Okay, let’s play make-believe. Let’s pretend that you have just joined a new social club. It’s tough at first. You don’t know anybody, and you don’t know the rules. But you hang out in the bar, and eventually somebody starts talking to you, and they introduce you to their friends. Once people start to feel comfortable with your new face, they start inviting you to play cards or just have a drink with them. Pretty soon you’re one of the gang. Fabulous.
So imagine you’re sitting at the bar, and a total stranger who is a brand-new member of the club sits down next you and introduces themselves. Out of politeness, you introduce yourself. And then, the very next thing out of their mouth is, “I sell life insurance. Why don’t you come down to my office tomorrow so I can sell you some stuff?”
Pretty obnoxious. But that’s exactly how some people behave on twitter.
I think a lot of folks are confusing the technology with the people who use it. Microprocessors don’t mind being seen as soulless machines. People do. Twitter is not a bulletin board; it's a person listening to you. Shoving a promo flyer in their face is not nice.
When I “follow” someone on twitter, I’m basically taking advantage of my “club membership” to come over and sit next to you in the bar. This is just step one in a very lengthy and complex procedure known as getting to know another person. But what happens to me repeatedly on twitter is, when I follow someone I get an automated response back. That is annoying enough . . . it rates right up there with spam or cable company voicemail . . . but then, most of these automated responses include a “pitch” to come see their commercial web site. This is just as bad as trying to sell life insurance on your first day in a new club. This is basically announcing to the whole world that you are a narcissistic goon, not to mention a social media klutz. One cannot help but wonder, if you’re this incompetent on twitter, what else are you lousy at?
Now I am the first to admit that I get on twitter for marketing purposes. But it’s really a double benefit, for by just hanging out on twitter, I’m actually getting to know people. And of course, we always prefer to do business with people we know rather than with strangers. But selling is just a byproduct of building relationships. I never, never, NEVER pitch my services as a speaker unless someone asks about it or a chat moderator has specifically prompted me to do so.
You only have one chance to make a first impression on twitter. If someone follows me on twitter and they seem to be someone that I might like to develop greater connection with, I will follow them back and I will write (DM, or direct message) an obviously unique personal note to them. By recognizing them as a unique individual, they are much more likely to do the same in return, and if they’re truly curious, it’s easy enough for anyone to find my commercial web site via my twitter presence. Dunning them with the twitter version of spam is not going to help my cause.
So anyway, if you’ve got one of those auto responders to “new follows” on twitter turned on, please, turn it off. And don’t try to sell something to people the first time you meet them.
I say this with love.
By the way, I love your outfit.
© Justin Locke
