This is one of the toughest marketing truths to swallow. Just because we have all these ways to connect -- does not mean your audience wants to hear from you every hour. You're just not that interesting.
Check out this e-mail I got from a reader. Pay particular attention to the 4th paragraph:
"Perhaps you could write about how some people engage is relentless posts on LinkedIn--like once an hour, yet say absolutely nothing. I have a LinkedIn connection who works for a major ad agency here in Des Moines, touting himself as an advertising phenomenon, and always shows up #1 on my LinkedIn page every time I log on.
I have to confess that I don't tweet and can't be bothered with it. I am far from being alone in this, by the way. So his blurbs show up and they are mostly gobbledy-gook. Sometimes I click on them thinking they might lead me somewhere interesting, but they don't go anywhere.
So I emailed him saying I would like to be able to see what he has to say at a glance since he's a permanent presence at #1 in my LinkedIn hit parade. Maybe he could be clearer. He didn't answer, but I noticed he didn't post anything for several hours. When he did, he was slightly clearer. Then the more he posted, the more he went back to saying nothing.
So I decided just to hide his posts permanently so I didn't have to be bothered any more. Interestingly, I couldn't figure out how to reactivate someone's post once I turn off their lights. I suspect my reaction was the opposite effect he was attempting to have on people.
Goodbye ad genius--out of sight and out of mind."
Not only are you boring people if you blather on and on -- but you gain a reputation for being all talk. Is that really why you're investing all that effort?
There's a whole lot of "talking at" someone going on in all forms of marketing -- traditional and digital. It's a lot easier to just fire off a statistic, fact or link than it is to actually have a conversation, ask a question or connect with someone.
Confident that you're not guilty? Check yourself against these:
Are you tweeting, updating your Facebook status or LinkedIn account multiple times a day -- spouting resources but never connecting with the people listening?
Do you only Facebook message people when you are having a sale, holding an event or in some other self-serving way? (Oh...and do you do that in a mass msg sort of way?)
Do you always initiate Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook conversations -- as opposed to joining in someone else's? (In other words...do you only care about what you want to talk about?)
Remember -- it's the cocktail party rule of social media that earns credibility and respect online. And no one wants to hang out at a cocktail party with someone who can't shut up about themselves!