15 per day!
If you have taken the time to read these messages, some are very effective. They hit all of the right points to keep you engaged, while others COMPLETELY miss the mark and turn you off. Sometimes they can even anger you to the point where you remove the sender as a contact.
When done effectively with planning, these mass messages can truly benefit your social media marketing efforts.
Now a point of clarification. I am speaking about the messages which go into your inbox, not status updates that can be viewed in the newsfeed.
In this blog, I am focusing on Facebook and LinkedIn, as these two popular sites have this functionality. Here are some useful step-by-step guidelines for you to follow when creating your mass message using Facebook and LinkedIn in order to create buzz and engage your audience:
Step 1: What is My Message? First, you need to think of the reason why you are reaching out to your audience. Is it to offer them a discount, let them know about a new service or to share a new blog post with them? When writing this, you want to convey the message in a conversational way – seeming as if it was written directly for with the recipient. Remember, this is social media, not mass message central.
Step 2: Who is the Target Market for the Message? Second, you need to think about who you want to reach with the message (as the message should be completely tailored to this market). For example, sending a medical-based email to a recreational golf professional could result in removal, blocking, or spam flagging. Make sure you are aiming for the correct market.
Step 3: What is the Goal? If the goal of this is to get people to visit your website, blog, or even call in – make sure that you clearly present this information in the message. Sounds obvious, but it’s easily overlooked.
Step 4: Keep it Concise! There is nothing worse than opening a message on LinkedIn or Facebook that is miles long. Remember that on these sites communications are short and to the point. Make sure you can convey everything you want to in a very specific and concise manner.
Step 5: Choose a Greeting. Personally, after the subject line, the greeting line is the next point where I decide if I want to read on. Starting off with “Hello Friends” or “My Dear Friend” or “Treasured Business Associate” is not in your best interest. Why? Because this is not how people communicate with one another on LinkedIn….or in real life! You want to start off with something engaging that makes the reader feel as if you are writing directly to them!
Step 6: Choose a Subject Line. This is extremely important, as you want to write something compelling enough to get your audience to open the message. My biggest piece of advice is to lay off the Caps Lock key. There is nothing worse than looking at a subject line that is screaming at you. For that matter, leave out the excessive use of all capitals in the body of your message as well. This can be off-putting.
Step 7: Proof Read! In this extremely critical world, few things are worse than sending a message out to thousands of people and misspelling an element of your message. Even worse though? Get ready to be educated by the “Grammar and Spelling Police” as they give you lessons on how to spell words and form sentences. Proofreading protects you from this and gives your message that professional sparkle.
Step 8: Choose Your Platform. Personally, I believe that LinkedIn was made for communications like this. It is a networking platform and this can be viewed as an extension of networking. Facebook, on the other hand, is more specific. I would only do a mass message on Facebook if I have a target group created where they are familiar with me and my business. Why? Facebook users can be quite vigilant when it comes to hitting the “Spam” button on messages that they do not want to deal with. LinkedIn, on the other hand, allows you flexibility and makes it easy to send messages like this. The only drawback is that you can only send them in batches of 50. My top tip for LinkedIn is to make sure before you send the message to un-check the box next to “Allow recipients to see each other’s names and email addresses”. You will find this below the message box. This helps your message look more personal and direct.
Overall, these messages should be used within an overriding social media marketing strategy. Don’t send them in high frequency as they can be very annoying. Keep your messages written with your target market in mind and only reach out when absolutely necessary. Oh yeah, and drop the “Hello Friend”.
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