I Don’t Want to Be the Asshole at the Party!
When Perry Belcher, who has over 100,000 followers talks about Twitter, you listen. He argues you should treat Twitter and indeed other social media platforms as a party. Nobody goes to a party with the intention to sell to the other guests. If you did, then you would be thought of as an asshole. Unfortunately today, I became that asshole at the party
Not intentionally, of course. I have worked hard on building my Twitter following and try to put out a lot of good, relevant and useful content out there.
However, over the weekend I delved into the world of JV Giveaways to build my list and made the mistake of scheduling tweets relating to these events to be published every six hours.
It soon became apparent that promoting four events of this nature, four times per day, was too much:
Oops. That’s one disgruntled ex-follower who made their feelings perfectly clear.
The old adage of people enjoy buying but not wanting to be sold to is summed up perfectly here.
I have almost 44,000 followers and the numbers fluctuate up and down every day so I have no idea how many other people I annoyed enough to unfollow me. A decent number I suspect.
Now, I have cut down the promotion of each event I am participating in and recruiting contributors to just one tweet per day but I am also sending out two tweets per day to one event which has started and looking for members to download the freebies.
This also has not exactly run smoothly.
Rather than just telling my followers they can download a load of good stuff for free, I tried to add some controversy and make the tweet a little more edgy:
I was quite pleased with this tweet. It tells people they can get loads of stuff for free and the premise they could do so by being a bit naughty should intrigue them enough to click through.
When they click through it should become obvious the offer is perfectly legitimate and that no acts of theft are going on.
Guess who didn’t click through…
and…
So, what does this tell us?
If followers who see my tweets offering free gifts are not prepared to click through the link to investigate further, then I am fair game to feel their wrath.
Perhaps I should not try to be so clever in future tweets promoting such giveaway events but be more straight to the point that by clicking my link you can:
a) Sign up to an event as a contributor and attract more people to your mailing list
or
b) Sign up to an event as a member and downloads of free ebooks and software (legally).
This is quite boring but if there is no ambiguity then I am less likely to be seen as that asshole at the party and retain my followers.
If anyone else is promoting JV Giveaways using Twitter then please share your experiences or any tips you have as a comment below, I’d love to learn more about this and annoy as few people as possible along the way!
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53 comments… read them below or add one
What I’ve found is that Twitter is not the medium for heavy self promotion. It’s not only ineffective it will, as you’ve found, lose you followers. Take Alex’s advice about building a relationship with your blogging audience and then multiply it by 100 when applying it to Tweeter.
Hi Rod,
That’s good advice. I’ll have to put out more of other people’s stuff so my own promotions blend in a bit more. I will cut down the JV GIveaway links to about one per day. If followers begrudge me that then I don’t really mind if they unfollow me!
David
Interesting David …
I think your experience shows that not only do you have to be careful with the quantity of your tweets, you must also be careful with exactly what you say and how you say it. And only having 140 characters to say it in makes it all a bit of linguistic stretch ! Having said all of that, it’s always going to be true that you can’t please all of the people all of the time
I still have fewer than 100 followers on Twitter because I am still behind the curve on social media. My main use for it so far has been to alert people to my new blog posts and perhaps to put out one or two more personal thoughts out there.
I am really looking forward to what Alex has to say on it later this week. See you there !
Roger
Hi Roger,
Yes, it is difficult to try and be creative with a 140 character limit! I will still continue to promote the Giveaways on Twitter because it is an easy way to drive traffic to them given my following. But, I will have to be more upfront about the link I promote rather than try to be mysterious or controversial.
David
Hey David,
I agree about possibly pimping your **** to much, however there are plenty a**hole flamers on Twitter and other media forums …
I remember Garry Parkes was flamed for RT’ing a tweet about a cancer fundraising event …..
I guess it would be weighing up – how many out your following found value in the offer ….. those that flamed you would probably unsubscribe anyways ……
I have had a few sign-ups via Twitter for my blog guide not delved into other areas yet ……
You can’t please everyone all the time
I will hear how you get on
Cheers
Tommy
Hi Tommy,
The example with Garry just goes to show what an overly sensitive lot the Twitter crowd can be!
Yep, you can’t please everyone all the time but I don’t want to annoy people more often than I don’t either!
It will just have to be a case of less being more from now on I think.
David
David,
Thanks for sharing your trials and tribs with us. It goes along way to show what not to do when tweeting. Though, this experience you can now add to your ever growing list of things you can teach people in the future..
All experience is good experience in my eyes.
Keep up the great work.
Neil
Hi Neil,
I agree. We must try things otherwise we will never know what works and what doesn’t. I am sure I will make plenty more mistakes along the way on Twitter, especially as I have a following large enough to notice what I am doing!
David
Hi David!
Thanks for sharing this. I think we can class this as a ‘failure’, and sharing these is brave, and also one of the best forms of teaching people!!
People can learn from everyone elses mistakes! We all make them, I’ve made tonnes over the last few months!
The thing is, on Twitter, people misconstrue your message and you are broadcasting to such a number of people, you are bound to offend somebody! But over time, you will start to realise what people find offensive, and what you can get away with!
Again, thanks for this!
Dave
Hi David,
Well, this is what this blog was set up for, to document what I am doing online and therefore I have to blog about the bad stuff as well as the good!
The tweet I put out about ethically “stealing” stuff was definitely misconstrued and that has taught me not to try and be *too* clever on Twitter. Back to basics time again.
David
Hey David,
I have to tell you the word, “Asshole,” caught my eye today, which brings me right into your writing, just to read the story. And you know what, you’re an entrepreneur. I get it. And with that comes taking a bit of risks at times.
Besides, Alex said, “we try things,” when he spoke of the people that were successful online. And to me, it seems that was all that you were doing. So you dropped a few readers and got flamed. Eh, who cares.
And this is killing me, so I have to ask you something. David. Is that really you on Facebook? Half naked, guns, abs and chest all built up – like it’s nobody’s business?
Throw a link up to your Facebook page so everyone can see you….David, your comments will have comments….
Karen
Hi Karen,
Thanks for the comment, I am glad my title intrigued you enough to pay my blog a visit!
Unfortunately, my Facebook profile is not me. Well, the face is, but the body belongs to the WWE wrestler Randy Orton.
A few people I know commented we bear a passing resemblance so it was just a bit of fun.
David
Hi David,
Great post…sounds like you were stiring up a storm on Twitter yesterday!!
It is a fine line as to what links you can throw out there. My personal opinion is that you shouldn’t try and disguise what it is you’re promoting. If it’s a Giveaway event you want them to click thru to, then make it clear it is a Giveaway event in your Tweet.
As you have a JV Giveaway page here on your Blog you could just try sending them through to that page rather than blasting direct links to the events on Twitter. Something to test I guess.
Thanks for another great post though David, you really bring up some excellent points.
Cheers,
Paul
Hi Paul,
That’s me, always trying to upset somebody on Twitter, haha!
I think directing people to the Giveaway page on the blog is a really good idea. I will try that out next and see if it makes any difference.
David
Hey buddy, GREAT post here my friend.
A great conversation and some good points.
What this tells us is that what you are doing evokes emotion. That is better than nothing at all. Of course you dont WANT to be creating the wrong emotions or negative emotions from your followers but the way you wrote those tweets using standard copywriting flavor got them noticed. Thats amongst the hundreds of tweets that go out every second, so thats actually a good thing.
I am a FIRM believer of you cannot please everyone all of the time. I would rather be hated for who I am than loved for someone I am not.. I know this goes off topic but my point is, controversy is actually GREAT at gaining attention and creating a connection. If you took the time to reply to some of those people I am sure, when they got to know you, there would be a connection there because of the shared experience.
“Check this out http://www….” does not do this, so in a way those tweets succeeded.
In terms of the title of this post, people try to sell off the bat and THATS the main point.
If I came to your house for a party I would take the time to get to know you, share some stories and have a laugh, next time you might come to mine and then pretty soon we would start to talk about work. At this point we can go a little deeper into what we do but its not time for a hard sell!
Later down the road, someone may ask if you know someone who does what I do and because of the connection we made socializing, bam, you mention me. Equally, if you do something similar we may then keep in contact and share ideas, thoughts and sometimes business ventures.
Thats how Twitter should be used, as the VERY start of the process not the end part of the process.
Skip to the end (the sale) with anyone you dont know right up front and you are bound to fail which is why SO many people get it wrong on Twitter at the moment.
Great post my friend.
Josh
Hi Josh,
Wow! What an awesome comment, there’s probably more content there than in the blog post I wrote!
I think it was good that the tweets did create at least some reaction, no mean feat when there is new content being pumped out on Twitter thousands of time every second but it would be nicer to get a positive reaction!
I am fast learning that Twitter should be the first point of contact, inviting people to come to my house (in this case my blog) to find out more about me. So, Paul’s suggestion to direct people to my Giveaway page on the blog rather than a direct sales page link has merit.
I will approach it from a different angle and see if makes a difference.
Thanks again for such an informative response.
David
Hi David,
Yes, you’ll always get complaints from people whatever you do. We get a few odd ones in our mail order business.
Market to your taregt customer and if the others don’t like it it doesnt really matter as they probably wouldnt have bought anything anyway,
Thanks
Keith
Hi Keith,
I try to follow people on Twitter who are interested in the stuff I do and hope they follow me back but with so many followers, there will always be some that don’t like IM or pitches of any kind.
If they go on to unfollow me it’s no big deal.
David
Hi David,
As I’ve just signed up to Twitter, I must say that I found this very informative and helpful.
Tell me if I’m wrong David, but my view of Twitter is that it’s more of a ‘long haul’ process of gradually getting very loyal followers that just have to check in and see waht you’re up to.
What do think?
Andrew.
Hi Andrew,
Yes, you are right. Josh makes an excellent point in one of the above comments that Twitter is the initial point of contact and the start of more of a long term process where people get to know you better.
Ideally I want my Twitter followers to then visit my blog, have a look around and sign up to my email list so they can get to know what I am up to that way.
David
Hey David
Great post you put out there Mate.
You win some and you lose some yeh…
It was both interesting and informative … lets all hope we can learn from it..yeh !!
As the man (AJ) said you fail forward …
Cheers.
Malcolm.t.
Hey David
Reading your post made me realize that in the past I may have made more or less the same kind of boob myself…but trying to sort of rationalise it and maybe forgive myself … I put it down to my being a newbie …you know a sort of learning curve …but so yeh …you move on … fail forward …
Try to be more careful in future…
I put a post up about it and mentioned your post to sort of illustrate it …hope you’re okay with it …
here it is : http://malcolmtmckinnell.com/285/confessions-and-marketing/#more-285.
Malcolm.t.
Oh Hey David
Just listened to your first Boo …
Well done mate ..very good first try…
Hope you do lots more !!
Get some more video’s up and you’ll soon be living up to your name !!
Got to try it myself …lol
Have you been over to Josh’s new video site yet (videomarketingclassroomdotcom) ??
Hi Malcolm,
Thank you for the comments. Glad you liked the Audio Boo. I have to admit it’s not great but I will improve over time.
Video is something I need to do more of and you are right, I have a great domain extension for when I do eventually buck my ideas up and get some videos out there.
Yes, I have visited Josh’s new website and am waiting for more details with keen interest!
David
Hey David,
A really great post!
It just shows that you really have to be careful, I think with twitter it is very easy to look at the numbers and not the people involved. I know I am guilty (or have been!)
I am just going through Alex’s twitter course at the moment to find out the RIGHT way to do it
Talk soon,
Paul
Hi Paul,
Thanks for dropping by! I know what you mean here. I know I only got a couple of very visible complaints and reactions out of almost 45,000 followers but they are still complaints I would have rather not had.
This experience has given me plenty to think about and I will definitely be promoting the Giveaways differently and less frequently from now on.
David
Yo David,
I gotta say – this was defo WORTH the time to come over from the forum and read all this. I found it highly entertaining.
Yes, there are some VERY prickly people on Twitter. Some of them are only there to abuse and flame you. They see it as some kind of perverse sport. Parkesy did indeed get flamed for DARING to RT a cancer charity that he donated to. I had a bit of a look into the circumstances of that and I gotta say – the guy who did it was a total JERK. He had a well-documented history of flaming and abusing people.
I actually wrote a post about all this and it very quickly got pounded to the shizenhousen with comments, most of them supportive. Here it is if you wanna have a look:
http://motivationselfesteem.com/talk/1018/twitter-your-credibility-on-social-media-sites.htm
Regarding your Randy Orton WWE persona – how bloody funny is that? God, that made me laugh too!
I’m a HUGE FAN of the WWE from the perspective of the unique branding they do and guess what? YEP! I wrote a post about that too! Here it is:
http://motivationselfesteem.com/talk/996/branding-internet-marketing-lessons-from-the-wwe.htm
OK, two links in a comment is usually two more than I ever add but they seemed relevant. No doubt this comment will get hung up in your spam filter until you release it… if ever – LOL!
GREAT POST and David… please… STOP being an… (ROTFL now)
Gary Simpson
TEMPLE
Hi Gary,
Thanks for leaving me such a great comment!
Judging by the link to your first post, it seems I got off pretty lightly compared to the barrage of abuse you got, not once, but several times by the same person!
Surprisingly, despite two links, the comment managed to avoid the spam filter. Akisment must have known it was from you, haha!
David
Hi David,
I must say that four times a day is way too much in selling affiliate stuff. I have similar experience with facebook where some people who added me and after i accepted them would put tons of new feeds and even PM trying to sell me stuff.
It’s best if we get to know others first before being pitched about anything because people will think “so who the hell are you” kind of thoughts and it’s very easy for people to hate you when your first message is to sell them something.
Anyway, that’s just my experience so far and i believe that we go to Twitter and facebook for the experience that should be enjoyable.
Huddson Lee
Hi Huddson,
Thank you for the comment. I have learned this the hard way and won’t be giving the hard sell on Twitter. I should go down the Perry Belcher route and instead of just sending people to the sales page, send them to a video of me talking about it and explaining the benefits. That seems to be more the “social media” way of doing things.
David
Wow – this has evoked some comments!
To get my two pennies in for what its worth I think the selling or even JV giveaways through Social Forums kind of falls into Alex’s category of “chasing the money” – which I have tried, though not getting banned or abused has not proved to be fruitfull.
I have also tracked people I know to be succesful in internet marketing on Twitter/Facebook and noticed that they tend to ramble on about their personal lives and what they are generally up to rather than directly touting their business interests, essentially keeping their names out there.
Indeed the ones that always try to sell you something (and there are many out there) even I find annoying so I can see that creating the funnel effect where people come to you for a specific thing is the answer and keeping the forums for the prupose of retaining a market presence.
Hi Peter,
Thank you for the comment. I know, the response to this blog post has been great – I knew annoying people on Twitter was a great idea (not really)!
I agree with you on your “chasing the money” comment. Old habits die hard.
I will concentrate more on putting out good content on Twitter and interacting more rather than trying to pitch.
David
Hey David,
Awesome post. Thanks for sharing so honestly about your Twitter experience. I think this post will help a lot of people who want to learn how to use Twitter effectively for their business. Twitter is also cracking down so things like tweeting out the same message over and over or following/unfollowing a lot of tweeps can get your account banned so you need to be careful.
As others commented I use Twitter to network and get people to my web properties vs. trying to make a direct sale from a tweet. I’ve found that to be more effective than just scheduling a bunch of tweet with an affiliate link.
There are also a lot of so-called out experts out there but in the end you have to use Twitter as you see fit. The negative reactions you received recently would make me re-consider but that’s only up to you of course.
Keep rockin’ and tweeting.
Alan
Hi Alan,
Well, this is what the blog is for, to chart the ups and downs as I finally (!) make it as a successful internet marketer. I am going to try and ramp up my Twitter useage even more than I have done so far but I will have to find the right balance between spending too much time on there “interacting” with people and concentrating on the things that actually make me money!
David
Hey David,
I feel your pain. I haven’t used Twitter a whole lot. I am just now learning how powerful of a tool that it really is. When I first signed up, I followed about 3,000 people in a matter of about 2 weeks. I then proceeded to advertise every affiliate link that I could grab. I don’t think it generated one sale! I was probably the biggest Asshole at the party. I’ve since learned that I just need to be social with people and occassionally, they may enjoy some of the things that I recommend. I’m not selling stuff anymore, I am recommending things that I like and use.
Matt
Hi Matt,
I think that is the way to go. Recommending quality stuff and perhaps doing it via a video where you can actually show people how it is helping you should be quite successful. Even if the person doesn’t buy at least they have had a good time watching the video, wasted a few more minutes at work and have no cause for complaints!
David
Hi David,
Time will tell, I suppose.
What a GREAT post! It came at a good time for me, I’ve JUST now signed to give ‘this thing’ a try. FINALLY!!! Hopefully, I’ll be able to figure it out-I always swore to myself that I didn’t need to learn it, because I was never going to join it.
Your blog is awesome…I am TRULY impressed!
You’re headed to the top David!
Take care,
Joann
Hi Joann,
Thanks for the kind words about my blog. If you are not using Twitter yet then I recommend you get signed up straight away and start building your following. For a new blog I have found Twitter is by far the easiest method to drive targeted visitors to it.
David
Hey David,
A very interesting post, I too was planning to join a giveaway event, & Twitter is pretty much the only way I can think of to promote it. I haven’t got very many on my list yet, so that won’t work. For now I’ve put the giveaway idea off, I only have 3,600 followers, & they don’t seem all that responsive when I’ve posted IM related emails in the past, even though I have aimed at trying to get targeting followers.
But it’s probably like Josh said, I’ve been tweeting directly to a squeeze page in my tweets. I should probably try & get to know a few of them first, then maybe @ reply those people with my promotional link informing them of an offer that may interest them. Maybe that’s something you could try too.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, so that others can learn from your mistakes.
Paul.
Hi Paul,
That sounds a good idea. If you know certain followers who are definitely into IM and would be interested in joining a Giveaway then there would be nothing wrong with @replying them and telling them you are involved in this particular event.
If they want to check it out themselves then they can, but at least you are not telling them to “click here” in so many words.
No problem about sharing the experience, I expect there will be plenty more mistakes along the way as well.
David
Wow, what a cool blog.
I’ve seen your picture so often in the last few days David that I feel I already know you. You’ve been on every blog i’ve visited, every forum topic, twitter, everywhere. I’m very impressed and hope I can use the experience that you obviously have to further my own business.
With the knowledge that you seem to have do you mind me asking why you are in need of a mentor? You seem to be doing all the right things before this started.
Please visit my blog (possibly only one you haven’t been to yet, lol) and let me know. I’m quite intrigued.
Regards
Andy Michaels
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the kind words about my blog and I will definitely be paying a visit to yours. Expect a comment from me at some point over the weekend.
My plan to increase my brand is working to some extent then! I have worked hard on getting myself “out there” a bit more than I have in the past but it’s going to take a lot more work than this.
I am pretty experience in most aspects of IM, but if you check out some of my earlier blog posts you will see why I have gone down the coaching route. I have been trying to make money online the “wrong way” for as long as I can remember and doing business that way has proved more difficult over the last 12 months.
I needed a change of focus and the chance to build a real, sustainable business. So far the coaching has been a wonderful experience and it has put me in touch with some amazing “rising stars” of the internet marketing industry.
I have created friendships with people I would never have had the opportunity to if it wasn’t for the coaching and that in itself is worth the admission alone.
David
As a general rule I don’t follow anyone on Twitter who follows thousands of people – why? Because they obviously autofollow and probably won’t interact with you (the point of twitter) because they won’t see your tweets amongst all the other noise. They’re only there to broadcast.
However you’re the exception to the rule because of the way you do interact, ask questions, answer questions and generally respect the audience you’ve built up (by not treating them as an audience!). You do such a good job that I’m even willing to put aside the fact you’re a Cardiff fan!
Josh’s earlier comment is 100% correct. Don’t start using your followers as a sales marketplace, but invite them to your site with informative useful content and you’ll be surprised how many stick around to look at the salesy stuff!
Hi Matt,
I try my best to interact with whoever wants to interact with me on Twitter and despite a following of over 45,000 it’s actually quite easy. Most people who use Twitter do it only to try and sell. Generally, I don’t do this, apart from the obvious blip which saw this article come into being.
I get a lot of traffic to my blog from Twitter, without really “pushing it” so long may that continue. I look forward to speaking with you on Twitter soon!
David
David! Beautiful post, mate – you hit the nail on the head here.
It always pisses me off when I follow someone on Twitter and get a ‘thanks for following me, buy this thing!’ DM back. I’m actually going through all the people I’m following this weekend and unfollowing quite a few for spamvertising. I’m tired of seeing all that crap ever time I go to my Twitter.
I would rather read boring but honest tweets any day. Of course, I’m still getting the hang of Twitter myself, so hey – I gotta admit I’ve been the asshole at the party a time or two myself.
It’s impossible to please everyone all the time, especially on the internet. The spoken word has the benefit of added inflection and subtleties that can’t be projected with the written (or typed) word. I suppose that’s why public speaking is an acquired skill and writing is an art form, eh?
The great thing about Twitter is the great thing about any really big party – it’s one giant networking event. The bigger the party, the more likely it is that you will find someone who you can connect with on more than a superficial level. There’s a lot of people on Twitter that I ignore, and a few (yourself included) that I actually pay attention to.
Well, another fine post by you here – exactly what I’ve come to expect from your blog!
Thanks,
Brian
Hi Brian,
Thank you for leaving such a great comment!
I need to start treating Twitter more like one big party. I have a great time posting tweets and it’s awesome when the responses come flooding in. Just doing this and interacting with people on there drives lots of traffic to my blog and I am sure I can ramp this up even more without being pushy!
I leave an auto DM for people who follow me, but it’s just an invitation to take a look at my blog so I think that’s acceptable but I rarely look in my own DM box very often due to the sheer amount of “Get 10 million followers in 2 minutes” and “I added you to my Mafia Family” type messages.
You are doing a great job with your blog and I will be visiting it often.
David
Hi David,
I have found you will always get someone that complains whatever you do…..
if you have good intentions it could just be someone is jealous of you or what you are doing !!!
If you use twitter for marketing and need someone to click on a link, then tell them a story or say something like ” i have been using xyz for blogging been very useful for me its available here…….. http:/…bit.ly
If you drive people to a squeeze page all the time you will lose your followers……
I recommend anyone that uses my software at Autotweeting.com to only put one link in 5 messages for auto post messages, the rest of the time you should be actively talking and interacting with people to build trust and form a relationship.
Twitter is great to start relationships, then drive them away from twitter to your blog.. this is where your selling should be.
Good Luck
mark Terrell
Hi Mark,
You make some good points there. I will just direct people from Twitter to various pages on my blog from now on rather than to a sales or squeeze page. I need to set up more auto post messages as well but will also be doing loads of interacting on Twitter.
I just want my account to become even more active than it is already to try and spread the word about my blog to even more people!
David
Hi,David,
I am a student of Alex as well. I never made any selling on Twitter, but suddenly found that some people are asking me to drop them a link to the product I was talking about.I usually provide link to my new post or somebody’s post and have to say honestly, never was reading the feedback.I simply didn’t know how I can do this if I have over 2,500 folowers.I do not know how you can do it either when having over 40K of followers.
But it should be done some way.I am not sure Perry Belcher is watching what somebody from his 104K of followers is writing to him.Hi is working bulk job.In one direction only like TV advertising.
Hi Anatoly,
That sounds great – you are obviously “selling” the right way on Twitter then if you have people asking you for the links to the products you are discussing!
I think Perry Belcher has Twitter and other social media nailed. He “gets it” and even though he has a 100k+ following, it is still easy to interact and respond to the people who contact him. I manage just fine with a 45k+ following.
Sure, I don’t see what everyone says all the time in their Twitter stream, but if anyone takes the time to respond to a question I put out there or who @reply’s me for any reason then it’s easy enough to identify and then respond to.
David
Well,
I know twitter can be really hard to promote on it,
but guess what! you can attract them by using the “Right Keywords”
What I mean that you make it attractive as a headline not a promotion, to be honest I think I rarely promote on twitter except if it is my blog or anything that really deserve it, and when I make it, I try to make it not so ** PROMOTIONAL** instead I try to explain what exactly will they see when they enter the site.
Great post David, and your blog is really lovely
Yours
Mohamed Hammad
Hi Mohamed,
You make some good points there. I think I am going to have to work on my tweets – there’s only so much you can say in 140 characters but I am not going to be too cryptic or controversial because it just causes people to complain.
Thank you for the kind words about my blog – feel free to drop by at any time!
David
Sounds like stupid people who speak before they know what they’re talking about. It’s a good thing to lose them as a follower.
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