Social media is ripe with what I call superbombers. They're people you just met through  Twitter follow, Google Plus circle, Facebook friendship, Linkedin connection, blogs, and forums but imediately they're cluster bombing you with "buy my product," "click this link," and "donate some money now!!!!" Last year I spoke about how not to get lured to the dark side of aggressive marketing. Today I'm revealing the irritating dark lords who can lure you there.

They're Irritatingly in your face like pepper spray

Mind you, you've barely taken your first breath to say, "what's up?  how are you?". The urge and desperation to get people interested in their product or service makes them launch a preemptive marketing strike on their newest social media connections. That's just not how business and marketing is done up front. For the inexperienced or easily coerced marketer this is encouragement to stockpile their social media following with useless people. Be aware of these overly aggressive and tactless marketers that can send you astray from your target niche. I continually stress one thing on every business blog, forum, and social media site I contribute to: Build Relationships with relevant people first.

Those looking to spam you with vague intros and unknown products and services bypass the rules of marketing etiquette. It's your job to spot them and move on. The tempation to become one of them is also very great if you need to make money quick, but it's avoidable. A quick polite one time intro is more effective in gaining someone's interest than 20 suspect "click here" requests. I recommend using the following hook-n-reel method:

 Hi hello... I'm John Doe...by the way I found your post/description about etc etc really interesting, I can't wait to read more from you. I think such and such (name specific) could be very resourceful to my own business/website [plug your brand name here]

Immediately you have that person's attention by making them feel relevant. Now they're open to hear whatever else you have to talk about pertaining to business.

In startup business especially when dealing with total strangers online, the in-your-face haggling salesman approach won't work. People need to see your breadcrumb trail littered with stamps of trust and credibility based on your engagement with your current followers.

Be careful about making everybody your friend

If you're into selling custom bouquets and virtual greeting cards, why in the world do you have 200 death metal band members in your following, and it's worst if you're spending time engaging with them. Many different people will reach out to connect with you in social media, but for business purposes, accept, connect, and engage with those who are relevant to your niche. Remember the 80-20 rule, the majority of your business success will come from the support of the vital few.

If you've already built a massive following (10,000 or more followers) based on blindly following back, go back and inspect that list. Most likely you'll find a lot of people absolutely irrelevant to your marketing purposes. You don't have to get rid of them, simply organize them in lists/circles by relevance as mentioned in this effective list building article. Most big social media sites now offer the feature to do this. Good luck marketing :-)