As a lover of new frontiers for SMM, I came across a doozie this week. Apparently dating websites are being targeted for marketing. Yes! In ALL seriousness, Newsweek reported this very thing. Which drove me to think – are dating sites valuable tools for SMM?

The Scenario

The subject of the Newsweek Tumblr post (just another reason to get on Tumblr, by the way) was a man who sent approximately 800 (yes, you heard me right, 800) messages to women who were “matched” to his preference on Tinder. It was short and sweet, asking the ladies to check out his website selling unique bow ties.

The response wasn’t phenomenal, if you were wondering. (I secretly wish it was!!) But he did receive higher traffic and a modest boost in sales.

Problematic… or Revolutionary?

Sloppy SMM is often honed to reach any user at any given time. Approaching via dating websites in which people share just about all their personal information and interests has a leg-up on faceless, nameless online advertising that falls on deaf ears. Mainly, users who AREN’T interested at all.

Social media platforms can be generic. To a fault. Dating websites such as Tinder, Zoosk, and Match.com (just to name a few) are fine-tuned to profile its users. Marketwatch reports that eHarmony may ask up to 147 questions to categorize matches. OKCupid asks up to 4,000.

That sounds like a lot, right?!

The bowtie scenario Newsweek reported did receive a small number of complaints. Three, to be exact.  (Out of 800, I’d say that ain’t bad!!) The complaint was that the social platform was being tainted by selling tactics.

Personalized SMM

So maybe you aren’t going to start pitching your marketing business to your Tinder matches, but there might be a lesson we can all learn from the idea.

A better approach to social marketing may actually be possible within the platforms you’re already using (besides the dating ones…). Rather than trying to reach out to more and more anonymous users, we should focus on personalizing our existing SMM campaigns for the audiences we have. The face, the name, the story of our brand should be obvious. Start by building your brand across social media. Then let your brand do the talking.

This is obviously BRAND new. What do you think? Yea or nay to advertising on dating websites? I’d love to hear in the comments.