In researching my clients’ competitors, I’ve come across many of their Twitter accounts. This is obviously a valuable tool in research, but it’s also proven to be quite telling in how these organizations manage their social media campaigns. Much to my surprise, it seems they don’t manage them very well.
I’ve discovered that half of the 20 or so businesses I’ve reviewed who use Twitter either don’t pay much attention to the people they follow or they use a third party auto follow service – such as the one TweetLater.com provides – to automatically follow people who follow them. Using this laissez faire approach can tarnish an otherwise clean image, and I highly suggest against it.
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Why, you ask?
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Well, many reputable organizations are followed by disreputable ones, such as pornography Twitterers or over-zealous Web marketers. When an organization auto follows a pornographer, that reflects poorly on that organization – in my professional opinion. And the fact that they don’t care enough to monitor who they’re following, might be just as worse.
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I understand that it’s courteous to follow back those who follow you, and I also understand that you never know if that next new follower is going to be your next big client, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. If a Twitterer who may hurt your company’s reputation starts following you, I’d strongly recommend you think twice before following them back. And if you’re using an auto follow tool because you don’t have the manpower to keep up with your new followers, I’d suggest you find some help, either with an agency or part-time employee.
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Your company’s Twitter account says something about who you are and the image you portray to the world. Make sure you give your account the attention it deserves in order to build strong, quality relationships. Remember, Twitter isn’t necessarily about quantity.
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What are your thoughts on auto following? Has it proven successful for you or caused more trouble than it’s worth?
on Facebook
on Twitter
Great thoughts on autofollowing. While I have seen some creative uses of automated follow messages, I think you have outlined the major reasons why this should be avoided. There are too many spammers and it is impersonal. We try to use the real-time nature of Twitter to engage customers that mention our brand, but I will usually wait a while to follow someone back just to avoid the appearance of an auto-follow.
I think a related topic would be automated follower generator schemes. Quantity does not equal quality.
I look forward to reading more of your posts.
BJ Emerson
@tastidlite
Thanks for your comment, BJ, and kind words. I like your approach of waiting a while to follow someone back so it doesn’t appear to be an auto follow. That would certainly make the connect more real and not seem, as you mentioned, so impersonal.
It’s interesting that you mentioned the topic of automated follower generator schemes. I was just reading an article on that the other day. Stay tuned and I may write about that this Thursday!
Thanks again for your interest.