Before I begin condemning automated tools and services that allow you to automatically followback people and other businesses on Twitter, I want to distinguish the difference between tools that you can use for free, or for a small fee, to help you develop your followers and automatic following tools and worthless tools.
There are many services that can save you time and help you identify new folks to follow that are a big plus to your social networking campaigns, and there are some great tools that can be used for research or to help you make brain-driven decisions about who to follow or not follow.
I am not talking about those types of tools, in this article, I am specifically talking about automated tools that you set up once and then blindly follow back anyone and everyone who follows you.
- Should I Use Twitter for My Business?
- About.com\’s Guide to Twitter
- How Many People Use Twitter?
Why are auto follow tools so detrimental to your website marketing?
Auto followback tools are not only lazy and ineffective when it comes to building a real community of followers, but they can also be detrimental to your brand:
- Here is one reason: you will end up following porn and other offensives sites.
- Here is another: you will follow bot accounts — and lots of them. Bot accounts are fake accounts that can drag your social networks down.
- Here is one more reason: It’s lazy and is no way to build real relationships with real people. If you are paying a marketing company to social network your business who uses autofollowers you are simply paying them to sit back and let your Twitter world implode.
Here is an example of one of hundreds of bot Twitter accounts that follow me: @rsilver67 (last checked on July 15, 2014). The immediate giveaway: 0 Tweets but following over 200 accounts (8 accounts followed back.)
When I encounter a bot, spammer, or adult site following me, not only do I not follow them back, but I block them. I don’t want my Tweets being associated with anyone who is not on the up-and-up.
- Should I Follow Everyone Who Follows Me on Twitter?
- Auto Following: Risks and Rewards on Twitter
- What Is Twitter Auto Follow on Twitter and How Does it Work?
Practical Advice for Developing A Twitter Community Of Your Own
The first bit of advice is that who you decide to follow is a personal choice and you should not feel obligated to follow back everyone who follows you.
While I do appreciate that many lazy marketers and business owners use tools like \»Just Unfollow\» to automatically or systematically unfollow people who do not follow back, you probably don\’t want to be following those accounts anyhow.
Why not? It\’s simple: People (and businesses) that will only follow you based on what you can do for them are not likely to do much for you.
You can follow them back, but people who build a following just for the numbers are not likely to retweet, favorite, or mention you. They tend to be big on building numbers and not on engagement. That is, they tend to be more interested in building their own Twitter kingdoms than they are in participating in the Twitter community of which you are a part of.
- Should You Use Auto Follow on Twitter?
- 13 Ways to Get More Twitter Followers
- Twitter The Old Fashioned Way — Human To Human
- Hootsuite for Managing Multiple Twitter Accounts
DO try to connect with people who are most likely to interact with you or, whose own followers are actively engaging and related in some way. For example, I might not follow a business that only tweets their own updates and therefore, is not likely to favorite or retweet our clients even if we \»share the love” with them unless I am seriously interested in what they are doing.
However, even if someone is not likely to engage directly (i.e., favorite or retweet your updates even if you do theirs), I may still decide to follow an account that has a wide reach (good followers of their own who may see your tweets and may respond), or whose information is worthy of sharing with your own audience (i.e., local government news, SCOTUS, etc.)
This is another reason why I dislike and do not use auto follow tools – even legitimate (non robot) accounts may simply want you to follow them, promote them, and not be willing to reciprocate. I think about give and take when building valuable relationships online — auto tools cannot make such determinations, only people can.
Bear in mind that Twitter throttles account activity based on the ratio of people you follow to those that follow you. For example, you could be throttled (not allowed to follow or followback any more people until the ratio changes) if you are following 2,000 people and only 1,200 are following you.
To follow new accounts you will have to either get more followers of your own, or unfollow other accounts — a practice Twitter suggests you employ very judiciously because unfollow too many accounts at once or over a period of time and Twitter will suspend or revoke your account.
- Twitter Scheduling Tools that Make Life Easier
- Free Twitter Analytics Tools For Tracking Everything
- Twitter vs Facebook for Business — Which Is Better?
Tips for Deciding Who to Follow, and Who to Follow Back On Twitter
- Do not use tools to automatically follow back anyone who follows you.
- Do take the time to carefully evaluate all followers to decide who to follow back.
- Do not follow spam accounts, robots, or accounts that are posting offensive, inappropriate, or strictly personal tweets.
- Do give yourself permission to make personal choices and if you do not want to follow someone back, then just don\’t.
