I agree with your comments too… not good.

(2 pots of coffee is not a good thing!)

Best,
Justin

As for the kid story, you did fine. It was relevant to our discussion much like at a cocktail party when the discussion moves to visual aides, picture time, showing off cell phones etc.

We all want to share our story and have others connect to our story – that's the underlying motivation (always). Consider that the base of the social media version of Mazlow's hierarchy. Self serving – sure, but so is survival

Thanks for stopping by!

Best,
Justin

Thanks for this post and for saving me the same fate. I am sure I will have this same aha moment and “look forward” ( not really but you know what I mean ) , to sharing it with you!
… but wait… do I have that moment already? … we shared some kid stories on a Saturday so I invited you to my blog… of course I wanted you to read it cuz you are the man… and you did… but in honesty I suppose there was a self serving motive… hmm food for thought…

I agree with your comments too… not good.

(2 pots of coffee is not a good thing!)

Best,
Justin

As for the kid story, you did fine. It was relevant to our discussion much like at a cocktail party when the discussion moves to visual aides, picture time, showing off cell phones etc.

We all want to share our story and have others connect to our story – that's the underlying motivation (always). Consider that the base of the social media version of Mazlow's hierarchy. Self serving – sure, but so is survival

Thanks for stopping by!

Best,
Justin

Thanks for this post and for saving me the same fate. I am sure I will have this same aha moment and “look forward” ( not really but you know what I mean ) , to sharing it with you!
… but wait… do I have that moment already? … we shared some kid stories on a Saturday so I invited you to my blog… of course I wanted you to read it cuz you are the man… and you did… but in honesty I suppose there was a self serving motive… hmm food for thought…

It's awesome that you are being so incredibly transparent and sharing your story for all to read. I agree with Justin that there are many who could learn from this.

I've been meaning to write a similar post – well, not entirely similar but def on the subject of engagement. I saw a horrible interaction the other day of @FakeNameA tweeting about McDonald's. @FakeNameB replied about McDonalds. @FakeNameA says something to the effect of – glad I got your attention, will you promote my book to your followers? And I'll do same for you.

I did not see a reply from @FakeNameB – it is possible he moved convo to DM – but that was absolutely horrific to see what @FakeNameA had initially said — how can you ask someone to “sell” your book to their followers if they haven't even read it?

Okay, I digress.

BTW, I can't even remember if I left a comment on that post…it's been a busy last few weeks…apparently I'm trying to prove that a human can live off of two pots of coffee per day.

Have a great weekend!

So, you should know that I've been following you for a while on twitter. I am also a Marketing Prof subscriber since ('04 or '05). I feel like I know you a little already so thanks for sharing your perspective. What you are saying is very accurate actually. The 140 character limit was indeed a restraint that forced multiple tweets. Many of the people that got the original set of @ messages were responsive and indeed pleased to find out how my presentation went.

Up to now, about 6 hours later, @unmarketing was the only verbal nay sayer.

BUT, how many times have you had a horrible meal at a wonderful restaurant and decided to never go back (without ever telling your waiter or the chef that your meal was a disappointment)?

What @unmarketing did was skipped all the bs and walked straight into the kitchen and told the chief “I don't know whats going on here, but looks like you're food sucks and I don't like it”. So, what's the Chef to do? Be mad, cuss, fire somebody? Or sit back and consider where the failure occurred? Like a great Chef (and business owner), I want to know.

You are right. All the prep was done, the presentation made, the video posted, the relationships bubbling. The misfire was thinking a few people like @unmarketing were already connected to me. Like mass direct mail, I treated @unmarketing the same way as @mmangen and that's where the problem was. @mmangen was waiting for my message where as @unmarketing saw it as junk and then called me out for treating him like a target (a mark) instead of someone to build a relationship with (which was the implied promise).

Did I think my message to @unmarketing was going to be well received – yes. Did I think Scott was going to find that cool, interesting, and consider me a part of the marketing / social media club. Yes. I did. Which is why it hit me the way it did when those assumptions led me astray. Turned out, Scott was 98% sure he never wanted me anywhere close to the social media club.

As an overall test – big picture, the original push was fine. The message got out as planned and another marketer did his job. If I was on someones clock for this, I could report the number of messages etc and it would all pass as acceptable on paper. Call it a 1% response rate on mass mail. The truth is, @unmarketing made this into something bigger than I could have done on my own. And if he, as an upset customer would have never burst into the kitchen to tell me my food sucked, I would have never known, never made adjustments and I would have had another “so so” day of “sales”. And worse, I may have repeated that day over and over, slowly running off every quality prospect/customer I attracted to the restaurant – never knowing why.

The success, as I see it, really does stem from me being able to recognize the fail and address it – promptly and then deliver on my word. Essentially, when you eat at Leader4hire's restaurant, the good food is good and you can count on it. If its not good, I want to know, and I'll do everything I can to make it right.

In general terms, I did not fail. But who wants to meet “general” expectations? Not me. And I suspect not you either Beth. Or you, the person just now reading this.

Let's pretend a moment (since I don't know you and this post came my via via folks I follow).

The situation could be that you have done your research, you have listened, you have built relationships, etc. (all the unwritten 'social media' rules…ugh) and now it was time to implement a plan that included a speaking engagement, taped because your potential clients, community, followers, your mom, whoever, asked you to. You do and you think it might also be information worth sharing with others and perhaps drive some conversation, share of voice, etc. your way. Then you reach out to those people in several tweets because of the limited 140-characters. As part of your outreach, you take a chance on including someone new… Only to find out the rest of your community is fine with the tweets except this one guy.

Do you call “fail” on a plan because of that? I don't think so…

As marketers we test, we take chances, we explore… And personally I have a real issue with doing all that up front work and pulling a campaign or crying fail because someone with potential 'influence' cries wolf (think Pepsi, Motrin, Tropicana).

The lesson here for any organization that utilizes social media as a channel within their integrated plan isn't that they failed, it's that the test failed (i.e. you took a chance to promote to someone who isn't a follower). Take in the feedback, address it, learn and move on…but don't cry fail.

Yes, yes, I know…people have a voice they will use it, etc. etc. But the fact remains that sometimes “push” messaging on social networks is required and does work! Let's not scare folks away from that, okay? (Now, I am not saying be a spammer or only push messages…)

Not all followers will find value in what you tweet…and that's fine. We are far from being able to quantify our followers (unless some marketing nerd out there is using an Excel spreadsheet to capture the information of each and every follower) and therefore influence based on follower count is a mistake.

My point? Think about the big picture here and for future. Know that people in a social space won't always agree with you. That's okay and it's expected, but it only really matters if they are your potential customer, client, etc. People who affect your bottom line at the end of the day — those are the people you should be worried about and listen to.

Beth Harte
Community Manager, MarketingProfs
@bethharte

This post was mentioned on Twitter by unmarketing: I called him out, he turned it around. Well played @Leader4hire 5 Tips on How to not fail on Twitter http://bit.ly/7iKCYS...

My twitter 'handle' is @wakeupeager

Seeing All the Best, and So Much More for You!
Suzie Price
@wakeupeager

Our worlds collide with other people's worlds every day. You are right, most of us never see it, we are so transfixed on our own agenda.

Trust me, if you are new to twitter, you've just seen grudgy dirty stinky engine that runs it. Now you know how to keep your engine clean and humming along. Welcome to the twittersphere friend. And follow me @leader4hire I'd love to see your 101 tweets

Love @Leader4hire's story – most of us never really see ourselves and how we impact others…

Without meaning to we just amble along doing our 'thing', usually with good intentions that often include our own agenda. Thrown in the mix our insecurities come along (we all have 'em at times…) for the ride. Most of us never pay attn. to how we're impacting others or to the idea that we could do something different, better or to a higher calling.

Love that @Leader4hire IS paying attention and he's even sharing it with the world. “Egg' on face and all. Now THAT's what I call a leader!

Love that @unmarketing is holding the vision of relationship, connection and adding value – for us all to remember and guide ourselves by a higher standard of authenticity and being real. He knows, and helps us know, that this paradox is true – when we 'unsell' and/or 'unmarket' – by focusing on value and connection, the strides we make in life, leadership and sales are exponential.

It's called not coming from a place of need, but from abundance – and enough-ness. (is that a word??)

Anyway – appreciate you and this post. I'm new in the Twitter world (only 101 tweets) so I am learning. Thanks to you both for lighting the way!

“When you send out the same tweet 5 or 6 time to different people… including those who weren't in conversation with, it's going down a slippery slope.”

Thats the Extra Bonus Tip to this lesson. Much shorter than I would have said. *grin*

As I said Scott, your advice in general is good, and as it turned out in a very micro way, it was also specifically good for Justin's interaction with you.

Oh, and BTW – Hi! I'm @PhillyMac and I follow you on twitter too Nice to have a conversation!

The internet is a funny place.

I didn't miss anything Phillip. He wasn't having a conversation with me. I didn't follow him at the time. We weren't having a conversation about this at all. When you send out the same tweet 5 or 6 time to different people, telling them to go see your own video, including those who weren't in conversation with, it's going down a slippery slope.

BUT where Scott's personal experience and our group wisdom shines through is the fact that he wasn't yet my friend (in his mind). For whatever reason (the title of his book), a stranger (me) got his attention and it felt authentic (for a moment) until he reviewed my twitter stream. And then, the engagement with him was over. Like a guy claiming his prize for being the lucky winner, he was crushed to see dozens of other 'lucky' winners. And for him, he saw it as a scam for his attention.

I of course never predicted that, but now…. now I (we all) know better and can consider the behavior of social attention getting actions…. if it includes too many farther out of our 'friends' circle it starts looking suspicious and no longer sincere (buzzword authentic)..

Having said all that, thanks for the post – I like your story and it accurately reflects my original intention

First, I can't tell you how many times I multiple @ people that I know on twitter for various purposes. I don't consider that spam. I'm not filling their DMs with useless links to things. I'm letting them know, in public so my other users can see, that I think something is important – of enough value – etc. – to let them know about it. They're my phritters (phriends of PhillyMac on twitter). If they can't handle getting an @ from me, they should long know they've got the wrong guy.

Second, while @unmarketing made a valid point (if you have to say it…) I don't think you were “spamming” because – as @unmarketing missed – you WERE having conversations with these people and it wasn't spam to start. Really, you never needed to make the apology if you were already engaged with your followers, as it seems for all purposes, you are.

Great teaching opportunity? Sure. A way to prove you're a nice guy and you can take constructive criticism? Sure. But, really, I never saw a need for you to apologize.

Lastly, let's be honest here. These days almost anyone with a significant following is on twitter for a reason. Most of what we do (including our interesting tweets, links to good articles, etc.) is self-serving. Even for those of us like me – who started out when we did tweets with chisels on tablets and only talked with our “friends” – have looked to twitter to connect with people for other reasons such as business. If we (or anyone else with over 2k followers) wasn't doing it for other reasons, we'd have a private account with a follower list of 200 or less we could readily keep track of.

So, while I think @unmarketing's points are valid on the whole, and his recommendations on not spamming, not being vainly self-serving and engaging with your following are all valid on the whole, I think maybe this was a case where you were perfectly fine. That's my story and I'm sticking to it

PS I followed a link from @unmarketing's tweet to this page btw

I'm just glad to have been able to experience this turn in the story – otherwise I would have kept repeating this behavior.

Now, a bigger story and a better lesson. Thanks for a being a part it.

It never occured to me that I was not yet visible to you. You have so many tweets all the time and I'm just one of many. However for me, I was “always” seeing you. Thanks for sharing what your perspective was. Others need to know that guys like you are often a tool for an agenda. I was just trying to connect (poorly)

Thanks for the connection and the kind words about my presentation. I'm glad you replied to me and believe me, I really did want you to engage. Thanks for the engagement!

Let the fun begin!

Thus, in the end, you gained more exposure by “doing it wrong” and then (publicly) admitting it (and fixing it) than you would have by ignoring your criticism.

I know a lot of people — and businesses — who could learn from that anecdote. And I think you just lived the newest slide in your *next* social media presentation.

I get tweeted stuff all the time as well as DM's asking me to send out their stuff. One of the common things is for people to put me in the “@” reply so I'll see it.

I appreciate people sharing stuff with me that I may find interesting. the problem is when it becomes one of two things: self-serving or part of a mass spreading.

So I see a tweet from someone I've never seen before, and our first interaction is you telling me, as part of a group to go check out your video on social media. It especially stuck in my craw since you said “I invite you to engage” and it was a video of you speaking. Engage is my world, and the subtitle of my book Since I went to your page and saw the exact tweet sent to others. I pretty say “thanks for the invite to watch and share your video. Very touching”

Get to know me first, I'm a nice guy, really. And to be honest, your video is good and I'm sure people can learn from it and it's something I would be happy to share if I know you. Hence build the relationship first.

I don't usually reply to most people that do this, but didn't think you had bad intentions, and this blog post confirms it Most people just argue with me and say that's how they do Twitter, or tell me I'm an ass. Nice to see something came out of it. Others can learn from this and you.

Following you now, and looking forward to building a relationship