If you are like me, you’ve probably read all the marketing tactics on the web. You are also always looking for the new ones. Maybe you do this to be well-versed in digital marketing. Or, you want to be the first person to get your hands on that raw marketing tactic before the competition does. As an ardent reader, I recommend reading. I read almost all the top marketing publications and websites. I know almost every digital marketing tactics on the planet. I read them on various blogs. And I also watch and study what marketing tactics people and businesses are using in various niches and industries. What I have learned from applying many of these marketing tactics, and watching other apply them is that, most are a waste of time and money. Trust me, you will do 1,000% better without them. There are a lot of them out there. I can’t name them all. But, there are some very stupid ones I’ll urge you to avoid. These are the 5 stupid marketing tactics that will waste your time and money. Avoid them like the plague.

1. #Hash #Tagging #Every #Post #On #Social #Media

The “#” symbol represents hashtags on social media. It was invented in 2007 by Chris Messina, who use it to show where he was tweeting from and what his tweet was about. Facebook introduced the hashtag feature to their platform in 2013.

“Starting today, hashtags will be clickable on Facebook. Similar to other services like Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, or Pinterest, hashtags on Facebook allow you to add context to a post or indicate that it is part of a larger discussion. When you click on a hashtag in Facebook, you’ll see a feed of what other people and Pages are saying about that event or topic.”

Hashtags are used to categorize your social media posts so that interested people can see it. It’s good for driving engagement and gaining more followers outside your current following. But over time, it has become abused by dubious marketers on social media. Hashtags are to social media what keywords are to search engines. Imagine, you are writing a piece of content for the purpose of ranking high on Google for a particular keyword. You wouldn’t use the target keyword too many times. Doing that will affect the quality of the content. Search marketers call it keyword stuffing. The same applies to hashtags. Hashtags overused are the quickest way to annoy fans and reduce the quality of your posts on social media. Keep hashtags out of your social posts unless you’re posting an incredible piece of content social media users need to know about. In other words, don’t hashtag every post you publish. I’ve learned that tweeting every time and using hashtags within posts is a complete waste of time. It’s an internet marketing tactic that doesn’t generate a worthwhile return on investment (ROI). Stop if you are frequently posting and hashtagging on social media. I’m not saying don’t market on social media sites. Social media is a place every marketer should be. It’s the place where prospects and customers spend their time. You should be there too. But keep in mind that you are there to connect deeper with your current followers. There are the ones who will see those updates. Stop endlessly trying to acquire new followers from hashtagging. It doesn’t work.

2. Excessive Posting on Forums and LinkedIn Groups

Forums and LinkedIn Groups are places to help and connect with people. These are places where people of common interests meet. I like the “help” part. It’s what keep forums existing since the web was born. Forums, and especially LinkedIn Groups have turned into a channel where marketers want to push their products rather than help and connect with people. Marketers post on forums even when they have nothing worthwhile to contribute to the discussions. They just want people to see their name, hoping they will click their profile link and visit their website. Some people will write to promote their products blatantly. To succeed in forums and LinkedIn groups, you must stop seeing them as marketing channels. It’s true that you can get the word out about your product on forums, but they are primarily not made for that. See forums, LinkedIn groups or any online community from a real-world perspective. You don’t whine all the time at an offline forum. You are patient. You watch others. You listen. You only come in when you feel your contribution will help and is needed. You connect with a few people at the forum. Exchange contacts and meet later for a coffee or lunch. You get to know them personally. The bigger and better your network, the more clients you will get from your network. That’s the way forums work. They are not marketing channels. But, over the past few years, I’ve been reading gurus approaching them like marketing channels and ignoring what they really are. This is bad. The fastest way to wreck your reputation is to start marketing at every forum or community in your industry. LinkedIn Groups are a great place to connect with professionals. See it as another place to grow your network. Genuinely help people who need your help and who you can help. Web users are wise. They know when you are pushing them to do something. Don’t. It’s a waste of your time. If you can’t passionately help people in LinkedIn Groups and other communities, you should stay away from them.

3. Auto-Tweeting Every Content You See on Twitter

Most so-called social media experts don’t read what they share. This is bad for their followers. This practice is very common on Twitter where you see someone you follow tweet every 10 minutes. Most of these tweets have been pre-scheduled using a social media tool like Buffer or Hootsuite. Of course, I like these tools. And Also I use a community tool Triberr which helps me to get some more Tweets. They keep you active on social media when you are busy with other things. But here’s the problem: To keep their social profiles active, social users are posting contents they don’t read. It’s a bad marketing practice. Because people retweeted or liked your tweets doesn’t mean they clicked the link. A depressing study showed that 6 in 10 people will share a link without reading it. This can be bad for you if you have a reputation to protect. By sharing links you don’t read, you probably don’t know what was written in the content. Sharing content on social media means giving it your stamp of approval. You don’t want to approve bad or negative ideas and posts. You are better with engaging directly with your followers than sharing all sorts of links you come across on the web.

4. Doing The “I’ve Mentioned You” Outreach Trick

There is new marketing tactic marketers are talking about right now. It works like this: Step 1: Mention and link to a lot of influencers in your content. Step 2: Reach out to them letting them know you’ve mentioned them and ask for a link or a share in return. This little trick does work, of course. But it’s getting over-used and abused as more marketers are jumping on it. The ROI has gotten very low. It has become the fastest way to destroy your reputation before you even build it. I am less likely to trust anyone who reaches out to me saying I was mentioned and asks that I share or link to their content. It’s a trick. Web users hate when they are being tricked. Before asking anyone for a favor, you should be genuinely interested in them. Help them. Build a deeper connection with them. People are more likely to help you when you do that. Don't just write an article and mention them, then send them an email asking for a favor. Imagine when experts are receiving 50 emails like this per day? It doesn’t work. Stay away from it.

5. Building Micro-sites for Getting Links

You need links to rank high on search engines. If you’ve ever done link building before, you know how tough it is. You experience a lot of rejections. It’s not easy as most marketers often portray it to be. So, you’ve probably read of the easy way for people who hate getting rejected and working too hard to earn backlinks. Instead of reaching out to bloggers and asking for a link, why not just build the blogs and get those link juices whenever and wherever you want? It sounds so easy. Soon, you’ll start ranking for every keyword you target. Although this strategy works, it’s 500% more expensive, time-consuming, and you are always at risk of getting kicked out of search engines. Also, those microsites tend to lose their value over a few months. Any links you get from them keep depreciating because those blogs aren’t getting new links. You are better with reaching out to people and asking for a link. You are better at creating a lot of quality content that can earn links by themselves. Avoid these stupid marketing tactics and spend your time using the right marketing strategies. You’ll be amazed by the results you’ll achieve. Thanks for reading. Please share this article on social media and share your views with me below in the comments.