Missed Opportunities: Clients on a Silver Platter

I recently had an issue with Facebook. I created a Facebook Manager account and used my fan page as the primary account because it stated on Facebook’s Terms of Use that I couldn’t use my personal page as the main account. My fan page then disappeared from my pages manager and I could only post as my personal account to my fan page. Not good!!

After having a mini panic attack, I went to work trying to figure out how to fix this. I read through the Facebook help section, watched all the how-to videos, I created threads on the Facebook forums, and Googled until I could Google no more. It was hopeless. I was desperate! I was willing to pay any amount of money to get this solved because the thought of starting over and rebuilding my fan page terrified me.

So I reached out to all the Social Media experts I knew of who had all these great blogs, who offered Facebook training, who screamed from the high heavens that they are the Messiah of Facebook marketing. Do you know what I got for responses?

Crickets! Dead silence! No response, no helpful articles, no fee quotes… Nada. The only response I got was from someone telling me to “contact Facebook.” Not helpful. I then made this video to voice my frustration:

Right after I made the video, I went to lunch with a prominent figure here in Boston. He holds a high position in the state and he told me a similar story. He woke up one day and decided that there aren’t enough prominent black leaders giving back to their colleges and decided he was one of them. So he wanted to make a scholarship donation and contacted his university – without naming the university, it happens to be one of the top black colleges in the U.S.

He called his school to draft his fund terms, got transferred a dozen times, was put on hold for a ridiculous amount of time, and when he finally got a major gift officer on the line, guess what happened? I’ll tell you what happened – at the time, my friend was a top executive for one of the major internet companies (also to go unnamed). The officer didn’t talk to him about his gift to the school – he started talking about a barbeque sauce he invented and wanted to market and asked my friend to use his connections at his company to help him with marketing and asked him for branding tips.

Needless to say, the school never got a donation.

My mentor always tells me, “There is no such thing as free help. If you help someone, they will become a loyal fan – to you and your brand.” It’s a shame that when I offered myself on a silver platter no one recognized the potential for a sale, or seized the opportunity to engage me. Bad marketing! To all those out there reading this, if you have a business, recognize when opportunity comes knocking, and answer the door. If a door doesn’t exist, BUILD ONE.

Photo Credit: https://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-a-knockin-but-you-cant-come-in-1/

Aleja Seabron is a Social Media Consultant, instructor, speaker, blogger, and self-proclaimed “idea-girl” and Soldier of Social Justice. You can Follow, Like, and/or add her on Google+.