How I Broke Up With A Social Media Prospector

I recently broke off a very brief communication with a social media prospector. This is not the first time I have done this, but this time I decided to take the time to let her know my reason for ending the communication.

It started with a message from her which was inviting and complimentary. I politely answered back, because I am by nature polite. Plus if I am honest, I love compliments.

“Thank You. I appreciate the praise coming from someone who is in the Social Media business. I try to post content that would uplift. I am a Christian and so I also post about my faith in a way that others can connect. Wishing you great success in your business, have a blessed day!”

I thought that would be it, but no. She sent another message, this time asking about me. Well who doesn’t love to talk about themselves? I took the bait.

“I am doing well. How are you doing? How is your business doing? It can be difficult being a solopreneur. Do you agree, or have you figured it out and are flowing comfortably in your role? Is your business a side business that you’re growing while still working at a steady job? This is common, and practical for many people as they are growing their business. Now it’s your turn. I answered after looking at her IG profile.

I admit by this time I was curious about how this was going to play out. Usually I don’t have time for this back and forth and something in me said that I shouldn’t keep her hopeful by answering her, but I was curious about how long it would take her to get to the point. The ask!

“Actually I would like to ask you something about your Instagram profile can I?” was her response. I was now going to give her permission to make her ask. I did.

“As I said your profile is really amazing all contents are doing well so why you don’t try to make it more successful?” And there it was? I had noticed that her business was selling followers for IG users. So this question didn’t come out of the blue, I was just curious about how fast she would get there. So my response was now to write back a letter to outline what I saw was problematic with her strategy. I get so many of these kinds of encounters via email and social media, I finally thought let me at least let this young lady understand this kind of prospecting from my perspective. What follows is my letter to her.

[Her name], I debated whether to respond or to just end the conversation with silence and an eventual block if you continued to contact me. I chose instead to give you a perspective. Like many small businesses on IG, you are here prospecting for customers. There is no problem with this, and if your system works for you then you can ignore all that I am about to say. If you find that it is not working then this perspective may be helpful.

My first observation is that you are rushing the relationship you were trying to build with me. You have not prospected enough and are trying to harvest when you have not taken the time to build a relationship. The saying that people do business with those they know, like and trust is valuable.

Tip one; we don’t know each other. You were given some opportunities when I asked you to share about yourself and your business. You did not take advantage of that. You never told me your story, so I never got to know you as a business owner. I do know that your business is selling followers for social media. If that is not correct, then your IG profile needs to be changed.

Tip two, make sure you authentically reflect what you are selling. It is interesting that you promise something that you yourself have not taken advantage of, your followers are somewhat low considering what you say you can do. This kind of messes with the “trust” factor. I won’t comment on the like, because that is a bit more personal, and I think that you may be a very likeable person, but I don’t have that knowledge.

Tip three; If you want your business to grow, then pay attention to how you interact with potential customers. I was not offended by your question “why don’t you try to make it more successful?”. Your question revealed that you didn’t understand my purpose for being on IG. You assumed that my profile was not as successful as I want it. If you had fully read my first note to you then you would realize that I define success differently than you do. “I try to post content that would uplift. I am a Christian and so I also post about my faith in a way that others can connect.” By my definition I am as successful as I want to be. My goal was never to have thousands of followers; the only followers I want to attract are those that can benefit from my message.

So my last tip for you would be to really understand those that you approach and get to know their “why” for being on IG before you approach them. I was never going to be a good prospect for you, but you actually are a good one for me. You are a professional woman who is trying to grow your business (that is if your profile is real, one can never tell). Have a blessed day, and I wish you nothing but success.

I debated sending this message after writing it because it is never my intent to offend or cause pain. I decided to send it because we have become a society that is afraid to lovingly give perspective to others who see the world differently. I don’t know how she took this letter because in all honesty I didn’t have the time or the energy to keep the dialogue going. I hope she took it in the spirit intended. As I said earlier, if her business is going well with her current strategy then she can just think of me as an idiot and continue to do what is working for her. I was just not a good client for her. But if by any chance she saw something of worth in what I said and made a change that profited her, then I would be happy for her.