Twitter I’ve got to get this off my chest before I explode!

Posted on by

OK so that’s an exaggeration but (especially using Twitter)…

I do have a new particularly frustrating Social Media pet peeve…automation! It was only a matter of time.

I absolutely hated it when it hit phone systems Press 1 for English. Then e-mail “This is an automated message, please do not respond to this e-mail.”  Wow that’s helpful, NOT!

Twitter Social Media
This image is from the Bigstock collection.

Yeah now we have automated responses for Social media! Say Twitter for example. When I follow people I’m now increasingly seeing automated thank you tweets and receiving ads as direct messages.

Oh, and then there are the automated acknowledgements for retweets! Not so great when you retweet the same person multiple times and are automatically thank you tweeted for each one.

Hello it’s social media! It’s a way to COMMUNICATE directly with your customers and potential customers. It’s a way to network with other small businesses. It’s increased exposure for your brand within your community, and if you so desire globally.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again it’s important to thank new followers. When I say thank them, I don’t mean via some repetitive cheesy automated message. If the automated message isn’t insult enough, it usually includes a promo for the automation application as well.

I see this as an indicator that I may not have a great customer experience in person. If they can’t be bothered acknowledging me online, why would that change at the till?

I like to treat new followers as if they’ve walked into my place of business. I get to know them a little, which means I check out their Twitter profile.

If they are someone that I want to associate with I follow them back. I post a personalized thank you tweet based on what I’ve learned about them.

When I see people favoriting, retweeting and mentioning me in their tweets I also thank them. Not every time, but I do tweet personal thanks regularly.

Call it Twitter etiquette if you want, but to me it’s just plain manners.

PS – There, now that I got that off my chest I feel much better 🙂 Don’t forget…

Support Your Neighbours Your Friends Your Community…Buy Local! Pretty please :)