Twitter DM autoresponders: 15 tips and 40+ examples
Twitter autoresponders are used to automatically send a direct message
to new followers. All too often they are lame, and perceived as spammy.
Auto messages are problematic, not least because even when they include elements of the ‘personal’ (“how can I help you today?” / “tell me more about yourself”) they’re clearly robotic. And people don’t respond to robots, they respond to people. This is 'social' media after all.
I don’t use them, nor have we configured our Econsultancy Twitter account to send automated messages, but we’ve been wondering whether they can be used in a positive way. As such I have been doing a little research in this area. And I'd love to hear your feedback...
Is Twitter preparing for a trademark crackdown?
As far as companies go, Twitter is pretty laid back. When it comes to legal issues, Twitter has been anything but aggressive.
The creators of popular applications like Twitteriffic and TweetDeck have never, to my knowledge, been threatened by Twitter over trademark abuse. Twitter even promotes them on its apps page.
16 bitchin' commands and shortcuts for Twitter
Back in the day, whenever I was unsure about the meaning of a word, I would leaf through a battered old Oxford English Dictionary. Will Self, although he doesn't know it, probably caused the most indirect wear and tear of all my favourite writers.
My trusty tome was subsequently usurped by online dictionaries, but they too – at least for me - were soon been replaced by Google’s rather lovely ‘define:’ command.
The ‘define:keyword’ command is surely the quickest way of finding out the meaning or spelling of a word, since Google typically returns a result in less than half a second. Try it. It’s highly useful.
I love a shortcut, and regularly make use of a range of keyboard shortcuts on Twitter. There are more of them than you might imagine. As such I have aggregated a bunch of commands to provide you with one handy cut-out-and-keep / ‘bookmark on Delicious’ guide.
Tweet. tweettweet. ReTweeting by the numbers
Social and viral media expert Dan Zarella has posted the results of a fascinating study: the numbers and semantics behind getting Twitter followers to ReTweet tweets, thereby amplifying and expanding upon messaging by using Twitter's built-in viral aspects.
Few marketers will be surprised by the fact that a simple call-to-action matters. A lot. Simply adding the phrase "please retweet" just plain works much of the time.
Zarella's semantic analysis of what gets ReTweeted reveals the following:
- Timely content is often ReTweeted
- Freebies are popular
- Tweeting about Twitter is effective
- So are lists
- People like to ReTweet blog posts (he doesn't specify if this refers the original tweeter's own blog, but irregardless - Twitter users are also highly active in the blogosphere.)
Oh, and don't forget to mind your manners. Requesting a Retweent politely and remembering to say "please" ups the ReTweeting odds by nearly a 6X factor.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
