Group SPAM Policy

Last Updated: 15th July 2020

Women Who Golf Facebook Group SPAM Policy

Self-Promotion and Spam Guidelines
Women Who Golf

General Guiding Principle of Posting
Women Who Golf is successful because it promotes good posting of interesting topics that generate conversation and high response rates. Our motto is to give more then you take in this group. The guiding principle is to post topics that will generate interaction, and discussion, the metrics by which we evaluate ‘good posts’.

SPAM is what we try to avoid. It can be defined as posts that don’t offer value because they are taking more than they give. This is often characterised by not receiving many interactions (likes or comments). Below are a sample of SPAM posts to help illustrate what’s unacceptable. A defining characteristic of SPAM posters is that they will be:

• Selling product or services without offering free advice etc.
• Continual posts/images that do not receive interest from other members
• Reposting content from other groups (consistently)

We want our members to be able to freely enjoy this group without the constant hassle of seeing self-promotions, items for sale, affiliate links or only spam.

The Dinner Party Evaluation Method
A simple way of determining if something is spam is using the dinner party method. Imagine you are attending a dinner party and strike up a conversation with people you don’t know. During the conversation, you would not randomly blurt out “buy my product”, that’s not socially calibrated.

The right way to sell to any person is to listen to their problems, offer them free value and slowly build a relationship. At dinner, it would be both polite and a socially calibrated way to guide a conversation. The same principle applied online.

Bad Self Promotion / SPAM
Women Who Golf have had some bad experiences with spammers in the past. There are a few characteristics that stand out above the rest. The below list is indicative of such posts.

1. Posting every single day about their product/links.
2. Constantly replying to posts directly with their link.
3. Only posting about their products, not contributing any other way
4. Getting other members to post about their products, websites, links etc

Bad Self Promotion and Spam
Below are a few examples of previous members who were continuously posting about their business and products, getting other members to post about their products and consistently commenting on members posts about their products and business.

Acceptable Examples of Self Promotion
There is a way to self-promote that does not breach our SPAM guidelines. These are posts that offer value to our members and do not immediately ask for a sale. The members are trying to add value to the group, they don’t over-post, and they don’t force the issue. They add value and don’t expect anything in return.

Acceptable Examples of Self Promotion Continued
Another excellent example of a member adding value and not spamming is shown below. She posted a great picture of her wearing her designs while playing golf, using the caption to introduce herself. Notice, she did not reference her business in the caption. The only time she did this was in the comments section, or personal message, when prompted, or people asked.

She only posted infrequently as a way of offering value to the group without becoming repetitive.

Channels Forums and Communities
Promoting channels, forums and communities fall under the same guidelines, feel free to offer advice but don’t explicitly promote.

Post Video and Links
If you have created the content being videos or articles, there should be posted directly into Facebook. Avoiding linking to an external channel (YouTube etc.). Alternatively, if you wish to submit it to Women Who Golf, and we can post it in our website, blog or YouTube channel on your behalf. At the end of any video or content, you can plug your channel if done tastefully but the primary focus should be providing value to our members through the content itself.

Multi-Level Marketing (MLMs)
Women Who Golf believe in ethical support of the community, while we support independent business, MLMs have been found to be successful in less than 1% of cases (reference: https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_comments/trade-regulation-rule-disclosure-requirements-and-prohibitions-concerning-business-opportunities-ftc.r511993-00008%C2%A0/00008-57281.pdf). We recommend being incredibly careful about being involved.

Please note: Sending unsolicited messages is strictly prohibited.

EndNote
Our goal is not to deter you from posting in the group. We want to support all females in Golf, make your posts positive, supportive and welcoming to all.

I hope this document helps differentiate positive promotion from SPAM posts. If you do have any questions, you can always contact Tuscany at tuscany@womenwhogolf.net.

Happy Posting!

Tuscany Williams & Women Who Golf Team.