Do you even want my business?

I recently posted a request for someone to run social media for No More Filing on the London Startups Facebook group and was pretty shocked at some of the responses!

Disclaimer: I admit that my original posting was not that clear or well thought out. I did however, offer a clear sum of money (£200) which for many people is a nice piece of additional or incremental income and therefore elicited a large number of responses.

Here’s the original message:

“Hello my favourite startup group. I’m looking for someone to ‘manage’ my social media, essentially tweeting a few times a week and keeping the Facebook page likewise up to date. Needs to be someone who is discerning about what is tweeted i.e. they get my business enough to post relevant stuff. Looking to pay up to £200 per month.”

I had a large number of private messages from people offering their services, 33 in total. However the quality of the responses was pretty poor. I decided to analyse the responses and post my findings here (anonymised):

• 20% were written in appalling English

Hello Mr.Jacob, myself NAME, I am a social media marketing expert. Will be able to take up your work. 09091234567 is my mobile number.

• 80% showed no sign of having researched who I am or my business
• 70% did not send over LinkedIn profile, CV or Equivalent
• 75% did not send over any examples of Twitter, Facebook or other social media accounts

So what have I learned?

1. Further confirmation if ever it was needed social media breads sloppiness
2. Individuals and businesses can differentiate themselves by just doing the basics such as using half decent English, spending two minutes researching their potential clients, offering examples of work
3. Poor briefs invite poor quality responses
4. I’m a pedantic git

Dan Jacobs is a startup founder, advisor, mentor and sometimes interim CTO… You can learn about about the chap at www.danjacobs.com