Top 10 Ways How Not To Be Creepy Using Social Media

Using social media can be beneficial. It's even been said that using it properly and effectively could be the difference between earning a million dollars and not. So, it boils down to branding, and how you are looked upon in the online communities you frequent. Are you known as a spammer? Someone who promotes affiliate program after affiliate program without ever seeking to build relationships with your followers and friends.

Or are you a taker, never giving back to social media? Takers normally post and post, without ever responding to previous tweets or discussions. Clearly this is not how communication operates. In order to be successful with social media and not be termed creepy, you should begin thinking about your online behavior. It's really quite simple. Just behave the way you would if you were in a real life conversation.

You wouldn't butt into a conversation that you just stumbled upon, that would be rude. Nor would you walk up to a stranger with your best snake oil salesman grin and ask the stranger to promote your brand or buy your product. You would no doubt be turned down effectively.

Maintain a sense of professionalism, and above all else, just be yourself. Now if being yourself means, you are genuinely creepy and was born that way, well, we will pray for you. However, if you normally make good in person relationships, then you should be very comfortable online doing the same thing. No one wants to gain a reputation for being a creepy crawler in social networks.

Here are 10 ways not to be creepy using social media:

1. Don't butt in. If you don't have something substantive to offer a conversation, then don't say anything at all.
   
2. Don't let an advertising announcement be the first thing you have to share in a social network. Let people get to know you first before you try to sell them something.
   
3. Keep in mind, social networking is all about personal interaction. So get personal!
   
4. Don't ask other friends to share their friend list with you when they don't know a hill of beans about you. Again, get to know people first before you invade their personal space.
   
5. Which brings me to number 5, don't invade social media personal space. If you receive a tweet on Twitter about a genre of music you are unfamiliar with, yet you want to engage the sender, don't say the dumbest thing you can think of. Instead, ask the sender to enlighten you about that style of music. Maybe you could visit a website and learn more about the artist and the music. This would be a perfect example of a sender getting to know you instead of the tweets you send out daily.
   
6. When using Twitter, try to reveal as much of your personality as possible. Keeping in mind you are on the internet, and what you write is how people will get to know you.
   
7. If using social media for business purposes and not personal, make it clear when posting your communications. Whenever I post a broadcast on Blog Catalog, I let people know if it is a new blog post I am promoting.
   
8. Don't push too hard. Like a pushy car salesman, all you'll get are no sales, people will not like you, and they will avoid you online like the Trojan Horse Virus. Let everything naturally come into being, your relationships will last longer this way.
   
9. Don't try to figure out how to monetize a social network; instead concentrate on building lasting relationships both personal and business. Like in real life, this takes time, so set some goals, and cultivate the relationships you do have.