Haven’t blogged for a while as had a crazy few weeks but I
saw something today on Twitter and it really got to me! I have been followed by
a company, who then decided to tweet me saying that they had followed me would
I please follow them back? Now normally I have no issue with following people
back as I love connecting with the wonderful eclectic bunch of people on
Twitter but this approach really aggravated me! I then decided to look at their
account and low & behold their entire feed was the same tweet, asking
people to follow them back with every hash tag known to mankind for business networking
on the end of it!
For me they have missed the point of Twitter completely
& are only in it for the numbers! There were 3 re-tweets I could see within
the last few days of feed but not one interaction with another account!
As I always say, I am in no way a Social Media expert but I
think everyone knows of my Twitter addiction ;o) I am currently looking after 5
different accounts for various clients that I work with & I understand that
each account needs a slightly different approach in what they want to achieve but the key
thing with all of them is engagement! People don’t just want to be bombarded
with constant sales tweets without a little bit of something back, a re-tweet
here & there or a comment on something they have said.
It makes me quite mad that people take this for granted and
don’t see what an amazing tool Twitter is in their marketing strategy. I had
the pleasure of sharing my love of Twitter with a friend of mine earlier this
week as she wanted to promote her photographic business & within 4 days she
now has over 120 followers all of which she has had some interaction/engagement
with. She knows it is not a race to hit x of amount of followers but that her
account should grow organically as she develops relationships with people.
During the time she was here & I was explaining Twitter,
she was gobsmacked at the information I knew about my Twitter pals, like what
they sold/did, where they were based, even sometimes how many kids they had!
But, that is just because I have taken the time to get to know the people I am
interacting with and that is why I love Twitter! It is no different from me
going to a weekly networking meeting, where I would chat to people about their
businesses and what they did and then maybe connecting them with someone who might
need their product/service, so why are people still missing that on Twitter?
I know for sure that I won’t be following that particular
company back because I don’t want to have those constant pushy ‘follow me back’
tweets in my feed & why should I follow them if they are not going to
support me in return? Also, if I ever did require their service or know someone
that did, I would think twice about using them as they have now dented my
confidence in them as a company, pushy sales = no sale to the SAS!
At the end of the day reputation is everything! Don’t forget
that people :)
You make such a good point. I have been blown away by the support on twitter but I also know it's a two way thing. It's interesting how many companies haven't yet got the hang of it. It's one way I know that small business is steets ahead as we realise the importance of personal relationships. Keep up the good work Stacey - you're an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteWell put Stacey. I am right with you. No good to be too pushy or in your face sales led. I think I am too much the other way but that is mt style and I would rather this and know my followers enjoy what I post than bombard them with my business.
ReplyDeleteHm ... I think I know who you mean. Was a bit stumbed at the approach, but felt oblidged. They did strike up a conversation, but ... Dubious. Looked at their follower rate + it seems to work for them by gathering large numnber of followers quickly! Wonder if it will be sustainable though ...
ReplyDeleteSo well put, I am in process of doing a mag article about the power of twitter and how it brought me and Sonia (Mummy_Loves) together, I class people on Twitter as real friends, I hate for it to be used, it is a fantastic marketing tool, its how Sonia raised so much money for my son, but please companies don't abuse the beauty of twitter x
ReplyDeleteWell said Stacey, I wholeheartedly agree. As you know I run the Twitter account for the company I work for, I wasn't asked to, I do it for the value to the business which I'm hoping my employers will see.
ReplyDeleteI have to ensure that I balance Twitter whilst ensuring I also do the job my company pays me to do, so time is often at a premium but I always try to ensure I recognise & thank those that have helped out. it doesn't take a huge amount of time to post the odd retweet here and there and it goes such a long way.
Rich
Totally agree!
ReplyDeleteSOCIAL media (the clue's in the title!)
I got so frustrated with this use of Twitter that I started Twitter School in Warwick back in 2012 (I'm still teaching them now)
Followers are nothing but a number, it's what you do with them that counts. If you have 1000 followers who simple follow you because you beg them to, and I have 100 focused followers who are interested in my subject - who's got more hope of succeeding?
Great blog Stacey, you've got me all fired up again! ;) www.warwicktweetup.co.uk/blog is where I usually vent my frustration at poor Tweeting.
Todd