Those who use twitter

[iamben]

Hey guys,

Hope you're all well and having a relaxing evening

Just wondering, for all you who use twitter, do you use the auto message that send a direct message to your new followers?

Personally, when I get those messages I ignore them but I've read online that they can help with traffic to other pages or links. I'm not sure if it'd drive people away from our twitter and un-follow us.

If you use one, does it help?

Thanks
Ben

 

[themi8]

Apparently in social Etiquette is rude and unprofessional but is up to you not everyone follow etiquette

 

[ADNattan]

I don't use auto-responders. The research says they irritate people, and personal experience says they irritate people.

As a sales tool, Twitter's not great (fisicx will be along to tell you that later). It's a communication tool. So it's important not to rub people up the wrong way. Instantly sending a robotic link at them suggests that you're not interested in networking, just in selling them something!

 

[Dan Angell-Collins]

To be honest if I get an auto Direct Message it makes me seriously consider un-following that person/company.

 

[themi8]

To be honest if I get an auto Direct Message it makes me seriously consider un-following that person/company.

This is well said in the time of bots and Web automation you will probably not get involved with empty or looking fake account

 

[Dan Izzard]

Instead of a automated message to new followers, if you are trying to use Twitter as a business tool it's better to take a look every now and then at your follower page and reach out on a personal level in a DM. There needs to be evidence that you have actually researched the person or company before you send them any form of DM.

 

[Dan Angell-Collins]

I'd personally prefer a 'thank you for following' to be tweeted rather than a DM. The auto DM's I have had tend to be sales pitches rather than an interaction! If I'm following a company or person I don't want to be 'sold' to directly.

 

[fisicx]

Twitter works if you engage with people. Start following prospects and join in the conversation. Get to know their business and then offer help if suitable. This is now you get leads.

Never ever, ever, ever automate anything.

 

[Dan Angell-Collins]

Twitter works if you engage with people. Start following prospects and join in the conversation. Get to know their business and then offer help if suitable. This is now you get leads.

Never ever, ever, ever automate anything.

Exactly! Great response!

 

[redspan]

The only automation I use is to schedule tweets. There's nothing wrong with that provided the tweets are of sufficient quality and that they encourage engagement with your followers. Hootsuite is great for this.

 

[simong93]

I automate sending my tweets but not DM, I tend to find uploading intresting tweets about what i do attracts potentual customers but sending a automated messaged got alot of people to unfollow me

 

[fisicx]

Why do you need to schedule tweets? That sounds like you are using twitter as a marketing tool which as umpteen tests have shown just doesn't work. Twitter works best if other people talk about you rather than what you say about yourself.

 

[redspan]

Why do you need to schedule tweets?

Designated or established time windows (that may not be in your own timezone), absences, mutliple accounts etc.

 

[fisicx]

Why do you need to do this? If you didn't tweet for a week while you are on your holiday would it make any difference at all? Would your followers suddenly stop following? Would sales suddenly fall off a cliff?

What do you do if someone responds to your tweet with a question? How is hootsuite going to help with this? Far better to not tweet at all until you are in a position to engage with people properly.

 

[redspan]

You schedule a tweet to be published in a particular timezone/slot. You can still respond to it when you are next available, when mobile, or on holiday, but you haven't had to tweet at 2am!

 

[fisicx]

You are missing the point. The life of a tweet is less than an hour so why do you even need to schedule a tweet for publication at 2am? Twitter works if you are engaging with people which means tweeting things as they happen so you can respond as it happens. Twitter is a communication tool, you are using it as a marketing tool.

 

[redspan]

I think social media is a bit more flexible than that.

 

[fisicx]

No it's not. There has been a lot of research into the use of SM and twitter in particular is a poor marketing tool. Posting tweets at any time to promote your business is ineffective.

 

[Spock]

I do like to send a DM when someone follows me on my various twitter accounts, but it's always a personalised message, not a generic message.

 

[redspan]

You can't automate engagement, but there's no harm in scheduling tweets that merely share information.

 

[fisicx]

But what's the point?

If you took some stunning images of something and wanted to share a link to the owners website where I can see those images maybe it would have some value. But you don't need to schedule or automate this. Far better would be for the owner of the image to tweet about it and tell the world what a great bloke redspan is. Even better would be for people to retweat this and link to your pinterest site. And then for people to visit your site and see more stunning images.

That's how SM works. It's not what you post, it's what other people post about you.

 

[RickyW]

I'm on Twitter and have a reasonably large following. Whenever I follow someone and they auto tweet/message me, I will straight away unfollow.

That said, I do use Hootsuite to schedule a number of tweets on a daily basis although I don't class this the same as auto-tweeting as I am still on-hand to engage with someone if they engage with me. The scheduling allows me to be more efficient at reaching my audience throughout the day without me consistently on social media.