Do Automated DM Work for You on Twitter?

Direct Messages are great way to communicate with your Twitter contacts. It's personal and it's a simple way to chat if you don't have their phone or messenger details. But what about automated DM? Have you considered this?

Thanking new contacts for the follow is a good way to start the relationship as it opens up the dialog and interesting things can happen from there.

But what if you feel that you get too many followers to reply directly to them and feel the need to automate? Below I will give 3 reasons why you shouldn't!

Automated DM

Tools

There are many ways to automate the process, from apps such as Crowdfire to website tools like IFTTT to name but two.

Why

You may have so many followers that you cannot create the time to respond to all your new contacts.

Depending on your aim, you could be targeting click thru to you site or Facebook page (isn't following you on Twitter enough), connect on LinkedIn or let's chat and I'll sell you something - you have to wonder how effective this method is?

It's a lot like receiving a cold call. Perhaps a numbers game for the brands or people with 1000's of followers.

Reasons not to use automated DM

1. It's impersonal
2. Spam like
3. Intrusive

What to do instead

• Tweet to them, it's more personal
• Like & retweet their posts, follow them back, Listen & Love
• Be helpful

Quite simple really. Not annoying like the automated response and it shows that you are human.

IFTTT have many scripts that allow you collect new followers on Twitter, so using something like this together with the personal touch might aid you if you really want to reach 100's of new contacts.

I hate automated DM. I am guilty of using it for a while a few months ago, but stopped. It didn't add any value to me or my relationship with my followers.

But what about you? Do they work for you?

Sources & Further Reading

• Why Twitter Auto DMs Are Evil (and What You Should Do Instead)
• Why You Should Never, Ever Send Automated Twitter Messages (Ever)