How Can You Automate Social Media
With today's promises of a tool that can help you build relationships through automation
. You may be tempted to jump on the bandwagon! You hear and may also see these tweets or messages coming to your inbox, with the promise of you gaining several friends or followers a day through full automation. Don't get me wrong. These tools are out there. And when used correctly, truly can deliver a huge rise in your followers and friends. But what you are trying to obtain is a following that is of good quality. Without interacting with your people, you defy the law of social media- being SOCIAL!For those who want to really develop a massive following that is truly responsive and interested in you, you must INTERACT PERSONALLY!
Facebook and Twitter are both amazing ways to build online relationships. Both of these, in my opinion, are really at the top in social media. The key in being successful with either of these, is to not fully automate your updates, or tweets. There simply is no way to build a true quality relationship with a "robot". You must ask good questions to others that have similar interests and provide helpful information to others that have similar interests in you! There is no way to interact through an automated response that is very general! You really want to focus on those who have some common interests with you. People like to help people, and like to be around and build relationships with other people that have common interest. You may want to ask questions of you followers, and interact back and forth. As you can see, automated responses will just not be personal enough.
That does not mean that you cannot use automation tools to help along the way. In fact, there are some great tools that will absolutely allow you to leverage your time. You just cannot rely 100% on automation and expect to gain quality followers interested in you.
I have a twitter, and a facebook. When I see post after post, or tweet after tweet. OR a bulk amount of tweets all at one time. It is obvious that is all automated. And, simply, I ignore all of it, just as you would ignore most commercials on the radio. This also illustrates why some people will have a huge following then it all drops off, because people want to talk with people. And will unfollow full automation. It also relates to, putting effort or ideas into people, which give the same to you in return. I also end up unfollowing or deleting people that are automating responses to message, with no personal touch. Remember, people like people!
However, like the radio or TV, you attention CAN be grabbed. This is where some automation can help grow your relationships, especially in the beginning while you're trying to find new people in your niche, or other likeminded people that you wish to build a relationship with. You can send a few automated messages out, with particular messages that will grab attention. Or create a better avenue for communication. Suggesting to people to join you on Facebook- via twitter, invites them to a more personal social media with you. Make sure your automations are not exactly the same and are spread out at different times. You DON'T want it to be seen as automation. Another form of automation that is a great tool and time saver would be Onlywire, for bookmarking your content on multiple social bookmarking sites. This saves time by creating everything one time, submitting to one main source- Onlywire, which will disburse your content for you! Be careful, and always ask yourself if the task would be better suited with more of a personal touch!
Personally, I send out very few automated messages and use automation only for helping to build my following on Twitter. To be effective at building relationships via social media it truly does not have to take a lot of time. I personally spend on average less than 1 hour per day on Facebook and Twitter combined. I could spend less, but I do also enjoy it.
by: Jon Ochs.