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What NOT to do on Twitter

by Dana_W
38 replies
This mini-rant is inspired by someone on my Twitter list. Handy tip for affiliate marketers:

When you join Twitter, it is a SOCIAL networking community. If you have a name on there which, say, is something like MakesLotsOMoney - and that's not a specific name that I've seen, but I have seen several that are close - and you also have a picture of money as your avatar...

You have a strike against you right there. People on Twitter want to talk to actual people.

And then if, on top of that, you send direct messages and tweets that link to a clickbank product...you're an idiot. And people will unfollow you and not buy from you.

I promote a couple of clickbank products, but I would never try to do it on Twitter.

There are a lot of great ways to use Twitter, but spamming people with Clickbank links is not one of them.
#twitter
  • Profile picture of the author countonuspr
    Very good points. I couldn't agree more with you. I am going to go make a Twitter entry now!
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    • Profile picture of the author David_Thompson
      Dana, I don't think these people have a lot of followers
      they mostly follow others.

      I think people that are twittering have way too much
      affiliate links, it's like every other tweet has an affiliate
      link in it, that is bad...

      --David
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    • Profile picture of the author Staff QuayWords
      Good thoughts Dana.

      I dumped someone recently as they were tweeting POLITICS way too often...

      I cut them some slack for a while, but had to give in and cut them loose.

      Now following you

      Graeme (QuayWords)

      Twitter / quaywords
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  • Profile picture of the author EndGame
    Totally 100% agree.

    I wouldn't limit this rant to people with cash based names and avatars. There are some among their number stupid enough to use their real name and Warrior photos to spam twitter constantly every time a product launch comes a long. It's annoying, and poor marketing. If you have to scrape the bottom of the barrel like that, you shouldn't be in this business at all. By all means promote yourself and other people's stuff, but remember as the OP has mentioned it's a SOCIAL network. Just because the no. of characters you can have is limited, doesn't mean you can get away with constantly posting spam and affiliate links.
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  • Profile picture of the author alfardo
    Twitter is an amazing tool and used the right way will enable you to stay in touch with your niche and build a healthy relationship with them. Build trust and they will follow.
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    • Profile picture of the author SethDaley
      Thank YOU!
      I was just thinking that myself after receiving a direct message from someone by the name of CashCows... This is breaking rule #1 in a social community...

      It reminds me of a friend who was in Amway that would interrupt every conversation with... "Oh, you need toothpaste? Amway has really good toothpaste!"
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      • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
        Originally Posted by SethDaley View Post

        Thank YOU!
        I was just thinking that myself after receiving a direct message from someone by the name of CashCows... This is breaking rule #1 in a social community...

        It reminds me of a friend who was in Amway that would interrupt every conversation with... "Oh, you need toothpaste? Amway has really good toothpaste!"
        And I bet you weren't friends for long...

        I should clarify that I do check to see who is following me, but I follow ALMOST everyone back. I did not follow the gay male porn site Twitter that followed me, and I blocked them from following me. There was somebody promoting a "water 4 gas" product by using avatars of barely dressed girls and then spamming people with these Tweets "Julie tried it and loved it, so I tried it and I love it too!" with a link to the product... so I make it a point to check the avatars now and if they look like an ad for a strip club I don't follow them.

        But I usually give people the benefit of the doubt.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    You're probably right, David. I tend to follow everyone who follows me - until they give me a reason not to, like filling up my Twitter page with 10 affiliate Tweets in rapid succession...

    I would assume that most of these people will see no success on Twitter and will go away...but new ones will probably come along.

    It's like an autoresponder series. The ones that just send me link after link of "buy this great product NOW before it sells out and you end up in a poorhouse that would make Oliver Twist shudder!" - I get bored and unsubscribe. The ones that send me one affiliate link every five or six emails...and the rest of the emails have good information...I can live with that. And sometimes I will buy from them.
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    • Profile picture of the author Staff QuayWords
      Actually,

      I don't use Twittter to follow tweets now.

      I've been using, in beta testing, SocialThings.com which gathers a number of social feeds into one.

      I have one 'invite' left if anyone would like it? - I'd just need your email address to forward it to.

      Otherwise, I'm also using Google's HelloTxt.com with good results.

      Currently, posting updates to multiple social feed channels using HelloTxt.com, and monitoring feeds using SocialThing.com. I'm sure one will fall by the wayside as one outperforms the other.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
        I now double check those that follow me before I follow them back. If the twitter name appears real I'll check them out and if they appear legit and interesting I'll follow back. If they're following 6,000 people and have no one following them that's a spammer red flag and I won't follow. And like Dana said if I get an email notification that MakeLotsAMoney is following me that email will be deleted. No interest in following them. :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Helen Doherty
    I found that Twittering a poem line by line for the Tweet-a-Thon lost me a handful followers. Not that I'm too bothered. Thanks to Dr Mani, my passion for poetry is back.

    Not that I will tweet another one, but my Purpose of a Porpoise was a classic.

    I get people asking to follow me who tweet in another language, que?!!

    They can follow me if they like, but I won't follow back.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
      Originally Posted by Helen Doherty View Post

      I found that Twittering a poem line by line for the Tweet-a-Thon lost me a handful followers. Not that I'm too bothered. Thanks to Dr Mani, my passion for poetry is back.

      Not that I will tweet another one, but my Purpose of a Porpoise was a classic.

      I get people asking to follow me who tweet in another language, que?!!

      They can follow me if they like, but I won't follow back.
      I get that too - it's so odd. I mean, followers who Tweet only in Chinese or Portuguese...I would actually love it if someone developed a Twitter translator because it would be fascinating. But at the moment I don't follow back because there's no point.
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      • Profile picture of the author Elmer Hurlstone
        Dana,

        You are my "Twitterroo" (twitter guru)!

        Before reading your book I knew only that twitter existed and there was a fair amount of buzz surrounding it.

        I'm not the most social person in the world, yet I find it an interesting thing to do. The idea of a short comment or observation appeals. Protracted conversations are best left for forums.

        Affiliate links are fine--in e-mails to your list! That's expected.

        SethDaly's analogy about MLM'ers in social settings is great. "One-topic" people should be avoided on twitter as well as in real life.

        They are uni-dimensional and out of context!

        Nice mini-rant, "Ms. Tweeteroo!"

        Elmer
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        • Profile picture of the author grumpyjacksa
          iv'e just been gathering info on twitter today........

          thanx a lot !
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    Do you guys think that any affiliate links on Twitter are acceptable? If, every half a dozen Tweets, someone sends out a Tweet like "This is what I've been working on lately" or "Let me help you build a huge list" and then includes a link to their OWN product it doesn't bother me.
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    Hi Dana (my first follower!)

    I would say no. Although new to Twitter, it very much seems to be about what YOU are doing personally.

    Try it and see!

    Cheers,

    Neil
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
    Spamming would seem impossible on Twitter, considering that the only people who see what you write are those who sign up to follow you or choose to read your profile.

    Who is forcing you to read their stuff?
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  • Profile picture of the author CaptainLou
    I've got my iPhone set up to receive Twitter and Facebook DMs as instant text messages. A couple of days ago, an A-List marketer you all know (and friend of mine) discovers social networking and starts blasting out multiple DM's with links promoting his latest and greatest....one after the other...and I'm going holy crap this is costing me 25 cents per text!

    Either I unfollow him right away or reconfigure my iPhone!

    :-( Lou
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    • Profile picture of the author jbsmith
      I've noticed my twitter following grow allot in the last few days - what I've doing is posting 4-5 times a day with solid tips and content I've found as I monitor my market. Once in a while (probably one in 20 posts I'll throw in a link for my own products), but they are in context of sharing an experience, case study or tip not worded as a useless ad.

      So yes, I think it's ok to have a link to your own or an affiliate product once in a while IF you are still adding value.

      The way I like to do it is create a blog post where I tell people about a technique or strategy I used from a product - including the result - if it's relevant, then I'll tweet about it linking back to the blog posting NOT directly to the affiliate product.

      It's simple, if there's value, people continue to read, if not - it's easy enough to stop following.

      Jeff
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    That's what I think, Jeff. I do see some business people on there who post links to their products from time to time in a non offensive way. At least it doesn't offend me.

    Wow, CaptainLou, that would seriously tick me off if I ended up having to pay 10 or 15 bucks extra in text messages because of affiliate link message blasting. Yes, that person would be unfollowed very quickly.
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Duxbury
      Dana

      I had just read this thread and went to take a look at Twitter. I laughed when I saw that some idiot had hit me with consecutive affiliate links to some product that is currently being launched - unfollow followed swiftly :-)

      Take care

      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author Arindam Chakraborty
    That is true of just about any social networking and social bookmarking site, Dana. Neither the site owners nor members appreciate blatant promotion (isn't the same true for the WF too? Just kidding )

    Also, from my personal experience, whenever I need to buy a product, I either head over to Google or the WSO forum. I don't search in twitter.

    Arindam

    Originally Posted by Dana_W View Post

    This mini-rant is inspired by someone on my Twitter list. Handy tip for affiliate marketers:

    When you join Twitter, it is a SOCIAL networking community. If you have a name on there which, say, is something like MakesLotsOMoney - and that's not a specific name that I've seen, but I have seen several that are close - and you also have a picture of money as your avatar...

    You have a strike against you right there. People on Twitter want to talk to actual people.

    And then if, on top of that, you send direct messages and tweets that link to a clickbank product...you're an idiot. And people will unfollow you and not buy from you.

    I promote a couple of clickbank products, but I would never try to do it on Twitter.

    There are a lot of great ways to use Twitter, but spamming people with Clickbank links is not one of them.
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidCarter
    It amazes me how some people on Twitter seem to think that only Internet Marketers use the service. There are actually lots of 'normal' people on Twitter as well.

    I tweet IM, politics, religion, sport and other mundane matters. I take the view that if somebody doesn't want to hear what I have to say then they are free to unfollow and vice-versa.

    I don't follow people who are purely self-promotional for more than a day or so.

    The thing that really ticks me off is people that use the DM facility to spam their website. They get an instant unfollow from me
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  • Profile picture of the author kittyluver
    Will anybody share their opinion about the traffic they're getting for their blogs? I am having 60 followers, but not a single traffic...
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  • Profile picture of the author Gregg Hall
    Dana

    I TOTALLY Agree with you. There is ONE big name that frequents this forum and is a friend of mine in Facebook as well as on Twitter who CONSTANTLY spams not only Twitter but in Facebook as well. I had to start deleting his posts on my Facebook wall.

    Come on guys, just because you think you are the King of IM doesn't entitle you to spam everybody.

    Gregg
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    Dana is twitterific. Truly. It's true that she has a chocolate problem, but we overlook that about her. As long as you stay outside the arc of her machete swing when someone asks her to pay them for the "pleasure" of reviewing their ebook, you can follow her relatively unscathed.

    John
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
      So I take it that posting my affiliate link to the "Pink Meat In A Can" Of the Month Club is not going to get me a lot of followers. :rolleyes:
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    • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
      Originally Posted by Zeus66 View Post

      Dana is twitterific. Truly. It's true that she has a chocolate problem, but we overlook that about her. As long as you stay outside the arc of her machete swing when someone asks her to pay them for the "pleasure" of reviewing their ebook, you can follow her relatively unscathed.

      John
      John is definitely out there spreading the Twitter gospel!

      Sometimes I think I'm TOO social on Twitter and don't do enough business, but then I look at people who send post after post after post with just a link to their latest product...and I realize that it's better to err on the side of "too social."
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      • Profile picture of the author Shannon Herod
        Hey Dana,

        You're totally right and I agree wholeheartedly.

        I will instantly unfollow anyone who is using this sort of behavior and using that kind of avatar.

        Shannon
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeRogers
    The one thing I check religiously when deciding to follow someone on Twitter is whether or not they interact with others. That will almost always give you some insight as to how they intend to use the service.

    Twitter is a great resource and I have bought some good products that were recommended through links... But, the thing to remember is that it was intended as a "Social" networking site first and foremost and not an email marketing gimmick.

    Good post, Dana

    Mike
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  • Profile picture of the author Ross Dalangin
    I totally agree because there are so many super affiliates and product creators at twitter. I feel the right way is to put it in your site and if someone ask then tell him the link. Again, if they will ask only. Be a buddy and not a spammy
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  • Profile picture of the author DougBarger
    Good post Dana.

    I decided to follow all who were following me after I read it and it's actually more fun to follow. :-)

    For anyone who doesn't know about this little twitter hack,

    Twitter Search

    You can enter in a keyword for the topics you're interested in and find people in real time tweetin' 'bout it.

    Thought it was cool.

    Also, on Chris's blog over at EA I discovered you can have all your newest articles auto tweeted @ EzineArticles Expert Authors on Twitter

    Isn't that stuff cool?

    Gotta go eat dinner and then..wait in the forum. Lol.

    In that case, think "niche" w/that search tool and "views" w/the article feeds while still keeping it social of course.

    Really do have to go to dinner.

    Later warriors and warrioresses and I'll follow you if you follow me.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
    Twitter is fun, and I agree that you should not link to affiliate sales etc. Before choosing to follow someone, I always take a quick look at their tweets to make sure they are not twitterspammers. It's very easy to tell.
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  • Profile picture of the author braver55b
    Thanks Dana for your mini rant:-)

    Those are all good points, in other words, don't be to salesy and shove stuff in people's faces.
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  • Profile picture of the author jasondinner
    I personally don't see anything wrong with recommending
    a product in your tweet...

    ... but as long as you don't abuse your privilege.

    For example, I offered a bonus for a recent launch and tweeted
    about it a few times.

    I don't see anything wrong with it.

    I also tweet about meaningless stuff too like how I stole
    2 bases last night during my baseball game

    But yeah, the people that don't post a pic of themselves
    or their real name are kind of annoying and don't even
    realize that they are shooting themselves in the foot.

    Nobody wants to follow somebody that they can't see
    or check out somehow.

    My 2 cents
    Jason
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  • Profile picture of the author logosi
    Twitter is fairly new to me, but liking it. Got a gift from Ray Edwards for becoming a follower of his. Liked that idea, so created one of my own that I give out to followers. I tell them in my direct to them... no list, no upsell, just a free gift. Just did it first time this morning, so we'll see how it's received. Sent one to Drunken Greek, we'll see what he says
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