I picked a outrageous claim in my Twitter box auto DM for the “Dumb Auto DM of the Day” today. (I post one of these with the tag #DADM on most days when I can to remind people who might have forgotten that they set up one and how they never are personal).
I don’t put any personally identifiable information on my #DADM tweets. My intention is to share a smile, teach a bit and initiate conversation, not belittle the person with the Dumb Auto DM.
Today’s tweet assumed I has just joined Twitter, which I laughed at.. but since it’ has the work “finally” I would think most of the people who could build the users network would be insulted.
Then there is the suggestion that an attached link has the secret to making money online. If anyone reads that far, that’s certainly a red flag. People won’t follow the link and likely will drop you if you spam them with a sales pitch instead of a personal greeting or real conversation.
My #DADM was Re-tweeted (RT) by several people and I got some @ replies and had the daily conversations where people tell me they hate automation and drop people for it and I remind them that sometimes real people use them and are just learning.
Then a BOT picked it up and @ replied with another offer to make money online. The account is NOT the one with the auto DM.. this is a separate scam from and account that is likely already shut down
There’s a lesson here. Funny to see the tweet, but I’m posting to have a piece to refer people to when they ask “Are some auto DM’s Okay?”
My answer: Maybe. You can use Twitter however you want. If you say “Thanks for following” you won’t get many believing it was you.. and some will hate you for it. But it’s your choice. Like we say in Twitter Revolution:NO RULES
Automation is wonderful. The same API that spammers and bots use allow us to integrate Twitter with other sites and reach out to people we want to meet. Like all good tools, it can be used for good or bad.
Linkedin announces LinkedInToday, a system for automatically creating a page of news from the companies, industries and people you follow
Peer based news generated automatically
I have been experimenting with curating tools like LinkedIn Today and like how this one allows you to tweak the setting after it’s created.. meaning you you get better content as time goes on.
Marketers will find ways to place positive stories in the feed, but the real power will come as some develop a reputation for finding and sharing news and information with peers. That’s power networking!
What have you been using to curate and share information online?
Unless you live in the middle of nowhere with no TV or internet access, it is impossible not to have noticed all of the noise surrounding social media marketing, particularly Facebook.
Chances are, you have a Facebook profile, and maybe even a Facebook business page, and are trying to figure out how to remain social to build quality relationships, but still use it effectively for marketing.
While effective marketing on Facebook is a mystery to many entrepreneurs, one way that I manage my Facebook friends and who I market to on Facebook is by using lists.
Recently Facebook announced that it had reached 500 million users worldwide, up from 100 million from only two years ago, and at any given time I have around 4000-4500 Facebook friends linked to my profile. The number fluctuates as I accept new friend requests and quietly unfriend some other people.
Facebook friend lists have been the absolute best tool to help me manage my relationships on Facebook.
The first step to using lists for effective Facebook marketing is to create a lot of different lists, so that as you get to know to your friends better and begin to use Facebook as a marketing tool, you can segment and tailor your message, based on the goal of your marketing campaign.
The cool thing about lists is that people can be put into more than one, which allows for even more segmentation and refining of your message. I have lists based on my relationship with the person, where I met them, what type of business they own, where they live, and more.
Unfortunately, I discovered the power of Facebook friend lists after I had been using Facebook for a while. I had to comb through my friends, one by one and perform an audit… reading their profile, assigning them to the appropriate lists, or if their profile was fishy in any way or resembled a spam account, unfriending them. It was a long process because I already had connected with so many amazing people. I highly recommend that if you are not yet using Facebook Lists to organize and manage your friends and your Facebook marketing, you start doing so as soon as possible.
If you haven’t created lists to segment your Facebook friends yet, here are a few to get you started:
Family and Close Friends –
Put all of your family in one list. They love you and are proud of your business, but odds are they probably don’t want an event invitation to your next workshop or teleseminar. Add all of your close friends, high school/college buddies, and anyone else who probably don’t want to receive your marketing messages. They want to be connected to you, but they probably aren’t using Facebook for business purposes. If you were Joe Quarterback and are friends with hundreds of your high school and college alumni, consider creating separate lists.
Cities, States, Counties, or Countries –
These ones will take a little work, since you will have to visit all of your friends profiles and figure out where they currently live, but the payoff is worth it. Nothing is more irritating than being invited to a local event like an afternoon networking luncheon in Chicago when I live in California. By segmenting your friends by geography and only marketing local events to people who actually live nearby, you can craft a much more effective message and probably increase the response.
Existing Clients –
These people have already bought from you once and are the most likely to buy from you again. Put them in a list so you can give them a little more attention and help nurture a lifelong customer relationship. Follow up is where most entrepreneurs fail and by grouping all of your past and current clients together, you can quickly scan status updates and posts from your client community and nurture those relationships to stay top of mind.
VIPs –
Create a list of the coolest people you want to get to know better and who you want to get to know you. This list for me also includes the people who are really kicking butt and taking names in their business and who inspire me to be great every day. This list may include entrepreneurs you look up to, people on influence in your industry, or even someone you are dying to partner with.
Business Type –
You can also create different lists based on the types of businesses or industries. You may have a list of all of the people who do the same thing you do, or one of vendors and service providers. Grouping your friends by type of business helps you create marketing messages specifically for those people and the more specific the message, the more successful the marketing campaign.
Where You Met –
I assign my friends whenever possible to a list that tells me where I met them. I have lists based on specific events and conferences I attend as well as lists of people affiliated with specific networking organizations. Preparing a list of people attending an event about 4-6 weeks prior to an event (so you can get to know them more) can be an extremely powerful tool that can drastically improve your event experience.
How to Create Facebook Friend Lists
You can create Facebook Friend Lists from three different places.
First, from your Facebook home screen (when logged in), you can click on Friends in the left hand sidebar (image 1 below). Then your can click the button Create List at the top of your friends list on the right-hand side (image 2 below).
You can also start with the Edit Friends option under Account (image 1 below) in the upper right hand corner of the screen when logged in. When you reach your list of friends you have the option to Create New List at the top of the list on the left-hand side (image 2 below).
Once you click the button to create a list in either place, a dialog box will open up (shown below). You can then create a list name (upper left), select the people you want to add to the list be checking them, and then create the list (bottom right)
If you already have hundreds or even thousands of Facebook friends and you are late to the Facebook Friend List game (don’t worry, I was too), there is another easy way for you to assign the new lists you created to your existing friends. You can click on Edit Friends under Account like I showed you in the first example, and for each friend in your list, you’ll see options on the right to edit those friends. You can click on the “x” to remove a Facebook friend, or you can click on the list information to add them to a list, see the lists they are already added to, or create a new list on the spot (This is the third way to create a friend list). See the example below:
You can also add friends to an existing Facebook Friend List, or a brand new Friend List when you accept a Facebook friend request from someone (image 1 below), or send a friend request to someone (image 2 below).
After you create all of your lists, view all of your friends and start adding them to the appropriate lists. Remember, you can put a person in as many lists as you want. Depending on how many Facebook friends you have, this will take some time, but it will be well worth the effort. Once all your lists are made and your friends are categorized and segmented, it is easy to group all new connections you make.
Now onto the good part…
How to Market on Facebook Using Lists
Once you have a significant amount of friends who post regularly, your news feed, or “stream” as many call it, will more likely resemble a rushing river of links, photos, quotes, tips, and of course, SPAM. There will always be those few who just “don’t get it” or purposely use Facebook for blatant self promotion without ever trying to build a single quality relationship.
After all of your lists are created and your friends are grouped appropriately, you don’t need to bother with your main news feed. Instead, you use your lists to check in and interact with your friends and the people that really matter to you. My Client List on Facebook is one of my most frequented because I want to stay in the conversation with my both my past clients and current clients and continue to provide value. If you built good friend lists this will save you tons of time, and put some of the fun back in social media marketing and social networking.
For example…
I will click on my Facebook Friend List titled “High School/College/Friends” to interact with my non-entrepreneur friends. This list never gets event invites or marketing messages outside what I post in my stream.
I will view the Facebook Friends List of those attending a specific event more often the 4-6 weeks before the event to build a greater connection and enhance my experience at the event.
When I am hosting an event like workshop on social media marketing, I will use my geographical lists to invite my Facebook Friends. That way, I am not sending a friend in Florida, Texas, New York, or Arizona an invite to a half day workshop – that would be ridiculous. For a half day event, I only invite those in driving distance. By putting forth the effort to segment your Facebook Friends, and only sending invitations to events that are relevant to the receiver, I am respecting their inbox and hopefully building a better relationship.
Facebook Friend Lists have a lot of uses – my favorite is for targeted event invites and messages. I don’t know about you, but I am SICK AND TIRED of the GIANT list Facebook event invitations I receive for events that are completely irrelevant to me and my business. I mean seriously, I can’t go to a luncheon that is in two days in Pennsylvania, or a breakfast event tomorrow in Atlanta. That just doesn’t make sense to get those invitations.
Here are some quick tips for creating your Facebook Friend Lists:
Focus Each List! There isn’t a limit on the number of lists you can have (at least not that I know of), so segment away!
Don’t put someone in more than one geographic list. For example, don’t put them in Sacramento and California. If you do this, you may run the risk of sending them the same event invitation or message twice!
Keep your lists to 100 people or less. If you have more than 100 in that group, start a second list. For example, I have lists title “eWomenNetwork Sacramento Region,” “eWomenNetwork CA,” “eWomenNetwork USA,” and “eWomenNetwork Canada.” The reason you want to keep your lists to 100, is because you can only send event invites and messages to 100 people at a time.
About the Authors: Jennifer and Brian Bourn owners of Bourn Creative, a Sacramento web design company, help established businesses build beautiful, feature-rich, custom WordPress websites and blogs, design powerful, personal brands, and help their clients learn to leverage their website and blog to attract more clients than they ever thought possible.
Internet bots, also known as web robots, WWW robots or simply bots, are software applications that run automated tasks over the Internet. Typically, bots perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone.
Whenever I share the tweets I get from bots (search for #DADM on Twitter, I get lots of comments from people who claim that they automatically stop following anyone that uses them.
Hating bots is like killing the messenger. There are good task for bots all over the net. You might even be reading this post because a bot caused the headline to appear somewhere.
The animosity people feel toward auto DMs on Twitter is for bots that post repetitive messages. Even a “thank you for following” message end up looking like spam when you add “check out my xxx”
Social media can be very profitable when you use it to interaction with prospects, clients and thought leaders. When I say “interact” I mean to listen or have a two way conversation.
If your primary goal is to blast out sales messages, you may find advertising to be just as effective. What’s profitable in social media is hidden in the things that advertising can’t do.
If you have a bot, or even a person sending out a repetitive message, think about dumping that in favor of some more listening. When you do, you’ll find that people are anxious to find someone to share their interests, questions and problems with. Answer those and they’ll be attracted to you and your products and services.
I was walked up to a group of friends at an event last week and saw several gathered on a group of chairs and sofa in the hotel lobby… each with their smart phone out texting.
Disconnected?
Not really. The group had been together for hours, out to dinner and very good friends.. but each of them were taking a moment to check in the friends and family at home.
An Internet connection doesn’t replace face to face time.. but it can enhance it. Rather than the knee jerk reaction that we are losing intimacy, watch this video from TED speaker Stefana Broadbent: How the Internet enables intimacy
Social Media strengthens relationships
Social Media Intimacy (from TED)
We worry that IM, texting, Facebook are spoiling human intimacy, but Stefana Broadbent’s research shows how communication tech is capable of cultivating deeper relationships, bringing love across barriers like distance and workplace rules.
Stefana Broadbent watches us while we talk (and IM, and text). She is one of a new class of ethnographers who study the way our social habits and relationships function and mutate in the digital age.
There are some limits to what is good for certain jobs and situations. A doctor performing surgery would know better than to chat with friends during the procedure… but might want to check on a patient or phone home before or after.
Can You Improve Your Relationships With Social Media?
Technology allows me to stay in touch in a few moments here and there while doing whatever I want to be doing. I certainly don’t want to take client calls during a family dinner, but I love that I get to make that choice.
Let’s not discuss all the ways we limit our use of social media.. I’d like to hear more stories like Stefana shared how you improve relationships with prospects, clients and friends.
Add a comment below, and be sure to include a link where we can let you know how we use this in our book.
My friend Lewis Howes (the guy with the best linkedin profile tips) and I have an ongoing conversation about the businesses wasting time on social media.
He holds that there is one sight that is pure business.. LinkedIn
I agree with that.
In this video, Lewis explains how he build a huge network of business professionals using, and taught others to do the same.
When I first met Lewis, he was networking but not known well. I was immediately impressed with his talent to find ways to help in every situation and provide what people in his network needed.
Lewis had just written his first short book with linkedin profile tips and I expected it to be the usual basics of linkedin networking and social media ideas shared by so many so called social media experts. I was immediately impressed though.. Lewis gets social networking and even in that first book went well beyond the usual yada yada.
Now Lewis speaks around the world about Linkedin. I’ve seen Lewis speaks, and watch many of his online video presentations. Unlike so many of the linkedin profile tips presentations, Lewis gets to the meat of using Linkedin for profitable business.
If you want profitable social media, and are ready to get down to business and avoid the games, I suggest you start following Lewis Howes.
Free video presentation
There are so many profitable ways to build your business with social media… market research, customer service and prospecting. We share many of those ideas here.
But like Lewis says.. the pure business network is LinkedIn.
Go beyond the simple resume page and linkedin profile tips. You can use Linkedin.com smater and watch your business network explode.
Chris Brogan created a new media post about the future of media using video, text, and social media connections to get a story started and expanded with conversation.
From a tweet, I read the blog, decided to comment, hope to add some thoughts and continue that conversation.
Chris Brogan on the future of media
With the tools we currently call social media we can have micro conversations, two way exchanges and even media independent connections. I can see a person on Facebook, give them a shout on Twitter and pick up the phone if I miss them on a Skype chat. The meaning has gone beyond the channels used.
One sign that this is evolving is forgetting which medium we used. I bumped into a joint venture partner at an event last week, while there, we had a meal together and exchanged several SMS messages. I checked in using Foursquare and told a mutual friend about it on Facebook. When I later sat down to email him, I had to think of which medium we talk on (it was LinkedIn last week )
Sounds like a bit of hassle. It can be frustrating, but profitable.
Using the connections and tools our partners, prospects and customers prefer get the best response. In the future, we’ll have better tools to sort it out. However, I think the real breakthrough has occurred. We can do it now.
Reply with your comments here. Or tweet me that you comment on the Facebook version of Chris’s post. Make a Youtube response if you wish.
Regardless of the media or channel… get into the conversations. (maybe not this conversation about conversations.. but there are many that will be profitable).
People are talking. It’s here if you listen.
Listen and love (respond as you would to a friend).. it’s as simple as that.
We all know the data is out there.. Google indexes it and helps us find it.
We also know that data is never as meaningful as a recommendation from a friend. That’s why social media is so popular… it’s people talking to people about stuff
Social Search if Profitable Social Media
The old methods and metrics still hold. It’s great to have more friends, more web mentions, more connections and more traffic.
We are all still learning how to measure the engagement value… is a conversation worth more than an ad?
I can’t prove it with numbers yet.. but you know. Talking to a friend is better than reading an ad.
Today’s tweet assumed I has just joined Twitter, which I laughed at.. but since it’ has the work “finally” I would think most of the people who could build the users network would be insulted.
Unfortunately, I discovered the power of Facebook friend lists after I had been using Facebook for a while. I had to comb through my friends, one by one and perform an audit… reading their profile, assigning them to the appropriate lists, or if their profile was fishy in any way or resembled a spam account, unfriending them. It was a long process because I already had connected with so many amazing people. I highly recommend that if you are not yet using Facebook Lists to organize and manage your friends and your Facebook marketing, you start doing so as soon as possible.
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