Auto Tweets = Twitter Spam?
I got a strange @reply on Twitter the other day–it talked about a Webinar on a topic that doesn’t interest me. I just 
figured that maybe this person had misread one of my tweets or that they got the equivalent of a “wrong number.” Then, I read about Guy Kawasaki using automated tweets to promote content on his site. The connection was easy enough to make, just as auto DMs seem to be going out of vogue, it looks like auto tweets have taken their place.
Twitter Spam?
I have no qualms with companies doing Twitter marketing (hey, we do it!). However, the interaction needs to be thoughtful and the medium respected at all times. When faced with the idea of auto tweets, the central question to me was, “Is this spam?” After careful consideration, I decided that the answer is, “Yes.” The key to me is context. Auto tweets are set up by keyword, so there is no way to know if what is being tweeted is actually relevant to the recipient. For instance, if I were to auto tweet everyone who said “CRM” I’d be sending messages to folks who Twitter “Just had a delicious bagel and crm cheese.” Why do they want to hear my Customer Relationship Management pitch? They don’t, and I’ve just wasted the time they spent trying to figure out why I @replied them.
Respect is Key in Inbound and Outbound Marketing
Twitter is a form of inbound marketing, but the idea of context holds true for outbound marking like email campaigns. Aside from respecting unsubscribes, providing interesting and pertinent content to your lists is the top priority to make sure your email campaigns aren’t spammy. This blog post details the unintended consequences of email spam, and I imagine that Twitter spam could have serious consequences too (unfollows, blocking, angry tweets).
Pitching any product or service on Twitter is a particularly tricky thing to do. In general, I believe Twitter marketing should be focused on providing interesting information on your industry, wrangling customer feedback and answering questions. If occasionally this ends in a plug to your product or service, that’s ok—but selling should not be the #1 priority.
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