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The Barracuda Barons of Social Media (Where relationship ROI is the name of the game)

According to WikiPedia “The term Social refers to a characteristic of living organisms (humans in particular, though biologists also apply the term to populations of other animals). It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.”

That last sentence – “irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary” – is chillingly on point with my topic headline.  The use of psychology and  coercion is not outside of the meaning of social.  This is NOT the definition most people have for the word social.   I would have chosen words like “polite”, “courteous”, “friendly”, “cooperative”, and concepts related to those words to describe what I felt “social” means.  Social Media Marketing would seem more like schmoozing at a party than systematically working a crowd by rigidly applying a pre-calculated formula to accept or reject friending or following someone.

The most famous marketing formula is the 10/90 Formula.  This says that you get 90% of your revenue from 10% of your clients.  It says that to make the most money you should spend 90% of your time with that 10% of people and only give 10% of your attention to the other 90%.  After all, there is a finite Money Supply – get it any way you can.  I personally do not follow this 10/90 Marketing rule – please be aware – but I tell it like it is. There are plenty of very successful entrepreneurs out there who do. They make me sick to my stomach, and practically define the word “snob”.  However, if you’ve ever wondered what the mystique about the snob is all about, this article pretty much spells it out.

Just as animals (and Barracudas are animals) prey on the physically weak, it is socially  acceptable for Social Media Barracudas (known more commonly by us as the “Psychopathic Boss”) to prey on the psychologically weak or susceptible.  In the case of Social Media Marketing the psychological profile easiest to exploit (and most eager to be exploited) is the isolated co-dependent personality type.  These isolated types are begging for company and will overlook and deny a whole lot of warning signs just like Ugly Betty or Plain Jane will avoid seeing anything wrong with a handsome greaser wearing a wife-beater T-Shirt – as long as someone will pay attention to them.  So what if later on after the honeymoon is over he empties her bank account and gives her a black eye? When the cops come she’ll defend him to the end and refuse to press charges. That’s the perfect personality type most sought out by the Barracuda.  The Barracuda is all about power, and social media is the perfect arena for them to work.

The Social Media Barracuda “works” people for the purpose of financial gain by first giving friendliness (what is desired by the co-dependent weak personality is acceptance) and then suddenly, without any ill words or misconceptions, taking it away.  The Barracuda’s purpose in using this technique is to gain psychological control of the subject (the other side of the co-dependent relationship involved in the social media relationship).

What is a Co-Dependent Personality?

Co-Dependent personalities are what describes non-healthy relationships where the dominant controlling person preys upon either the emotional susceptibility or intellectual weakness of another by abusing, dominating or neglecting (either physically, emotionally or  intellectually) one or more people or groups of people to get what they want.  The subservient personality (the victim, a.k.a. “vic”) is usually first doted upon and showered with affection, but the relationship suddenly and for no reason sours. The Vic they tries to please to “make up” for whatever he did “wrong”.  The Vic believes that through his actions he can control the Barracuda and tries endlessly to please.  The Barracuda end of the Co-Dependent relationship “plays” the Vic like a rat in a cage, and only offers rewarding conversation when the rat gets closer to performing the task behavior required by the Barracuda.

Drug dealers in Harlem have whole gangs of recruiters who are looking for the lonely, innocent, and naive – the susceptible “victim” end of the co-dependent ying/yang relationship.  Both male and female gang members go out and pull in recruits via social get togethers at local clubs and hot spots in the more decent areas of town. Their jobs are to dress the part and fit in, and to lure the innocent into relationships, grow them strong and then set the hook. At that point they slowly reel them in and get them into fairly safe occasional casual drug use settings. Shortly thereafter the rug is yanked out from under the recruit (now the Vic) and the combination of drugs and depression combine to create a lightning fast course in the psychology of pure co-dependence at its lowest most grimy level. If you’ve never seen this first hand, up close, then you’ll have to trust me – it’s the 10/90 Marketing Formula at its purest and most evil.  I was born in on East 87th Street, Yorkville, Manhattan (often referred to as German Town) just nine blocks south of the start of Harlem.

So, now that we know how to play this game, what’s the best way to do it? The most effective way of taking advantage of the isolated co-dependent type personality and yoking them into serviceable use in Social Media with the 10/90 Marketing Formula rule is to create the right environment.

The most ruthlessly effective model I have seen is the slightly naughty, slightly rebellious, slightly raucous “Rat Pack” type “cool”  “if you’re in, you’re in” gang.  This model is perfect because it resembles a never ending party of what appears to be healthy banter going back and forth day after day,  month after month – with something to sell.

Here’s how you do it.  As the Barracuda all you need is to hire or find other Barracudas willing to work with you in the name of scientific marketing by applying a mathematical formula and the science of psychology to control the prospects decision making so you can flow them in the right direction  (this is social media marketing, and its all business – nothing personal).

It’s simple:

• Shower the new Vic with a little bit of love and attention
• Gain the Vic’s trust and emotional commitment
• Start turning away from the Vic to make them feel ostracized and do NOT communicate with them (it must hurt for it to work – just like a teenage school girl hurts when for no apparent reason suddenly none of her new friends will talk to her any more). This is known as turning them inside out (psychologically manipulating them to reach for their wallets).

Once the Vic has been sufficiently hurt and turned inside out, the Vic will try to do something to gain favor – what that thing is (of course) to buy the Barracuda’s product – at the very least the Vic will believe the he is assured communication of some sort in the form of support if he does so.

The most effective way to do this on social media (if you’re not drop dead gorgeous or something else you corner the market on) the ongoing party is the most effective way to do it. If your business can find a group of people to blog or tweet or work Facebook, then you create and control a whole terrain. Controlling the terrain is one thing Sun Tsu’s “Art of War” spells out is necessary to trap your opponent (or business interest). Make the group conversation fun, exciting and dynamic – like a party.  Keep it brisk and interesting with lots of talk about travel and new acquisitions and successes. Add a little personal drama and throw in a few good natured spats between a few of them and the odd drinking bout with photos and voila! A magical kingdom of friends appears that’s totally and absolutely irresistible to the poor isolated social morphodite drooling to post a reply, tweet or leave a message on a wall.

The weakest co-dependents will reveal themselves by trying to socialize, and after a period of self imposed suffering when no more replies come back, becoming customers as a last resort.  What they end up with is a product they really didn’t want and the reward of more social interaction for a while.  The best possible scenario for the Barracuda is that the Vic will either become a repeat customer or recruit others to become customers in order to control, and curry favor.

Of course this is a shocking and ridiculous article. Why, nobody would do such a thing, consciously! And many will say “sure, I apply the 10%/90% Marketing rule religiously, but it’s a proven good scientific business strategy.”

That it is, that it is. But it takes very special people to implement this strategy. Politicians have it too… or as one L.A. Times writer puts it someone who is “psychologically capable of committing their dirty deeds free of any concern for social, moral or legal consequences and with absolutely no remorse.”

Sociopathy and psychopathy are the most common forms of mental illness amongst prisoners, politicians and corporate leaders.  Click the following link for more general reading on the subject of “Classification of Corporate Psychopaths“

If you still want to rigidly apply the 10%/90% Marketing Formula to your Social Media campaign at least now you know how ruthless you’ll have to be. Competing with sociopaths on their level is emotionally exhausting work if your sense of ethics and morality are in a healthy state. Even telling yourself that it is “only business” won’t protect you.  Over time it will become easier, the more times you do it, as you slowly become a sociopath yourself.

Use social media responsibly. Communicate with people in a real way and be genuine. You may not get the fastest, best percentages possible, but you’ll be a better healthier minded person – and you won’t leave a trail of shattered Vics behind you. You may also be interested in reading Damn Interesting: The Unburdened Mind where you can take a pseudo scientific test to see if you are prone to psychopathy yourself.