For me, a lot of the automatic direct messages on Twitter (Auto DM) are annoying. Some of them do not make sense and I am more apt to unfollow unless it is something worthwhile. So in a way, I put a list of my own guidelines for Auto DM. The best way I can explain each is by scenario.
Perhaps some of you have experienced a situation or two (or more) from below.
- No coupon codes or discounts please. Do I go to your site, then comment right off the bat to advertise? No. Please try engaging first, then perhaps I might be interested on buying.
- Please stop sharing the Facebook fan page links. I do not want to join your fan page on Facebook. Why – I do not know you yet. You are kind of jumping into the game ahead of time. Engage in conversation with me and I might go and click “Like” on your fan page.
- I do not want to know how you got a million followers, especially when I look at your profile and the number of followers are only less than 10% of what you are trying to teach people how to get. When you get there, I MIGHT watch, but right now, I am comfy with building my followership organically – the right way!
- Fill your profile out. If I see the default Twitter bird, I am unfollowing immediately. I do not care if it is a favorite cartoon character picture, a real pic of yourself, or your company logo – at least put something up so I will give you a chance.
- No affiliate links please. Your first DM to me better be a short introduction that makes sense.
- I did not sign up for porn on Twitter, so please go back to MySpace.
- I know how many followers I have. I do not need you to point that out. What was the point in doing that?
- Are you really in my niche? Or are you just there to spam the hell out of everyone who is trying to make an honest connection? When you give me a link to your site off the bat, I hope it might not be a sales page.
- Spam me once, get reported and blocked. Spam twice… thrice… same thing. Multiple spam accounts do nothing but tick people off.
- Your DM tells me to follow you on another account. What? You can change your username, or wait until I know you on the one account to trust you enough to follow on another.
I do have my account set to auto follow on some services, but I do not use an Auto DM as of yet. For myself, I have never been too keen on the idea. I do like the direct message (private message) capability though.
Do you use Auto DM? What is your advice on how to effectively use it?
Great post Nile! Honestly, I'm trying to be bigger into Twitter, but sometimes people there are just spam-a-holics! I do a few sponsored Tweets via my account, but seriously, it's minimal compared to what I tweet myself.
Nice to catch up with you a bit again!
My recent post Blog-a-Holic and proud
Hi Mesina! Yes, there are a ton of people who are – agreed! I think people are really not getting what social media is all about. I do some paid Tweets too, and like you, it really is a few here and there every so often.
I loved the article and had a hard time no cracking up into laughter. The funny thing is we have all experienced this silly auto DM message and we have also all unfollowed that individual right away. I don't know anyone that thinks it's a good idea. I think if a DM is sent it should be unique to that individual or it's not worth the time to read and reply.
My recent post Twitter Discussions Continued: to follow or not to follow
I really am thinking that if I do, I will put something like “Hi! I am Nile Flores. I like to help people rock their sites out! (for free too!) http://blondish.net ”
Sound good? lol.
I've given up on DM and never look at the inbox. My auto-follower obviously follows every last spammer that follows me so no point looking at either DMs or my home feed 😮
My recent post Should my Personal Brand be my Face or a Logo?
lol… That is not the first time I have heard that. It is almost sad to hear because people have abused the feature so badly.
Great points! I’m just starting out in twitter and at first I thought auto DMs where neat but now I want them banned altogether. Responding to a Tweet or RTing is much nicer and personalized than any other way.