Why you should follow absolutely everybody on Twitter - even the annoying ones.

There is a powerful feature in Twitter that a lot of people are not utilizing yet. It's the Direct Message feature. This feature gives you the ability to directly email someone without even knowing their email address. It's an instant "in" to people you now follow on Twitter and who follow you back. But, if you're not following them, how can you Direct Message (DM) them? You can't. So that's why I think it is a great marketing strategy to follow everyone...even the annoying ones, who follow you. And, you should especially follow them if you are a business owner, CEO, marketing professional or salesperson who wants to gain inside access to new and existing customers.  

As for following the annoying ones that tweet all the time the things you are not interested in, it's okay don't panic, you can shut them off in other ways, which I will discuss in future blog posts, by following through Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and other applications.

In the last week or two, I've Direct messaged the President of a majour coffee franchise to thank him for retweeting my story. I didn't have to look up his phone number, call his gatekeeper (I'm assuming he has one), explain myself, leave a message, or wait for a call back. I sent him a DM and he sent one back. It was our first step towards many more coffee articles I will write. That, I'm sure of. And maybe, someday, that growing franchise may hire me to give them further Twitter or social media strategies. (Although, they are doing a very good job already, but there is always room for improvement. Especially since I'm a sucker for dark chocolate and strong coffee.)

I've also DM'd (that's my new acronym today which stands for Direct Messaged) people whom I would like to do stories about for my blog. It has given me very quick access to them.

There have been several people hacked on Twitter recently that I follow. I began receiving weird direct messages from them to click an IQ test. So I direct messaged them back to tell them their password was hacked and to change it. Many of them thanked me for it. This, again, further enhanced my new Twitter relationship with them.

Now, there are lots of people using automated direct messages to send you spam. But have you thought of using Direct Messages to actually talk to people about what they have tweeted? Let me expand on the coffee example. If I was in the coffee business, I would constantly be searching for people who used words related to coffee in their tweets.

Let's say you have a coffee shop in Vernon, B.C. and you found someone who tweeted out that they were heading off for a coffee. You could direct message them and say, "Come on down to our coffee shop and say hi. We just put a fresh pot on for you." Or you could offer them a special Twitter coffee discount, just because they tweeted about coffee. You could ask them to complete a market survey for you about coffee. Or, you could direct them to sign up to your coffee newsletter. The possibilities are endless.

Now, many of you do not own coffee shops. My point is that you can track tweets directly related to your product or service. Maybe you offer health care, or real estate, or skiing, wine, chocolate, or whatever. Through direct messaging, you can start dialogues with those you follow who are tweeting about those things that relate to your business. But, if you don't follow them back, how can you track them or direct message them? You can't? So, follow everyone you possibly can.

You are probably asking, "How do I keep track of all of those conversations"? Well that is a topic for a future blog post. There are ways that make it very easy.

Can you send a broadcast Direct Message out? Yes you can. Can you send a broadcast direct message to only certain people you follow? Definitely. Again, this is a future upcoming blog post (so subscribe to my blog by signing up at the right top of my home page, where it says "subscribe" and never miss another one of my posts again. They come right to your email inbox).

Direct Messaging is a powerful Twitter communication line and I encourage you to think about how you can use it to start a serious relationship with your customers or potential customers and further promote your brand, products or services in a creative way.

If you want marketing ideas around how to leverage direct messaging for your business, please get in touch. Direct Message me! I do hourly telephone coaching.

Do you agree that you should follow everyone who follows you? Or disagree? Please post a comment on my blog. I'd love to hear your opinion (and posting comments on blogs is a good marketing idea if you include a link to your website.)

Thanks for reading.

Courtenay Pitcher, Direct Message Maven
http://www.vernongirl.com

http://twitter.com/vernongirl

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/courtenaypitcher

Comments

[Charley Hampton]

Hi Court -

I find the DM is another useful tool when deployed in the right circumstances. Selectively and strategically messaging people can be expedient and high effective. The key, as some of your commenters point out, is knowing the line between networking and spam. Anything good can become negative if you use too much...even Breyers double churned vanilla ice cream!

Coach Charley

[Phil Ashman]

Interesting perspective. I can definitely see the potential from the marketing perspective. However the question is whether the avg tweep would want or appreciate that kind of interaction. So I'm kind of with Scott on this one, but from a different angle.

My impression is that DMs aren't wanted or appreciated by most people. Rightly or wrongly, I think Tweeps would be turned off if business owners started DM'ing them. If every company I followed started DMing me, I think it would get to the point where I'd view and treat it as spam.

However it sounds as though you've had a good response from it. Personally, I don't view the fact that I follow someone in Twitter as a license for them to blast me directly with information of their choosing, even though they can. Twitter is about me choosing what I want to read.

[Courtenay Pitcher]

Hi Scott: Thank you for your comments. They are very valid and useful.

I believe Twitter serves two purposes, an open and a closed forum. You are right, much can be learnt and shared in the open forum, but when you want to take a relationship a bit further, you don't get out your loudspeaker and blast a message to everyone. Traditionally, you pick up the phone and have a one on one conversation, privately. Yes, everyone may benefit from the message on the open forum, but by using the Direct Message feature you are creating more of a personal and intimate connection with someone.

You may be right that not a lot of people are checking their Direct Messages and that many of them are autobots. If it's true, I believe it is a mistake. I think Direct Messages are useful, intimate relationship starters if they are used, and read.

[Scott Davis]

Dear Courtenay,
I think you are missing the whole point of Twitter!
Direct Messaging is a closed Forum.

Twitter is about an open platform that everyone has the opportunity to join in and add their own two cents if they wish.
I agree with everything you are saying and encourage business to do the things that you are mentioning on Twitter, but why would you do it in a DM.
I guarantee that people will be more successful and gain more followers and respect by sharing in the public time line.

Most people do not even check Their DM's unless they are told to in the public time line. Most DM's are autobot and have no real value.