So you're automating your presence huh? Well ain't that a hell of a way to be social!

So you’re automating your presence huh? Well ain’t that a hell of a way to be social!

Mike Ramirez | Published August 15, 2013

The simple underlying fact of social media sites is that if you’re not going to actually join in the conversation, you will get absolutely nothing out of them. You need to build some sort of a rapport with the masses, or at the end of the day the masses will ignore you. Automated posts tend to irritate the general viewing public. The only sort of follower that doesn’t get irritated by social automation are social bots and spammers. So, in the end, you wind up with an audience full of social spam bots. They may follow you and retweet you and make you look like a social rockstar by inflating your numbers. But when you cut through those sorts of meaningless metrics, you’re left with a social presence with all of the impact of a wet noodle.

Automating your social media is like sending a mannequin to a networking event

Ever met a mannequin at a networking event? That’s a rhetorical question of course. Surely you’ve met many of fakes…but a mannequin, probably not. Social media automation is very much like sending in a fake plastic replica in place of yourself. Let’s face it, social automation is not particularly hard to identify. It offers your audience little to no reason for continuing to be there. And excuse me for saying this but it just flat out defeats the entire fucking purpose of social media. So, why do so many people do it? Laziness? Lack of time or resources? Maybe they don’t see the value of spending their time and/or resources? So then, why at the end of the day are they surprised to find that their social media “efforts” aren’t having any impact on their business? Well, that’s a hell of a question isn’t it.

Building a solid social presence takes time, resources, patience and most of all it takes some semblance of a personality. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, nobody gives a rats ass about your business. But make some new online friends by schmoozing it up in the endless networking event that is social media and before long you’ll have yourself an array of folks that do give a rats ass about you and in turn your business.

Wanna schmooze it up with me on a social site or two? Take your pick from the lists of sites I frequent: http://xeeme.com/transcendev

Credit where credit is due…LOVED this quote:

Automating your social media is like sending a mannequin to a networking event.
— Scott Stratten (@unmarketing) August 5, 2013

Don't miss these other posts...

May 15, 2013 -- 8 Ways to SUCK at marketing your business on social media
August 5, 2013 -- Singing your own praises on social media? Excuse me while I ‘unlike’ you.
June 26, 2013 -- Awesome Social Media Dashboard for the Google Analytics Junkie
July 30, 2013 -- With SMM and SEO – [Fresh] Content is King
June 2, 2013 -- My take on Empire Avenue and its Place in the Socialsphere
April 15, 2013 -- Want to stand out in Google? Try Google Authorship

http://www.facebook.com/shelly.bruner Shelly Bruner

boy do I recognize that artist:)
Michael W

Great insights. Thanks
https://www.facebook.com/transcendev TranscenDevelopment.com

I would think he would be familiar to you :)
Jonathan Grant

good stuff, thanks
Alex Roe

True, but time is money, so some automation can help – provided you go interact if you get reactions. If time is a problem, it’s best to focus on one or two social networks and be social on those – see how they work and maybe move on or back to another social network. Choosing which SN makes a difference too. Twitter is currently my favorite and I am social there.
- transcendev
  
  I don’t see any fault in some automation. It’s those that fully automate their social presence. ie, Set up a social profile, begin to syndicate their content out to said social profile, never actually logging into social site again to interact in any way. Those sorts seem to be all over Twitter in particular.
  - Alex Roe
    
    This is true – I see a lot of this with major news websites – a few of which I follow – but they have the brand power so do not always need to interact and reply to replies. And I’m guilty too – I use Buffer to transmit to various social media but only really interact on my blog, main twitter account, Facebook and a little on G+ too. Some of the systems are purely for gaining exposure to the hub – which is the blog. If, of course, you have a social media team, you can assign people to interact on different social media, if you don’t, you have to make value judgments based on what works best.
    - transcendev
      
      Exactly. And you keyed into something there. The major media outlets can get away with total automation, as can other large entities that already have huge audiences despite their lack of personalized socialization on the social media sites. Totally different for the average business owner though.
      I’ve never used Buffer or any other scheduled means for my social activity, but I can see the value in it so long as you, as you said, interact with those that react to your posts.
      - Alex Roe
        
        It’s also quite hard to interact with millions of followers – I’ve got around 16,000 on on Twitter account and interacting is becoming very time consuming. But yes, it is different for the average business owner – until they become an established brand!
        
        Buffer is useful for timing tweets and reaching your audience when you are sleeping – you can interact when you wake up!
        
        You can attempt to point people towards where you do interact and make it clear that if they do comment in that place, you will reply and engage them. Strategy is becoming ever more important with social media – but it’s still fairly new so we are all finding out what works and what does not.
      - transcendev
        
        When you get to that level I think your social presence starts to build a life of it’s own…where those that follow start interacting amongst each other.
        
        How long did it take you to build a 16k Twitter following?
      - Alex Roe
        
        I’ve been on Twitter since mid 2008, but only started using it in around 2009, so it’s taken a while. Organic growth, have not bought followers. But the presence is worthwhile, am established as a source of news on Italy and get interviewed by media quite often. And it does drive traffic to the blog only not 16,000 visits a day! But not all the tweets are links to blog posts. The more followers you have, the more you get – provided you keep the tweet quality high and the topic consistent. I follow less than 3,000 which is too many really because I use Twitter to monitor news too, as well as other systems.
      - transcendev
        
        I can’t imagine the level of social noise following 3000. It was too much for me once I hit 1000, I got sick of it and chopped nearly 90% since most were just autoposting and rehashing old garbage.
        You’ve got me real curious now, what’s your Twitter handle?
      - Alex Roe
        
        I have a system for filtering the noise and keeping an eye on relevant followers. Twitter handle is @newsfromitaly If Italy does not interest you, it’s not worth following! On the other hand, if Italy is of interest, you may find it worth following :)
      - transcendev
        
        I love Italy! Well…Italian food and Italian coffee at least ;)
        I have an Italian specialties client afterall.
      - Alex Roe
        
        Many people do! And there’s lots to like too, hopefully you’ll find it interesting. Thanks for the follow – have followed you with personal account. @Alex_P_Roe
      - transcendev
        
        Thanks. I followed backed and followed with my Italian specialties client as well (@sweetcoratweets).
        Almost forgot Italian beer and Italian sports cars! :^)) I’ve got to visit Italy some day. I’ll probably never leave!
Jose Carrilho (painter)

Everyone i into social networking. But then again, everyone does many common things everyday.
The issue is doing those common things more effectively and – this is important- with creativity.
Michael

it really depends IMHO. so to start a redefined campaign at a certain point of time i agree it can be really helpful. but no one should ever over automatize interaction with people. as it’s social:-) its important to find a balance.
- transcendev
  
  Yeah, I think that’s really the key…balance. My commentary here was really aimed at those that are simply 100% automation. I’ve seen that more than anywhere else on Twitter and it annoys the hell out of me. Nothing like trying to spark a conversation with a robot.
  - Michael
    
    agree 100% and can add: good social media work is really hard work. background: I work as a developer and architect for about 19 years now. since about 1 year (yes it’s late) i get into social media more and more and started using all the channels to promote ourselfes but also to simply share stuff. since then i can say it’s quite a truckload of work and pure automatization is no solution.

Recent Posts

Like us on Facebook

Subscribe via Email