ASK YOURSELF:
WHAT IS THE VALUE IN THIS POST?

We moderate our content

SME Talk Magic wants to be the place that magicians come to grow, learn and engage with other magicians. We are unlike many other magic Facebook groups. We do care if the content being shared is relevant, interesting, appropriate, ethical and serves the community honestly. If you visit other groups you can see what happens when content is not reviewed or moderated.  Those walls are so cluttered with self-promotions, and irrelevant postings that finding the good stuff is a real chore. Nobody wants to spend time on pages like that. 

Not all content is created equally

SME Talk Magic is about valuable conversations and discussions. In the world of social media there is something called "Content." Of course, there are a few kinds of content.

Valuable content: These are posts that share information, ideas, ask questions or are entertaining. They can be videos, links to blogs etc. They engaging the community about a topic or event in a way that generates discussion and encourages others to comment and share. If you have something you would like to share by all means share it. You should consider though doing more than just sharing a link or an image. Go ahead and post a question or statement with your post. This is a much more engaging way to share and be sure that people are reading what you share. But before you post, ask yourself, "is there value in this post?" "Has this been posted before?" "What kind of question should I put on the post to engage people?" and finally, "Who does this post serve?"

Sponsored Posts: We really appreciate that sponsors see the value in the marketplace that is fostered by our groups. These posts are usually pinned to the tops of our pages and we send out regular "broadcasts" of those posts to be sure that everyone is aware of the special offers available to them. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor please contact us. Please feel free to comment and ask questions of the sponsors directly on these posts however remember to be professional about your comments.

SPAM: When the content is done to overtly self promote themselves, their products, services or brands they usually post what amount to be an unauthorized advertisement. We all have seen them and we never stop long enough to read them once we have seen just a few. A good way to know if your content is spam on Facebook is to look to see if you are cutting and pasting the same content over several groups. That is one way our moderators decide if a post is spam or not. These posts are removed on sight and if problematic we contact you. If a link is posted to a point of sale we will probably remove you from the group.

Regionally Specific Posts: These are a subcategory of SPAM. The SME Talk wall is not intended to be used as a passive bulletin board for regional events, club fundraisers, shows etc. Certainly you can ask if anyone on the group is going to XYZ event but posting an advertisement for the event is not really kosher with us. These too will be removed on sight by a moderator. 

We love when members share

In the end we want our group to be different than all the other groups. The relevant content and information your share along with the engagement of the group as a place to socially connect make it valuable to everyone. We want to see those great things that you are finding online that others can talk about, be inspired by and learn from. Thanks for being a responsible poster. Thanks for making SME Talk Magic a great place to visit every day.