Duct Tape Marketing - Latest Comments in Automating Social Media Activity

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Toma Bonciu — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:51:29 -0000

Hi,

I think that some automation is good but I also think if you want to have the right benefits from your social media activity you should participate and be helpful to the community.

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Gina Rubel — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:24:48 -0000

Do you know if there is an application that allows you to share Blogger posts on Twitter like the one for WordPress?

-Gina Rubel
Furia Rubel
215-340-0480
Twitter: @GinaRubel
www.FuriaRubel.com
Blog: www.theprlawyer.com

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Alan Underkofler - Follow Up S — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:07:06 -0000

I have been thinking about how I use tweetLater a bit lately. After the last 200 followers getting my auto follow and DM message I received my first complaint DM and unfollow.

Seems I found a twitter maniac who sent this DM: "Sorry, I unfollow anyone who sends self-referencing auto DM's. Not sure if you know this, but most will do the same. Considered offensive."

So my response message says something about thank you for following me and to learn more about me visit my blog... Being a follow up maniac I love this tool! I have also had great traffic from the DM message and good follow up conversations via DM's from people visiting my blog...

So what's is your take? Not worry about the few Twitter Maniacs I may offend or change my DM follow up message?

http://www.twitter.com/alan...

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Jared O'Toole — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:05:41 -0000

I don't like the idea of TweetLater. One of the things I love about twitter is that when someone does send me a DM or follows me I usually take my time to look into what they are all about because they took the time to look at me.

I knew these automated services would happen but I don't think it does anything for the creating of valuable relationships that I have found twitter to be remarkable good at.

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Zena Weist — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:40:56 -0000

Timely post, John. Thank you! Found this through twitter today, as I rarely have time to get through my RSS feeds.

Anyway, I think the time saving tools concept is very valid. And there's some great tips here from you and the comments. I love the @tagthis tip from Russell.

I do not agree that auto-DMs on twitter fall into timesaving. IMHO, they are SPAM. When I follow someone, it's typically because they have chosen to follow me. I don't need an auto-DM from them. I don't even know them. For me, DMs are for 1:1 convos that shouldn't be broadcasted out as an "@". It should be personal (to me only) and worth my time. Appreciate me and what I bring to the table, get to know me before you seek me out individually. Use some basic DM skills to segment me at least.

Bottom line, if you are too time-starved to provide a personal DM, then don't shoot one out. Again, that's just my take.

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:16:03 -0000

I've been using TweetDeck more for the same reasons you mentioned. I like the concept of auto-DM'ing when someone follows and then auto-following, but I would rather not get a web URL to check out every time. I think that the more authentic these messages can come across, the better.

I've been using Twitter Tools to compile tweets into a daily digest on my blog for 2 reasons

1. Twitter doesn't have a way to let me search through archived tweets.
2. Since I talk about things to build my personal brand on Twitter, these also show up on my blog.

I just downloaded the Facebook toolbar for Firefox and am going to try it out. I've been sending my Twitter updates to Facebook for a few months now, and I think that has helped me reach a different audience and make better connections.

Make it a great day!

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Jinger Jarrett — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:33:22 -0000

I am one of those time pressed business owners. I'm so busy right now I don't know what to do with myself! LOL

I use PingPress, which is a plugin for Wordpress that posts my blog posts to Ping.fm for me. I also go to Ping.fm and post manually to update my status. It's important to me to connect with my readers and really help them.

What I've learned is to pay attention. Mix it up. Create a system that works for you to keep you on top of it. A little every day is better than too much at one time. Then it really gets overwhelming.

Great post. I love the tools you suggested, and I even use some of them.

Jinger Jarrett

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Angie A. Swartz — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:50:19 -0000

I like Twitterfeed too. Just like twitterfeed does, I love the ability to feed my blog to Facebook with the Blog application and to Plaxo with their app. Most social media sites will let you feed your blog directly to their site. Once you've set it up, then presto, it's automatic. One danger is that some feeders post your whole blogpost on their site and encourage their tribes to leave comments on their sites in lieu of bringing the traffic and comments back to your website. I do have one complaint about Tweetlater and automatic DM messages that say "Thanks for the Follow". I find that these are time wasters if the sender hasn't personalized them and offered me some value added content. I receive these messages via my blackberry and don't like reading generic messages. I'd much rather have someone visit my blog and leave a comment. Just my humble request. Thanks John for another informative post!

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Melissa — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:30:18 -0000

Has anyone tried Ping.fm? It says that you can update Facebook, Jaiku, Twitter, and LinkedIn in just one update....This may be the ultimate shortcut!

twitter.com/melissanery

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

NY Marketing — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:28:50 -0000

We just set twitter up to integrate with our blog and will definitely try these tools out, thanks for the insight.

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Tim Rueb — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:30:42 -0000

As with anything in life, virtual or otherwise, it depends on your intentions. If technology is used to simplify my life by automating certain tasks that I would naturally do, then there is no problem.

If I use technology to create a false persona of my true self, especially in the social media setting because of its very nature of using technology to create self awareness or image, then I find the use of technology unethical because I have the intention of misleading those that are listening to me at that moment.

Good Hunting,

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

ducttape — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:20:34 -0000

@Mike - hey thanks for stopping by good to see you here - I'll check out Twuffer. I did see your post on it last wee in my reader.

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

ducttape — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:19:17 -0000

@Russell - thanks for those tips, I'll check some out.

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Mike Bawden — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:07:17 -0000

John,

I saw your headline on a Twitter post through Plaxo and had to laugh at the irony. Of course, some automation of social media tools is essential to make life managable for the "humans" in the digital equation. But you're right in asking - when does so much automation make this social media anti-social?

I covered another automation tool on the Brand Central Station blog last week called Twuffer. It seems to be a handy tool for scheduling future Twitter tweets for promotional campaigns, media announcements, etc.

Maybe you can add that one to your list. FWIW.

Keep up the great blog! It's one of my favorites.

Best Regards,

Mike Bawden
Brand Central Station

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Paul Copcutt — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:04:00 -0000

One of the pet peeves that is being tweeted about at the moment are the automated messages after someone follows - worse still the links to someones website/product/get rich scheme - see Click on My Junk by Amber Naslund http://altitudebranding.com... for a great post (and comments) on the subject.

Other thoughts on shortcuts -

Automated updates on e-mail signatures - audience may not be followers or Facebook members

Link blog on LinkedIn profile.

Just my toonies worth

Re: Automating Social Media Activity

Russell Tripp — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:55:34 -0000

I like twitterfeed.com, I also use a plugin called Twitter Status on my Joomla site that automatically posts updates to Twitter whenever I save a new article.

Other Twitter-specific tools I use and recommend - tagth.is automatically saves links to your delicious bookmarks if you start the tweet with @tagthis, and there's also a tool in LinkedIn that lets you automatically use your Twitter status updates update your LinkedIn profile.