During a presentation I gave last week, someone suggest to the audience that they sign up for a service that will auto-update their status updates on social networks like like twitter, facebook, plaxo, etc. every time you write a blog post. Personally, I find these updates to be horrible marketing that do more damange than good... and ensure you get no meaningful following on any of the services...
Because this point is so darn important, I decided to record a video to make my point!
The takeaway?
Find a way to be relevant to your target audience or don't bother! You're doing more damage than good to your marketing efforts by autoupdating than any possible benefits you might be getting. Of course, with all rules, there are some exceptions, but those exceptions are so far-and-few between that they're not worth mentioning in this post.
Dustin - That's very interesting information and yes, your video is compelling. What caught me is that auto-marketing to social media is somewhat similar to spam and that people don't respond. I will not be able to sign up for the round table today due to a prior commitment so please follow up with additional information. Thanks!
Dustin - The debate over auto updates always makes me think of my mom's advice - "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all." Its not quite the same advice, but replace "nice" with "relevant" or "real" or "engaging" or "with substance" or "insert your favorite way of desribing what you are talking about in social media here"...I think you get the picture. I think the social media world is even more picky when it comes to what they view as spam compared to the normal one way conversation world. One of the points of social media is to show the real you - the care, the trust, the information, the importance of what you have to say...an auto-DM will never show that to anyone.
Too much is as bad as not enough. If you update twitter 15 times a day and auto feed that out to facebookI quit following you on facebook. It gets crowding on my facebook.
Huh, I am not certainthat I agree with your stance on this, but I also am not a Twitter expert.
To me, if you write something interesting that has a good headline, people will want to read it, regardless if it is an auto-update.
I don't agree. I just don't have the time to post to all. I wish I did, but I don't and it is increasingly becoming an issue to get rankings on the search engines.
Social Networking is still in the Brave New World Phase. I hear opinions exactly oppositie of yours, but your video suggestions make perfect sense. Do you have a post about what equipment you use for your videos, and I love the page insertions. Any advice will be welcome, and I really want to listen at 2.
Fernando: The inbound link to your site is almost always REALLY minimal since every one of the big social media sites: twitter, facebook, etc. uses no-follow links which take away the SEO benefits of getting an inbound link.
Harry: I'm using TalkShoe for the radio show today... check it out! It's a great way to run a radio show (and it's free!)
Mary: It is interesting that it often comes up as spam. The reality is that if all you're doing is auto-updating, then folks quickly learn to ignore you.
Matt: Great advice! Luv the words of wisdom. ;)
Gita: AR is a GREAT social network to be involved in and simply leaving comments on other people's post makes for great networking that can help you when you want to get one of your posts promoted and read.
Rebecca: Not sure if you're looking for more information on auto-updates or Facebook Pages, but if it's the latter, check out this blog post I wrote a few weeks ago on why every agent shold love facebook pages.
Laura: Agreed! The "hide" on Facebook is particularly easy to hit... and if I do decide to hide someone's updates it means they've lost their opportunity to market to me into the future!
Mark: A good title is just one small element of getting someone to click on your post. A great example comes from a tech blogger I gave similar advice to a few months ago when he attended one of my presentations. He came back a week later and thanked me saying by simply writing unique tweets for each of his posts he averaged 30% more click-throughs the next week and (he said "more importantly") he was seeing more comments on each of his posts. By giving just a little bit of love to the social network, they paid him back with engagement.
Norma: if you're looking for search engine rankings, then you should definitely reconsider your position. The no-follow links you're getting from these services are generally doing you no good, but you are likely alienating your key audience. A few great well targeted tweets *can* get you mentioned in other people's blog posts which almost always pass along the google juice and will do much more for your SEO rankings than a slew of autoupdates.
Joe: I don't have a post on my video equipment, but it's pretty darn simple. Just using the webcam and iMovie software that comes with my macbook pro. No upgrades or additional software at all for the video, although I did buy a headset with a mic in order to improve the sound quality, but I've made lots of videos when I don't even bother with this! ;) So glad you appreciate it!
Sounds interesting. It takes so much time to always keep updating profiles that I was wondering how people find the time. Maybe many use the auto-updater. But I'm glad to hear that using an auto-updater it is not necessarily the bees knees.
I think this follows the same premise that auto-responses and drip campaigns are too impersonal. I prefer to personalize everything! Thanks for sharing your perspective.
I was going to turn off my auto update for Twitter...But one of the Big Dogs sent me an email and said I fall into that category of folks these rules are not applicable to. I am not blogging for business and many of the Members here follow me on Twitter. I don't write that often so they count on Twitter to let them know I've posted something new in The Rain. If I were blogging for business I would definately turn off my AR Twitter feed. I would do it because you're right :)
P.S. I don't use FaceBook at all. I actually don't care much for it. I dislike all the crap FaceBook loads on my pc in exchange for using their site. Nothing is really free. Nothing :)
You will notice that there is always a theme when we discuss Social Networking with real estate agents........What is one of the top responses that defines that theme?
"I don't have time." or "I am too busy."
HOGWASH!!!!
I honestly believe that you can not afford to miss out on Social Networking/Media education.
I can promise you that your competitors are making the time, and more and more of your prospects will be expecting you to have a presence as social networking evolves too. I have been telling people to "Find the time, or get left behind!
Dustin, you never stop amazing me with the quality of your content, and it also tells me that there are few folks out there "busier" than you are. I am very "busy" today myself, but I will be moving around my schedule, signing up, and really looking forward to the round table.
Every single time you post, I feel like my attitude and business improves! I can always find the time for that!!! :)
I am not trying to offend the folks who are "busy", so please do not take that the wrong way. I just want to push people to get out there and get active! We tend to hide behind things we are intimidated by, and when you find a resource like Dustin, I can guarantee you that his content/events are time well spent, and will improve your business!
Have a Profitable Day Everyone!
- Harrison
P.S. I do agree that the auto stuff can backfire. My DM thread on Twitter is basically useless with all of the auto DM's i get from people. I do not even look at it anymore. Also, I tried the marriage of Twitter and FB, and it was way too crowded on my wall for me, let alone everyone else! Keeping them separate will attract more people, you will retain more friends/followers, and it allows you to build stronger relationships.
Larry: Always happy to provide a bit of inspiration!
Melissa: Do bees have knees? :)
Diane: I had never made the connection to drip campaigns, but I totally see where you're going with the thought. There are a few drip campaigns I've used with agents in the past that I know work well, but they tend to be things like market condition updates that people opt-in for and appreciate the regular updates that are relevant to them... But in many ways, those aren't your standard drip campaign, but rather something a bit more targeted to the interest of the individual. Then again, the best drip campaign around (at least in my book) is simply updating your blog on a regular basis!
Broker Bryant's Wife: I'd disagree about it not applying to you because I'd think you'd want the folks over on twitter to click through to your ActiveRain post. If you're going to spend 20 minutes writing a post, then it seems like a no-brainer to spend the extra 2 minutes crafting an update on twitter that will be interesting enough to get folks to click through. No kidding, a custom twitter update is likely to get you way more traffic (probably 3X right off the bat) and way more followers over the long run!
Harrison: Thanks for the compliments. It's been fun to connect with you around the web over the past few weeks!
Darrell: I can think of one great example of where an agent should auto-update, but I haven't mentioned it because I don't want to sidetrack the conversation. Nonetheless, I'd be curious to learn what examples you're thinking of...
Patricia: Leaving comments around AR has to be one of the BEST ways to generate interest in your blog posts! You're definitely on the right track! ;)
Thanks for writing this - I have automatic updates going but the comment on it looking like spam stopped me cold. Writing a new headline and providing a link to the articles I think are useful seems like a better way to do it.
I've recieved several leads via my auto update from A|R to FaceBook. However, I put thought into my content and whether or not to make it public or Member's Only. I rarely post pubic content more than a few times a week, and 3-4 updates a week on FaceBook regarding market conditions, mortgage options, etc. I find a fair amount ... just enough for people to read when they want and not in the way when they don'r want to.
Margaret: Making things interesting and relevant to the audience your trying to reach can go so far! ;)
Anna: Come back any time! And your nickname makes me smile because I often call my wife Anna Banana in jest! ;)
Steve: I can totally believe you that you've received a few leads from FB, but do you really attribute it to your auto-updating your FB status from ActiveRain? Without knowing anything else, my guess is that you've personally touched each of the people that have sent you a lead beyond simply sending auto-updates to Facebook. By the way, have you looked into createing a FB Page so that you don't have to worry about bothering your "friends" with mortgage updates and instead focus on peole who opt-in to receive that information?
I have been thinkiing about turning off the auto-updates. My problem is forgetting to go to Tweevisor and smack something out... I have been trying to be better about actually spending time conversing instead of just sending the blog tweets...
Dustin, I think people like the personal touch and many will not respond to autos. However, I do tweet auto when I post on AR. Hopefully, it's something someone is interested in. Then again, I don't tweet every 5 minutes either and will unfollow those who do because it clogs up my flow.
I have an auto tweet on my AR blog and I like that. But, when I see people who have a service that does multiple post from certain key words I find that I glaze over because I know thatthere isn't any character to the message. I need to at least feel some sort of human substance to respond.
I'm in social networking overload. And Twitter feels like the new hot spot for the equivalent of telemarketers. Every day I get at least 5 more following me. I'm ready to close the account. The only thing I like about Twitter is the way it picks up my blogs when I post them.
Twitter auto feeds can crowd up the feeds quickly. They seem to be predatory, seeking business directly by following. I was an innocent babe on Twitter, but have learned to be more discriminating and have found the block button.
Enjoyed your talk yesterday.
Lisa a friend told me yesterday that more people are closing their account than are opening a new one. It seems to me that it is best to keep what is helpful and to lose what is not.
The updates have helped me. I love interconnecting AR, Twitter, and Facebook. Need to go back to my LinkedIn to see what damage my inactivity has done.
Dustin - I don't know that I agree with you on this one. I know my FB connections click through to my postson ActiveRain and read them, and I know I get comments back a lot asking a question about the post. So isn't it possible that 'what works for one may not work for another'?
Roland: What's your take on the debate? I'm still not seeing anyone give a good reason to auto-tweet.
Chris: Thx
Harrison: I thought the roundtable was a blast as well! I'm gonna do more of those in the near future because it was too much fun! ;)
Marzena: Try it out... Instead of doing the autotweets to Facebook and/or Twitter, write something compelling that links back to your post... you might be surprised how much more activity you'll get on both your profile and your AR post.
Preston: Definitely. There's lots of banter on my twitter account that I wouldn't want to subject my Facebook friends to! ;)
Lisa: Thanks!
Lane: Especially someone like yourself who has a decent following on places like Twitter, I think you'll really benefit from writing down the reason someone should read your post... I look froward to it! ;) But the time part is critical. As you know by being active on AR, it's really important to dedicate at least a 30 minutes AFTER you write a post doing some promotion (which can be as simple as engaging with your community) or what's the point of writing a post in the first place!
Christine: What's your take on why someone should auto-post?
Maria: Have you tried spending a bit of time writing a unique tweet regarding your post instead of auto-updating it? You might be surprised at how much more your audience on twitter reacts. In other words, if you go back to the title: "Auto Updates are So Easy, They're Evil", the point I'm trying to make is not that they're hard... but that they're so easy people think that's all the marketing they need to do on twitter (and other social networks) and hurts their ability to attract attention, inbound leads, referrals, etc. through their posts.
Sabrina: What do you like about the auto-tweet? Just that it's easy?
Lisa: That's funny! You're definitely not alone in expressing twitter fatigue! But similar to the last few comments, I gotta ask, what do you like about the fact that it picks up your blogs? Is it the traffic or the SEO?
Richard: You rock... Let me know how it goes... Personally, I've never closed down my own twitter account, but I did go through at one point and unfollow hundreds (I think 500 people) who only did auto-updates. It wasn't worth trying to engage with those people since they were often not going to respond to my outreach anyway.
Christianne: It's not that it won't work at all... My point is that if you put just a little bit of luv into each update (like a compelling reason to click through on FB that's geared toward your FB audience and a similarly compelling reason that's geared toward your Twitter audience), you're likely to see much more interaction. Try it. You might be surprised at how easy it is. Writing a unique tweet and a FB update doesn't have to take but 1 or 2 minutes at most) and how much more traffic you'll get... especially when you compare that to the time you put in writing the post in the first place!
Pretty lively discussion here on the topic. Auto updates do make it look like the poster is really busy, but, yes, too many of them will just dilute the intended message.
I uploaded the video to facebook instead of youtube because I have such a larger audience on facebook... I don't do many videos, so it's just a lot easier for me to get traction with stuff on Facebook.
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I agree with you to a certain extent. . .the most benefit you will get by automatic posting is content and another source of a link for your site.