Direct Marketing with Twitter is a Turn Off

by Jon on 2009/09/08

in communication strategy, marketing, social media

Avoid at all cost!

Avoid at all cost!

I‘ve written about the evils of affiliate marketing and twitter before, but I’ll say it again. Especially if you’re self-proclaimed social media slash internet marketing guru trying to entice me to purchase your wares.

Do not hit me with a DM encouraging me to buy your (crummy) wares the second I follow you.

Today a so-called internet marketing guru from Daytona, Florida followed me. I checked his blog out, thought there were some quality posts, and low and behold followed back.

Next time I checked my mail though there was a DM from Daytona Internet Marketing Guru inviting me to check out a great Twitter tool – that costs 77 USD. Hell, but only for a limited offer.

I immediately unfollowed him.

Practice What You Preach

If you claim to be a social media marketing expect, you better figure out quickly that the best communication strategy for new marketing is to:

  • build a relationship by offering free quality content, tips, advice, etc,
  • engage with your audience
  • keep it real
  • be generous, a thought-leader,
  • encourage
  • and maybe then, only then, you can start to think about putting a direct sales pitch right in someone’s face.

If Chris Brogan had hit his followers with a “Hey, please buy my book” before becoming the social media practitioner he is today, his community would have metaphorically lynched him.

Internet Marketing Guru from Daytona, Florida – Go do your homework!

Print

Related posts:

  1. Can We Develop Better Email Marketing Campaigns?
  2. Twitter Marketing for Small Businesses
  3. CEOs that Get Facebook and Twitter
  4. How to Approach a Social Media Marketing Campaign
  5. Mobilize Your Marketing Communications

Jon Buscall - Communications Consultant

Communications Consultant Jon Buscall

I'm an available-for-hire online communications consultant based out of Stockholm, Sweden.

What I do:
  • Online Marketing and Communications Strategy
  • Speaking
  • Teaching
  • Training
  • Write stuff: articles, blogs, brochures, copywriting, presentations, the works!

Contact me today to set up a free consultation to discuss how I can help your business succeed online.

  • I just found a great squidoo article on twitter advertising i hope you all find interesting, http://www.squidoo.com/twitter-marketing-secrets
  • Jon
    @Janice
    I agree, telling people is fine. But you have to establish a basis for that kind of communication in the first place. If I walked down the street and people I've only said "Hi" to once before suddenly offered to sell me something, I'd be a bit taken aback. But if someone I trust and respect told me about something, I'd really listen. That's the approach I think we have to take to direct marketing with Twitter.

    @Jason
    As Twitter matures and more people start to use the platform we'll see both more spam but also more tools to weed it out. I am sure of that.

    Thanks for stopping by!
  • Hi Jon,

    I happen to do "direct marketing" on Twitter....

    However, not through DM's. I don't even have a "thanks for following" auto DM set up. I'm so against that. It clutters everything up. I think it was probably effect a year or so ago when Twitter was less popular.

    Then again, who knows, DM SPAM is even more effective since Twitter has picked up steam. Think about all the new Twitter accounts being created every day now. If it's a brand new Twitter account from someone who has never been on Twitter before....They will likely look at all the DM's and appreciate the "thanks for following" messages. As they start to use their Twitter account and follow more and more people, they will probably join the ranks of pissed off DM SPAMMED people like you and I....LOL

    However, since it takes a little while for them to get to this point, I'm afraid that DM SPAM is here to stay...and, unfortunately, it's probably very effective due to the shear amount of new users signing up every day.
  • I like your thinking and agree, mostly. But when I find something that I believe is real and not a phoney, I'll tell people about it. Otherwise, I'll probably tell 'em to avoid it.

    You write well.

    Janice
blog comments powered by Disqus