There’s a woman on my Facebook Friends list and I want to kill her. But according to modern laws and ethics, I cannot. If I did, I would be sent to jail. And if I was sent to jail for murder then I’d really want to kill her. Or I would, if she wasn’t already dead.
This lady, let us call her “Mavis” write Facebook status updates all the time about herself. Nothing wrong with that you’d mutter. We all do it, you’d add. And in the clear, cool, rational skies of days I’d be forced to agree with you. Except I can’t, because the blood vessels in my eyes have burst open upon reading Mavis’ latest update, placing a red-tinged hue on everything I see for the remainder of the day.
The problem with Mavis is that 50% of her updates relate to her as a “working mum”, “mumtrepneur” or just plain old “entrepreneur”. Mavis also regularly proclaims herself as a go getter, a do-er, and writes updates about how it is “time to give [her] children the benefit of [her] presence”. Cue collective gasp of disbelief.
What’s worse, when she isn’t writing about her own awesomeness, she’s using Facebook statuses as a marketing tool to promote her book, her online business, her feature in some mag, her whatever.
As a single, solitary user of Facebook, and as part of Mavis’ friend network, I cry poor. Mavis goes against all of my unspoken rules of Facebook use. She uses it to promote, rather than to entertain; to indoctrinate, rather than to share; to network rather than befriend; to create false solidarity rather than cultivate the real thing. And as a result, I tune out, or at least become very unreceptive. I might still listen to what she says, but I do so with the fascination of someone watching a train wreck, rather than as someone wanting to take advantage of her small-business-level products and enthusiasm.
And there lies the point.
Whether you use your business’s fan networks, your personal friend networks, or Facebook Advertising which potentially touches over 5 million Australian users, the risk of losing people in droves is really, really high unless you are genuine and don’t push too hard. Else watch the negative reaction, the unsubscribes, and the deletions grow.
It’s because of this that I’ve been watching Westfield’s new “All I want for Christmas” Facebook campaign with avid interest. For transparency’s sake, I have been a willing participant in this campaign. I’ve added the Westfield application, entering myself into the competition to win a $10,000 Gift Card.
After all, though my boyfriend would disagree with me, I really need new clothes. Oh yeah, and money to spend on my family and friends.
There’s just one teensy catch. By adding the application and entering the competition, the slogan “All I want for Christmas is a Westfield Gift Card” pops up in your status update, alongside a link. Friends and family can then see it in their news feed. The strategy is awesome because it’s organic and viral. And, after all, what person in their right mind isn’t going to enter? Ten thousand cool ones for the small indignity of having a commercial statement in your status update? I’d do it. And I have! Thus to date, Westfield has over 578,000 application users, and 7,000 fans.
The problem is, as more and more of my friends get on board, the campaign is also getting really, really annoying. By starting to take over my news feed, I’m no longer seeing the dollar signs. Instead, I’m back to seeing red.
My personal annoyance is being reflected in other people’s status updates, groups and pages:
- “All I want for Christmas is for friends to stop putting Westfield in their status (sic)!!” – A friend’s status update.
- If all you want for Christmas is a Westfield gift card I don’t want to know - Random Facebook Page – with 4,450 fans and counting.
Heh.
See, I’m happy to get the Westfield freebie if I win. But I also regularly think of joining one of the Facebook pages above because the campaign is getting on my nerves, and I started to feel like that after only one day.
Furthermoree,I’m not so sure about the long-term benefits of this little competition. I suspect Trinny & Susannah, though more expensive, are doing more for the brand. Sure, as a result of this competition my awareness is raised, but while I might visit Westfield in Doncaster, it’ll only be because it’s close to my parents’ home – so I’ll only be going for location-based reasons. And I’m not so sure I’ll be buying any of my friends or family a Westfield Gift Card if I’m stuck for something to buy. After all, they’ll know where I got the idea from, and that just isn’t cool.
Facebook is awesome. But there are rules, people.
And rule number one is: whatever you do, don’t annoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment