Three phrases in sports that are always followed by a gentle slap on the ass. Why do they do it? who knows. What I do know though is that it happens in more than just sporting events.

Social Media has to be the biggest arena for ass slapping I have ever seen, ahead of baseball, football, basketball & any other event with balls in it… Yeah, I went there.

Did I just piss you off? Good, then that means this post is probably about you.

Time and time again I see friends with mediocre talents getting undeserving boosts of confidence from their peers just because they roam in the same circle.

Look, a lot of the work posted on showcase websites suck. You know it and so do I.

I mean the work sucks bad.

Enter the SMAS Syndrome

But when you look through the site, there it is – Social Media Ass Slapping. Comments constantly filled with “fucking awesome” or “this rocks” instead of truthful, constructive comments to help each other get better. It’s an epidemic and something that I think needs to be addressed.

You remember the cliques in school when you were in high school? Yeah, Twitter has those too. So does Facebook, Dribbble and tons of other social sites.

Listen, I know everyone wants their kids to get a trophy even if they didn’t win, but what does that tell them? Being mediocre is ok and they can skate by in life with the right friends and connections.

Screw being better. Settle for what you have now because we think it’s awesome.

Fuck that.

You should always strive to be #1 … ahead of your friends and anyone else in your way. Your friends should agree and believe this as well.

But they don’t.

If they believed that, they’d tell you when your work sucks. They’d push you to be better. They would truly want to see you succeed and do great things, even especially if that means telling you that you’re not doing the best work possible.

Why SMAS Syndrome is BAD for freelancers

If it’s not painfully obvious already, SMAS Syndrome is horribly bad for freelancers. If you’re freelancing and asking for advice from other freelancers who in turn just smack your ass, toss you a hi-five or fist bump (or whatever really stupid gesture people are using), you’re not benefiting from that at all.

Your goal as a freelancer isn’t to stay mediocre your entire life, right? So why would you allow people around you to hype you up into something that you’re obviously not. It’s like a soldier in the USMC going through boot camp and then the CO telling him “OK, you did great today, now we’re going to drop you in the desert by yourself and hope you come back alive“.

That just won’t happen, and there’s a good reason for it: You’re not fucking good enough for that yet.

So how do you become better?

Practice with consistency & critiques from qualified freelancers should do the trick. Make sure you take note of the word qualified. Some people should never be listened to when they give advice. The real trick is being able to figure out which freelancers are worth listening to and which of them are just full of shit (a.k.a. trolling).

Which brings me back to the point I made yesterday about being guilty by association. If you’re hanging around a bunch of douche bags who just slap your ass in approval whenever you put out mediocre work, you’ll be mediocre forever – and it’s your fault.

Cut out the bullshit and quit patting each other on the back so god damn much.

It’s not doing anybody any good. If my work sucks, I expect people to tell me. If I’m looking at a piece of work someone posts for comments & I feel like there’s things that could be improved, I make sure to let the person know.

A lot of people want to be handled with kid gloves though. They weren’t raised to know what tough love was. They’ll cry the first time someone says something they don’t like. Don’t be one of these people!

What can you to do stop SMASS™ from affecting your life?

There’s a couple things you could do actually. First, tell the people around you to stop being “yes men” and ask for honest advice. If you feel like they’re not giving you brutal honesty, call them out on it and demand honest opinions.

Also, instead of slapping the ass of someone who’s in your inner circle, tell them the truth. If you like something, don’t tell them you love it. If there’s something that looks off to you, don’t be afraid to tell them.

And remember, the cliques and social media ass slapping will never stop. But you have the power to stop doing it to others and start asking for the truth from people.

So, the next time you post up something, ask for honest critiques and if you see anyone with SMASS™, point it out to them, send them to this post and then pat yourself on the back for a job well done

Side Note: I will probably get hits from Google for this post when people search ass slapping – it happened to Giant Themes when I used the tag line “kick ass WordPress themes” and got hits for “giant ass” searches. #randomfact So if you landed here expecting something different, sorry

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Auto updating with your Twitter statuses

One of the biggest mistakes I see people making is having their Twitter statuses auto insert into their Linkedin accounts “update” section. This is a big no-no because it shows a couple things right away. First, you’re showing that you don’t care enough about Linkedin to go and update it yourself (even using TweetDeck or another app allows you to update it properly). Second, it is streaming your constant flow of ReTweets and info you might not want to share with potential business connections on Linkedin.

Not linking to your business websites

This seems like a no-brainer, right? When you set up your profile, you’d think that most people would add their business URL in, blog URL, etc. However, I’ve noticed that a lot of people miss out on this opportunity to share other links with their Linkedin profile viewers. When you leave a blog comment, you generally add your URL in, right? Well, it’s the same way here – make sure you’re utilizing Linkedin and getting all of the links in you possibly can.

Leaving your profile information blank

So, you started your profile but never found the time to get around to it? Well, what do you think that’s going to show potential connections when they view your profile. If you can’t take 5-10 minutes to properly set up your profile, how do you expect the viewer of your profile to take you serious enough to hire you?

Not uploading your resume

Here’s one that I am personally not following but I know I need to be. Adding a resume to your Linkedin profile should be one of the first things you do because it gives people the opportunity to download it and have it on file at ease. They don’t need to contact you to request it – it’s right there.

Your recommendations section is blank

Here’s one that you can look at as a way to showcase testimonials for your business. Do you know clients who are on Linkedin? Why not ask them to give you a recommendation? This way, potential clients viewing your page will see it and it will give you a much better light to shine in, in their eyes.

Set it and forget it

Putting your Linkedin profile together and not utilizing it on a regular basis is counter productive. If your page looks like you are never there, people will assume that you’re not around on a regular basis in your business as well. Be there, be present and be active. You don’t have to spend 10 hours a day on the site, but add a couple status updates throughout the day and it’ll keep you “active” in peoples eyes.

Only connecting with people in your industry

I’ve said this a lot of times before, including in the Guerrilla Guide that was just released, but I think it needs to be said again. Connecting with people who do the same job as you is great for building relationships in your industry with people who might be able to help promote you or give you advice on specific things, but if you’re trying to build a business, you need to connect with people who will HIRE you. If you design blogs, connect with bloggers more than other blog designers, etc.

Connecting with EVERYONE at once

With everything, Linkedin needs to be cultivated properly. Going in and massively adding 100-200 people isn’t the way to go about it. Organically build and grow, adding those who you truly talk to. It’s not Twitter, you don’t need to follow everyone just because they’re in the same niche as you. Connect with people you know and build those relationships further.

Not branding your sub headline

Not sure what your sub headline is? It’s the spot under your name, which usually displays your position and company information (ie: Founder at Guerrilla). However, this is the first thing people see after your name so you need to make sure it pops and brands you properly. You can edit it by going to “EDIT PROFILE” and clicking “EDIT” next to your name, which will allow you to change the line under your name.

Not connecting with me on Linkedin

Just like the other articles in this series, we need to connect I love everyone who reads and enjoys this blog and want to connect with you in any way possible, including our Linkedin profiles. You can click here to view my Linkedin Profile. Go ahead and connect with me or you can leave a comment here with your linkedin profile URL and we can all connect with each other

Other articles in this series

• The 10 biggest mistakes people make on StumbleUpon
• The 10 biggest mistakes people make on Twitter
• The 10 biggest mistakes people make on Facebook

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• The 10 biggest mistakes people make on Stumbleupon
• The 10 biggest mistakes people make on Twitter

Updating your profile once a month

One of the first mistakes I see (and have fallen to myself in the past) is setting up a facebook profile because everyone else has one and then never updating it. It’s fine to not have a social profile everywhere – stick to the ones you use most, and if you are going to set up a profile on facebook, use it.

Mass adding without any type of connection

My main rule of thumb here is to not randomly add anyone unless the facebook recommendations show 10 or more common friends between myself and the other person. This way, I know they’re a part of the circle I talk to in one way or another and I know that their input on things will be valuable. Plus, it doesn’t look so spammy compared to when you’re adding people who have zero common friends.

Not setting up a fan page for your site

If you run a website of any kind, setting up a facebook fan page, in my opinion, is a must. It not only allows you to promote your site throughout facebook, but it’s also a way to get your visitors interacting with you, signed up to a specific place where you can send out notices (similar to a newsletter) about your site, contests and freebies that people can’t get elsewhere.

Only sharing your own content

I’ve mentioned this before in our other posts about stumble upon and twitter, but it crosses over into facebook as well. I see people who sent out status updates with links to their sites, but never mention anything about any other sites they’ve visited. I assure you that your friends will enjoy reading content if it applies to them, so by sharing articles on facebook that relate to your website topic, they’ll gain more value from your updates and feel more comfortable clicking your links (including the ones to your site).

Updating your status 50+ times a day

Twitter is a place to update 50-100 times a day. Facebook isn’t. Facebook should be used as a place to hold longer conversations than 140 characters and not just a place to broadcast link after link (after link). Try your best to utilize facebook for what it should be used for – connecting with friends, discussing things and sharing what is up with you.

Forgetting that potential clients will be seeing your profile

Some people use facebook and forget that their potential clients can, or will, see what they’re posting on their walls and in their pictures. Yes, you should be yourself as much as possible, but if being yourself means losing clients because you’ve got half naked pictures on your facebook, you may want to rethink the business you’re in Also, if you’re designing websites for churches, you may want to tone down your atheist views – I don’t think it would be good for business. So remember, keep things light, but not bright

Running your blog posts through facebook’s notes

This is one that I don’t see many people talk about, but it’s a definite dead end when it comes to utilizing facebook for traffic and comments on your blog. What a lot of people do is run their RSS feeds through facebook notes and give everyone the ability to read their entire post right there on facebook. When they’re done reading, they move on and don’t visit your site. You’d be better off just sending out a wall update letting people know about the new post so the traffic goes to your site instead of your notes section.

Posting self-glorifying messages on your friends walls

This is one I’ve had to deal with numerous times recently. “Friends” who are utilizing facebook as a place where they can post a comment on your wall, discussing their site. News flash, that’s what your wall is for. If you write on someones wall, mention how much you liked THEIR article, not link to your own stuff. It’s unprofessional, rude and a bit annoying.

Sending advertisements to your friends through facebook messages

Another one that I’ve seen happen more lately is the unsolicited advertisement messages you receive on facebook. Something along the lines of “I just seen this and knew you’d like it” although, your name isn’t mentioned in the message and the topic is something you’re definitely NOT interested. Don’t do it anymore if you’re one of the ones doing it – people hate it.

We’re not facebook friends yet

So, in keeping up with how I’ve done the twitter and stumbleupon mistakes articles here, I thought I should mention this one here as well. I’m on facebook (click here to be friends) and I also have a facebook fan page for my start up, Giant Themes. Would you like to see a fan page for Guerrilla Freelancing? I think I need to set one up, especially after writing #3 above

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Adding too many people at one time

So you want to promote yourself as a social media expert, yet you’ve got 100 people following you, while you’re following 15,000? How does that really portray you? It not only makes you look desperate but it also shows that you’re not on twitter to build relationships with people, only to gain a vast amount of followers in order to spam them with your links. Take it slow, let the follows come naturally.

Tweeting too many personal tweets

If you’re tweeting 3-4 times a day about what you ate, where you slept at and what movie you’re dying to see, the odds of people reading your tweets and catching the hidden gems you drop about your business and other links to other great resources is very low. A lot of people use twitter to connect for business purposes and I know personally, I do not like following people who tweet with 80% personal notes and 10-15% their own links and only 5% other resources.

Not tweeting enough personal tweets

Get this through your head – we are not robots :) People do have to see a personal side of you or you seem unapproachable and distant from the people you’re following. For instance, I like to tell a lot of jokes, so when I tweet with people and am talking about business, I mix in some jokes and random funny things with my business and resource tweets. It’s got to be a good blend though, so don’t fall into a non stop comedy fest :) Balance is key.

Using the default twitter layout

If you’re after attention but you seem to be growing your network at a slow rate, don’t blame everyone else. Blame your default twitter layout. If you are a professional and want to be seen as so, take a few minutes to either create an information packed twitter background, or at least something with some style. Who knows, you might even get featured in an article about twitter layouts and end up gaining a lot of subscribers because of it!

Not using a distinctive twitter avatar

This is one of the biggest mistakes I made when I started using twitter. I used the robot head that I have on my blog design company website and virtually no one could make the personal connection to me with that as my avatar. I have since changed it to the image I am using now on all social media websites and have seen an improvement in my personal branding.

Only tweeting about yourself

Are you the type of person who checks in on the twitter grader and sees the biggest words you tweet about as “I’m”, “Me” and “I” then you need to read this one very close. Tweet about other people. Spread the love. Pay it forward. If you want people to ignore you, tweet about yourself all day. If not, then start talking about some other people and pass along useful information you see along the way.

Using auto Follow / auto Direct Messaging scripts

Scream at the person who just added you with these scripts, letting them know you’re a spammer and you don’t care about the community. Listen, twitter, along with every other social media website is driven by the community being sociable with each other. If you jump into random conversations only to spam them with your services, it’s going to be much harder to brand yourself as a credible source. So, please, please, please do not use these scripts.

Selling in your tweets

You want to tell people about the services you offer? Do it in your bio. Put your URL there and leave it at that. Focus your time on creating quality filled tweets and interact with the people you would like to do business with. If they like you, they’ll look into what you do and hire you because they enjoy what you’re saying and believe you are a valuable source, not just someone who spams the twitter world with random “buy from me” tweets.

Not leveraging the power of a Re-Tweet

This ties in with the only tweeting about yourself mistake because when you RT (re-tweet) a message, it not only shows your twitter followers that you’re on the look out for quality links and they need to pay attention to you, but it also shows the person who you’re re-tweeting that they are smart, intelligent people who you enjoy listening to. It’s a win/win situation.

You are not following me yet!

OK, OK. Shameless self promotion here. Yes, I am on twitter. Yes, I would love if you were to follow me. Yes, I would probably cry for a week if I found out you read this article and then DIDN’T follow me. So help me keep my feelings inside. Head over to my twitter profile and follow me. I’ll follow you back :)

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Stumble Upon is a great place to find and promote awesome content. Not only is the use of stumble upon very easy with their tool bar, the community is great (for the most part). There are some mistakes people are making on a daily basis though that could drastically effect the way they’re perceived and the effectiveness of any marketing efforts they’re making. Below are ten of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen people make on stumble upon.

No image of themselves

This is the first thing people use to identify you and if it’s not something recognizable (or even non existent for that matter), people will be turned off from viewing your profile and exploring the idea of being your friend or stumbling pages you’ve liked. Hell, I even just figured this out myself and changed my profile picture to make sure I don’t fall into this category any more.

No information in the about section

Right after the image, this is what most people look at next. This section doesn’t need to be a full bio of your whole life story, but let them know your name, what you do and any other tid-bits of information that will set you apart from the other stumblers out there.

Sending links to friends with no actual comment

How many times have you got the little pop up from your stumble upon tool bar that says “____ has sent you this page”? I’ve got this message a million times and I hate it as I’m sure the rest of you do too. How hard is it to at least write a quick thank you message and copy/paste it to everyone you’re sending the page to?

Stumbling only your own articles

This will not only keep people from interacting with you but it can also get you banned. Just ask Derek from Click Consultants (sorry Derek, I had to do it haha). Stumble upon is about being SOCIAL so please do not treat it as another place to spam your own content like we’ve all seen happen to myspace and other social media sites.

Only giving thumbs up and not reviewing

I don’t know if theres any issue with stumble upon itself for doing this, but I know that when I see a page get 30+ thumbs up but only 1-2 reviews, it sends a red flag to me that the content might not be the best in the world and that the original stumbler just got a lot of friends to give it thumbs up. Try to review as many as possible.

*quick tip: highlight a part of the article and click the review bubble in your stumble upon toolbar and it will automatically put that text into your review box.

Not being mutual friends with other stumblers

So you’ve got messages that 100 people have added you as a friend on stumble upon but you don’t know what to do next? ADD THEM BACK! Again, stumble upon is a social place and adding someone as a friend is the least you can do to show them that you’re human and increase your chances of gaining positive attention. Hell, I even got a couple web design deals through stumble upon just by adding friends back and talking with them.

Mass adding friends but only sending them spam

Another fault that is similar to sending links to friends with no actual comment. Whatever you do, do not believe that mass adding friends is going to gain you popularity within the community and push your content to the forefront. It just won’t happen. People hate spam, and if you’ve got 1,000 friends but no mutual friends, other stumblers are going to get the hint and avoid you like the plague.

Stumbling without consistency

If you’re trying to build a name for yourself and trying to build up your brand awareness, why would you neglect one of the most powerful things you can do on stumble upon? Consistent stumbling! Even if its only 10 stumbles per day, they add up over time and they let people know that you’re human, you’re around and you’re seeing what is out there.

Only stumbling pre-stumbled articles

You should be out there finding and discovering new articles for stumble upon. Add to the community with some value that YOU find instead of just clicking and stumbling articles that other people have already found and shown on stumble upon.

You don’t have me as a friend yet!

So this may not be a bad thing in everyones eyes, but to me, it hurts me deeply to know that you’re here reading this article and we’re not friends on stumbleupon yet. So, head on over to my Stumble upon Profile and add me as a friend. I promise to follow the rest of these guidelines and add you back.

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