Three Twitter Techniques I Shouldn’t Be Showing You (Day 20)

2734224070 11ce8816bc Three Twitter Techniques I Shouldnt Be Showing You (Day 20)

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This is day 20 of the 31 Day Challenge To Optimize Your Blog With Social Media. Yesterday we looked at 13 ways to get retweeted. Today you stop subscribing to my blog and take out a restraining order on my Twitter feed. icon smile Three Twitter Techniques I Shouldnt Be Showing You (Day 20)

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  • http://twitter.com/MeshugAvi Avi Kaplan

    I haven't automated things on my account this way before, but I say you ignore the hate mail :) There's no wrong way to use Twitter. Thanks for sharing what works for you – how you've found value.

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      Thanks, Avi! Miss you. :-)

  • http://twtrcoach.com TwtrCoach

    Hi John.

    As you might know I have not been a big fan of DM's. I used SocialOomph when it was called Tweetlater. And I sent just a basic DM where I said Thank You for the follow.

    Also used Twitterfeed to feed various RSS feeds.

    I guess in away got turned off by some of the negative articles around automation.

    I'm very happy you made this article. It was just time to put automation in a new perspective. And I think you had found some great and innovative ways to use without being spammy.

    And your examples here brings info-sharing and interaction to new level. This was a cool touch you shared here.

    It made me think about adapting some of these techniques to my Social Media Approach.

    Cheers.. Are

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      Are – thanks. Fortunately, I tend not to listen to prevailing opinions. Also, my dad was an investor, so I grew up with the questions: “How can I use this thing?” “What does this do?”

      • http://twtrcoach.com TwtrCoach

        Unfortunately I am a extreme Libra. So I tend to take to much of an diplomatic approach sometimes. And within social media I experience that it sometimes get me in a 'wait and see' mode. Guess I need to start listen to my wife.. she keep telling me to listen to 'that inner voice' more often. (.. but don't tell her I said so.. )

        That's why I think you bring up some great reminder articles for an 'Extreme Libra'..

        After the answer you gave to Ari I have to check into Blip.tv. That was some nice info.

        Cheers.. Are

  • http://www.diary4life.com Paul

    More great stuff from John Haydon. Whether others agree or not; if it's used with consideration there shouldn't be a problem. I'm not too keen on the automation if it's used with an, 'all take' and 'no give' attitude.
    I liked the content of your automated DM, very thoughtful and considerate!
    Thank you for sharing
    Regards
    Paul

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      Thanks Paul! In terms of automation, I view it as a way to augment a natural conversation that one should already be having on Twitter.

  • riasharon

    Always helpful information, John. I have used scheduled tweets in the past too… because I like sharing useful information (other than what's on my own site) to my followers but know that I might not be available at times when it would make sense to send them. Or if I find a few great parenting articles, I'll space them out so I'm not flooding anyone's stream… but don't have to remind myself throughout the day to tweet them.

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      You and I are alike that way. Sometimes, I'm up until 1:00AM reading blog posts. That's when scheduling a retweet makes sense.

  • http://www.steinarknutsen.com Steinar Knutsen

    No hate mail here – you have good reason to take this approach.

    One technique I like is to leverage Twitter search RSS in Google Reader to find people asking questions within my niche. Takes some time to set up but then you're positioned to engage quickly.

    http://www.steinarknutsen.com/twitter-search-rs…

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      Google Reader rocks – and Feedly.

  • david365

    Nice to hear someone else autofollows, never understood all the objections. If they just send crappy on spammy tweets I'm unlikely to see them, and you can never tell when a “newbie” will get the hang of things and start engaging properly.

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      My Momma always told me: “Give everyone the benefit of the doubt”.

    • sue_anne

      I don't autofollow, and it's less about the spammers, etc. and more about me being serious about actively reading my timeline and 500+ is already too much. I think if I was more effective at using lists, etc. I would follow more people.

      • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

        To me, it's all about filtering with Lists and keywords.

  • sue_anne

    I've been thinking more and more about using scheduled tweets. I tend to “catch up” on Twitter and blog reading in the middle of the night Pacific time, and so even when I do share that information, I don't think it's really providing a resource because there aren't a whole lot of people up at those hours.

    I've done scheduled tweets using Hootsuite (they have a great Send Later function) for work to space things out during the day. It's a great way to take care of all your “tweeting” at once (job posts, etc.) but not have them hit someone's stream in a huge clump.

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      Socialoomph lets you spread out tweets too. I like cotweet because it forwards the URL correctly and you can pick any day and time to tweet.

      • sue_anne

        I really need to try Cotweet. One of the reasons why I've stuck with Hootsuite is I started using it before all the Desktop apps had multiple account support. Hootsuite made it easy to manage the different accounts for the NP.

      • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

        Hootsuite is good too. The only issue I have is that they don't completely forward a URL with their shortener, so it's harder to measure results with Google Analytics.

    • http://www.internet-marketing-muscle.com billspaced

      I recently discovered hootsuite, too and I love it! It's worth checking out – I'm sure I use about 1/10th of its capabilities, but even that I'm really finding useful. The scheduled tweets are good, but you also get to view all of your twitter profiles within the same browser (yay, no desktop app to install!), it has a URL shortener, and whenever you use the tool to send a tweet, it puts a nifty bar at the top of the page that gives readers lots of options for sharing.

      Plus, it allows you to not only tweet later, but post to nearly any social media site using ping.fm and others.

      • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

        Hootsuite is a good tool. I used to use it about a year ago. The only
        problem I had was analyzing traffic in Google Analytics when ow.ly
        didn't completely forward the URL.

      • sue_anne

        The one thing that I don't like about Hootsuite is the nifty bar, and most people don't like it either because they feel like it hijacks their web browser.

      • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

        That's what I've heard too.

  • http://ariwriter.com Ari Herzog

    With the caveat I've utilized similar techniques in the past, I have three unrelated questions for you, John.

    First: You make no qualms on reciprocally following everyone. You also don't use the default twitter.com interface, but third-party tools for reading and replying, right? Would you follow all who follow you if you only used twitter.com?

    Second: Why do you use cotweet vs any other application? Your video bit is unclear.

    Third: Why did you embed the video as blip.tv and not, say, viddler?

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      1. I would, if there was an efficient way to follow back.

      2. For me, Cotweet is easy to use. There are other tools, but I just got used to using it.

      3. Blip.TV allows me to create a video podcast on iTunes. And, as with CoTweet, I've gotten used to using it.

  • frankdickinson

    You know, it's so easy (okay, maybe just for me) to get on the bandwagon of the naysayers. They say “Automation in Social Media Is Bad” and we follow along like lemmings.

    I say – use the tools that best help you to build and connect with your community. With that end in mind – if it involves automation – our answer should be YES!

    Be remarkable – do what you do for your community. Screw the naysayers.

  • http://twitter.com/SeanEmslie Sean Emslie

    Great ideas, recently setup account with socialoomph thanks for ideas in using it better!

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      Sean – That's great. I'm glad it's working for you.

  • stonerome

    Hey John – love the comments, been using HootSuite to do much of what you discussed here. I'm curious – any general etiquette for…

    I have more than one twitter feed – they talk to different audiences, but there's some overlap. (Some followers get both feeds). If I send a tweet once (to both) and then reschedule the tweet for a second time (which I've done and think is a good idea) – some folks could get it four times. Should I worry about this? Wait for nasty DM's…Thoughts?

    • sue_anne

      I wonder about this same issue. I worry more about the people who are silently unhappy with the multiple tweets … I try to be selective about when I use the 2nd account.

      • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

        Smart cookie, you are!

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      I'd vary the feeds (not sending the same feed to both accounts). If you have to use the same feeds, you might want to parse them with keywords.

  • remarkablogger

    Good stuff. I didn't catch it until now! Will check out Twitter Feed.

  • http://www.ivanwalsh.com Ivan Walsh

    Hi John,

    I use it like voice mail. I setup my voicemail so that people can contact me at different numbers, know where I am or leave some useful information.

    The problem is not automation per se but how you apply it.

    Great series you have here, by the way.

    Ivan

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      Thanks Ivan!

  • http://twitter.com/seakisst Sara Halperin

    John,
    Some great ideas here. Nice to see people using automated Tweets for good. I particularly like the CoTweet ideas. Definitely going to check that out. Thanks for the tips.

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  • http://www.netwitsthinktank.com frank barry

    Good point. Automation isn't bad unless it's the only thing you do. I love the TwitterFeed sharing tip. Great way to support your friends/network and reduce the time you have to spend online.

    ps. i'm thinking “hatemail” thoughts about you right now! :)

    • http://www.johnhaydon.com John Haydon

      Another cool thing you can do with Twitterfeed to pull in photos on Flickr
      or videos on YouTube that you've marked as a “favorite” – and then filter
      those with keywords.

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  • http://spiralentrepreneurs.com/ Devon White

    Hey John,

    @RiaSharon sent me this and I just wanted to take a minute to say how much I enjoyed it. Both the stuff you're talking about as well as the way you present it. I felt like I just ate a warm bowl of chicken soup when i was done watching. So – useful and aesthetically pleasing. Thanks for the tips, I'll stay tuned.

    Cheers,

    Devon

  • http://spiralentrepreneurs.com/ Devon White

    Hey John,

    @RiaSharon sent me this and I just wanted to take a minute to say how much I enjoyed it. Both the stuff you're talking about as well as the way you present it. I felt like I just ate a warm bowl of chicken soup when i was done watching. So – useful and aesthetically pleasing. Thanks for the tips, I'll stay tuned.

    Cheers,

    Devon

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