Posts tagged Community

Why Auto-DMing new followers is the stupidest thing you can do on Twitter.

Sep16th
2011 1 Comment Written by James Dabbagian

Hey, thanks for following me! Check out my new book/song/product which is sure to be awes….

UNFOLLOWED.

Sad but true. So many people seem to believe that automatically sending a Direct Message to people on Twitter helps to establish their relationships with their customers. I’ve had people argue that it increases their sales as well.

Unfortunately, it also makes you look like a spammer.

Granted you’re not as low on the rung as a real Twitter spammer, but you’re still in the vicinity. It’s like if I come to your door to shake your hand as a new neighbor, and the first thing you do is try to sell me a Kirby Vacuum. You just don’t do it. Here’s a few more reasons:

Forced relationship - A relationship on Twitter should develop naturally. Maybe with a few replies here and there, and then you can go into selling the product. Sending an auto-DM forces open a relationship in a very one-sided way.
First Impressions – On that point, the moment someone follows you, it’s first impression time. You need to prove your following worth to the person who did it. And when you respond with an offer, you aren’t getting off on the right foot.
Unwanted Sales Ad – Nobody likes unsolicited advertisements. That’s why we skip through commercials and have our email programs scan and kill spam on-sight. When you send an auto-DM, you’re sending us a commercial.
Robotic – The thing about automatic DMs is the word AUTOMATIC. You look like a robot who only cares about selling their product. Don’t be that robot. Be a human.
Selling to a seller – Remember that Twitter isn’t just customers. Some of your colleagues may be interested in what you say, but not in your product (Because they know it already themselves, or are even selling something similar!) So when you drop your offer, you’re treating a colleague like a customer. And you shouldn’t.

Just remember this. To some customers, you may interest them, but to the rest of us, this is the situation your Auto-DM best represents:

Social media, Twitter DM, networking, Social Media, Twitter

Twitter Chat Series Part 3: Etiquette

Aug22nd
2011 1 Comment Written by James Dabbagian

Check out the other titles in the series:

In our last article, we covered the basics in surviving in a Twitter chat. However, there’s more to a chat than surviving. Like back in kindergarten, you gotta know your manners. There’s some unwritten rules about how to go about behaving in a Twitter chat. Here are some:

Lurk – It is always fine to lurk. In fact, you should do so for the first few chats so you get a feel of what’s going on. Once you feel comfortable, jump on in.

Never announce that you’re late – If you’ve just arrived late halfway into the discussion, the best thing to do is jump in. Do not apologize, do not say you were late. It’s rude, and it makes you look arrogant, as if the chat wasn’t important at all without you. Jumping on in makes it look like you were simply lurking and waiting for an opportunity to speak.

No Trolling - This should go without saying. Don’t be an asshole. People come to chats for advice, and while there are such things as stupid questions, people AREN’T stupid for asking them. Either be polite with others in the chat or shut up.

Stay on topic – If the topic is on branding blogs online, don’t start talking about using influence metrics like Klout, even if it partially relates to the topic at hand. If you need to continue a debate/commentary/discussion that’s off-topic, take it out of the chat (No Hashtag.)

Do not link to any content unless it’s relevant to the conversation – #blogchat’s Mack Collier put it best:

If we are going to discuss ways to get more comments on your blog, and you are promoting your post on ‘How to pick a great WordPress template’, and you add the #blogchat hashtag, then it comes across as ‘spam’ to the #blogchat community.

While good content can and should be given, as it helps everyone involved, don’t link crap willy-nilly. Furthermore, always follow the specific guidelines of the Twitter chat. For instance, #blogchat discourages any links being given during the actual chat. However, the time before and after #blogchat is fair game.

Don’t take stuff personally - Again, people are jerks. Sometimes they don’t mean to be jerks. I’ve blocked a few people for sounding like assholes when in reality, they were trying to help me. Then again, there’s just people who have a snarky edge to them (such as myself) but are genuinely nice underneath.

Follow up immediately – If you promise to do something for someone in chat (such as send a document or look at a form) do so as soon as you possibly can. Preferably right after the chat so it’s fresh in your mind.

If you mess up, apologize – We all make a social faux pas at one point or another, and we understand. If you act overly belligerent or you break a guideline, and someone calls you on it, apologize. Believe me, no matter how bad the fuck-up, it’s even worse if you don’t apologize.

Obviously, entire encyclopedias can be written on proper etiquette, but hopefully, these can serve as some ground rules.

Your turn

What are some etiquette tips you have to share for Twitter chats? Anything I didn’t cover? What are some situations you have seen?

Next time: Creating your own Twitter chat!

Series, Social media, Twitter Social Networks, Twitter, Twitter Chats

Twitter Chat Series Part 2: How to survive a Twitter chat

Aug1st
2011 Leave a Comment Written by James Dabbagian

For part 1 of this series, check out How to participate in a Twitter Chat.

So, you’ve found a cool chat to partake in, and you’re ready to start talking…except that the moment you load up Tweetchat, the tweets roll by faster than a hummingbird, and you’ve been lost in the conversation. Relax, it’s happened to everyone. We’ll be taking a closer look at how to survive your first Twitter chat.

What you need to do is figure out how exactly to talk. In smaller Twitter chats, this may not be a problem as the speed of the chat might be slow enough to look at what everyone says. However, for bigger chats like say, #blogchat, you’re going to need to do some tactics:

Feature the Chat leader and guest (if applicable) – The first thing I do is determine who the chat’s moderator is. If you don’t know, ask. Once you know, you can use Tweetchat’s “Feature” option to highlight that user’s tweets. This means that their tweets will stand out over others, allowing you to keep track of when the conversation turns. Also do this for any special guests in the chat.

You can enable this by clicking on the icon on a person on the person’s Tweet, then click “Feature.” Once you do this, you should also follow the chat leader on Twitter to keep up on future news regarding the chat.

Reply, Reply, Reply – There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to keep track of every conversation happening in a given chat. However, you can still reply to people in a chat publicly while still having the hashtag. Tweetchat lets you reply to multiple people at once, so you can all stay in the same conversation. Who knows? Maybe the convo can continue after the chat is done.

Keep your Twitter @Mentions page up – The more active you are, the more likely people will reply to you, and the faster the chat, the more likely you are to miss when someone sends an @ to you. The best solution to this is to keep your Twitter’s @mentions page right next to Tweetchat’s tab, so you can alternate between the two as needed. If the chat is particularily intense, you may want to wait to reply until after the chat.

WARNING: If you use Twitter proper to reply to people, DON’T forget to add the hashtag!

Be aware of questions asked - Many chats ask questions to their followers, using the format of “Q1: What is a man?” To respond to these, you typically reply to the chat lead (or whoever asks the questions) with “A1: A miserable little pile of secrets!” As the chat progresses, you’ll notice Q2, Q3, etc arising. You should respond to those with “A” followed by the corresponding number, then your response.

These should keep you floating in the turbulent Twitter chat sea. For Part 3, we’ll be looking at Twitter Chat Etiquette.

Series, Social media, Twitter Social Media, Twitter, Twitter chat