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[Josh Thomas Contribution Level: 3]

Note: I posted this and then realized that there were already two other posts on basically the same topic. Sorry for apparently being unoriginal.
I got Mike's email yesterday about Twitter, and it
really kind of validated an unstated feeling I have
on this current craze.

The gist of his message was the impersonal nature of
auto-follows and the cluttered mess that thousands
of followers create. If everyone follows everyone, is
anyone really listening? The result is that he is going to
unfollow about 10,000 people whom he does not actually
know.

I applaud this bold move and hopefully it brings about some change.

I got on Twitter because everyone was telling me that
I HAD to be on there. I sat in on a couple of training
webinars from JBudd and Lead System Pro showing me
all of the cool things I could do with it. I learned how to
target my follows to network marketing terms, how to write
Auto-DM replies and autofollows, how to thwack people
with Twitter Karma. The list goes on...

I learned how to create a stealth account that only follows
popular marketers I respect, and in the same breath, I learned
how to find and follow people based on the followers of popular
marketers that I respect. It seems that this message caught on...

my stealth account numbers: Following 11, Followers 69

My question is this...where's the value? Everyone who purports
to be a twitter expert tells us all that we should add 50 people
per day. Are we really connecting with these people? I have a lot
of respect for the folks who share this message, but is it the right one?

I soon found a blog by Jesse Stay, the creator of "Social Too". He
finally decided enough was enough on the Auto-DMs and removed
that feature from his service. He also allowed users to block
Auto-DMs, a service I bucked but eventually adopted to my glee!

Seriously, there are only so many
"Hey thanks for the follow, you're so cool" 's I can take.

My primary account has 457/364. I haven't been on there for at
least a week, but when I was, my experience was frustrating to
say the least....

I post comments and questions that get ignored.
I give valuable and relevant links that do not get clicked.
I respond to others' tweets that do not receive a reply.

Truth is, so many people have been taught how to automate
the whole process, so many new tools help us become robots
who follow robots, so much contradictory information is out there,
that Twitter has become almost unusable to the common networker.

Twitter trainings are a dime a dozen really. Just show people how
to use TweetLater and Twollo, and BAM, you're an expert. But is
anyone out there showing you how to be a human being? How to
provide value to the community? What value do these tools have?

So, I'm going to jump on board with Mike, Jesse and the new
Twitter revolution of bringing back its usefulness. I spend
enough time by myself in real life, I don't want to get on
Twitter and do it some more.

Not suggesting that you blanket unfollow, but really consider
who you connect with and why. I would say a good rule of
thumb would be to only follow people you know from some
other place.

And if you are doing Auto-DM's, it's time to let go. Nobody reads them.
If you're tired of Auto-DM's, block them HERE.

---Here's hoping to reclaim Twitter for the humanoids...

Insert your objections/death threats below.

[Mike Klingler Contribution Level: 7]

You don't know everyone on your email list. You can use Twitter in a similar fashion as you do your email list (but with some added benefits)--I will make a comparison and share my results below. True, they are not the same. Email is more qualified, typically. I think of Twitter as my pre-email list.

I see the points of the opposing argument -- They are similar to what I felt about people going in and just inadvertently 'friending' everyone here at BN without reason. But I think there is a difference. Twitter can be used as a fishing pool, by which you can...

1. follow people to help increase exposure opportunity and then from there...
2. offer value and interaction to 'attract out' a growing target audience through conversational selling, attractive value content, and social proof elements.

It is THAT group you attract to your Replies inbox, blog posts, lead capture pages, sales pages and who call you (if you invite them to) where you are gaining the QUALITY relationships, leads and sales.

I'll give an example of getting a short spot on TV (mass exposure of which most people watching will NOT be interested) and show how that can benefit you just as it does to grow a very large following on Twitter through exposure opportunities, of which you can then 'attract' quality through the quantity. So, for me, it's not an issue of quality over quantity when it comes to leveraging Twitter. It's more about attracting significantly MORE quality through leveraging quantity.

First, to illustrate why I have such a big interest in this topic, I'd like to share some recent results when promoting to a large audience with Twitter. Note as I share this, that if I had not been following large numbers of people my ability to attract QUALITY relationships as shown below would have been significantly limited.

Test:

I have an email list of about 30,000 people (32,454 at the moment to be exact)--this is my own list exclusively and doesn't include a much larger list I share with partners. Typically, I only email my own list and can compare the results I get there to when I promote through my Twitter.

My Twitter following is at about the same (37,559 at the present moment).

While an email list is said to be more valuable (and I might agree), I have been amazed to discover some recent stats when I promote a blog post through Twitter vs. through email.

Lately I've done both.

The other day I promoted an article post at Twitter and to my email list:

Results:

1671 Unique Visits from Twitter in 2 days
1483 Unique Visits from Email

I sent only one email while actually Tweeting messages quite a few times in different ways related to the article post--with TONS of conversation interaction and Re-tweeting other people's positive comments back to me in between. This is where Twitter give the advantage (social proof by Re-tweeting testimonies + interaction/conversation + repeating in different ways the original promotional tweet of the day... in this case a blog post article).

Here was the first Tweet promoting the blog post:

BIG Suggestion From Me to You (The Secret Of How I Built My First List) http://tinyurl.com/csjlqx. You can see the original Tweet & date/time stamp here - http://twitter.com/MikeKlingler/status/1332063289

To create a bit more buzz I Tweeted it another way about 40 minutes later (because people who follow a lot of people may miss my original Tweet or the copy writing may have not hit them) so I Tweeted at 10:52 AM

Building ur Biz By Yourself Is Tough..Leverage Others (Their Content, Buzz & Authority) To Get a BOOST (My Secret) http://tinyurl.com/csjlqx

Just to get MORE people involved I then threw it out about 30 minutes later this way:

I Tweeted:

Revised http://tinyurl.com/csjlqx -- So people in ANY business can "SEE" how to duplicate this strategy to ATTRACT tons of business Quickly.

I can't recall when it was but somewhere during this time I had noticed hundreds of unique visitors and over 10 or so comments already on my blog post.

Then I went into my Twitter Replies box and found dozens of comments -- from people who had read my article. Note that many of these people are people who I followed randomly. So while I agree following people with no social interaction is useless, you can follow people to gain more exposure and then from there you can create the interaction and relationship building part of it as I am describing.

So I then started copying their Tweets to me to create immediate social proof elements. Powerful stuff you can't do so fast with email.

Here are a few examples:

RT @Rose_Mis @MikeKlingler An awesome blog post http://budurl.com/6dss -- I am sharing it with Everyone I know on and off line...Thank you

RT @JuliaRymut @MikeKlingler I've been following your suggestions on your vid and it REALLY works! I've never had so much community so fast!

(I also replied to a few people and had a little 'side conversation' going on between these... like "@vesonexavier Yes, welcome Super Guide!!!! Looking forward to seeing you climb the charts!" and... "@sheenamariebee Thanks! Yah, having fun with it!")

Then, at 11:42 AM I Re-tweeted the promo of the blog post again (note that while I am doing all this I am attending to other business with phone calls inbetween, emails, and working on tasks for the day... so this is NOT all I am doing during this time). I use Twitter as often as I use the bathroom or getting a drink of water. It does not have to take up all your time here. Fast little info bursts.

11:42 AM. Tweeted:

Ha! I see people already started implementing the strategy w comments @ the bottom of http://tinyurl.com/csjlqx - but remember, VALUE first!

There I'm referencing the comments left on the blog post, establishing MORE social proof elements while getting even more involvement from old visitors to return, plus new people to get exposed to the article for first time who missed my earlier tweets.

Today, I am promoting something new on Twitter. Every few days I promote something different, that is value based... a blog post, a video training, whatever.

And I use conversational selling to "pitch" sales pages, lead capture pages and other things I recommend between.

I don't follow everyone who follows me. But I do follow almost everyone who follows me--

By doing so I am gaining exposure. It's what you DO with this exposure that will determine how many of those people listen to you.

If someone handed you the microphone on the Dave Letterman show and you could talk to millions of people in a moment, are those people targeted? No. Could you get absolutely NOTHING out of that exposure if you had nothing to offer and no where to send those who see you for that moment? Of course.

But if you have something to offer to a small percentage (but still sizable group) who are tuning in, such as those who are tuning into Twitter, than you can direct that group (your target audience) to an Attraction Marketing location of your choice.

In the class series, How I Built My First List I offer 5 hours of training (broken up between 3 classes) + a few click by click bonus classes for those technically challenged on their computer... and go into how I use Twitter to grow my business through conversational style marketing. http://tinyurl.com/d2r23r If you're more advanced, classes 1 and 2 are very basic but Class 3 is well worth it.

Or,just study the heck out of the conversations and the way I "properly pitch" my value and products and lead capture pages in between my Tweets.

This is a style that will make following lots of people work... because you will be using Twitter to gain massive exposure, in which from there you can 'attract out' your target audience. It doesn't take any more time to Tweet 5 people as it does 5000. But the Tweet to 5000 will surely attract out more interaction, more relationship and more leads and sales the Tweeting 5... even if those 5000 were not targeted. My Twitter account is proof. I am leveraging the exposure (high numbers) to attract out the ones who will listen.

But it only works if you apply value and 4 other key components I discuss in How I Built My First List. None of it is all that difficult and it can all be learned by reverse engineering (i.e. copying) what I do at Twitter.

Partners in success!
Mike Klingler

Study what I do at Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/MikeKlingler

[Don Hill Contribution Level: 2]

You're so right on so many levels.

Twitter is a communications platform - no more, no less.

Misguided marketers, not understanding the dynamics of Twitter - the "human" dynamics - have attempted to "automate" it in much the same fashion as they have with the major social networks, with friending robots, content auto-posters, and other shiny gadgets designed to funnel "traffic" to their sales websites.

They're ultimately doomed to failure, although they'll probably go down swinging. Twitter will probably have to implement policy changes at some point, but if you understand the Twitter philosophy, there is an abhorrence of the idea of censorship in any form.

But Twitter is actually quite ingenious in its simplicity...

• Everyone is equal.
  
• Everyone only gets 140 characters at a time to state their case - whatever it may be.
  
• There is freedom of speech, but there is no guarantee that you'll ever be heard.
  
• Everyone votes on your worth to them with their follow/unfollow button.

If you convince someone to follow you, you'd better give them a good reason to keep following you, or they'll click the "unfollow" button under your profile photo - and you'll be gone forever from their timeline, along with the exposure you would have had to their sphere of influence.

Networking on Twitter requires the same kind of finesse and courtesy that good old-fashioned offline "belly-to-belly" networking requires. There is a certain level of mutual respect implied and observed - certain boundaries that are recognized , and once crossed, they can never be recrossed.

Faith and trust lost are often never found again.

Of course, exposure to as many people as possible is absolutely crucial to people who consider their business a "numbers game." But in reality, business isn't just about numbers. When you approach business with the proper perspective of service to others, the numbers often have a way of taking care of themselves.

When choosing who to follow on Twitter, I prefer quality to quantity. Since Twitter is really an interpersonal medium more than a "broadcast medium," the fundamental rules of human interaction apply - not robotic attempts to bypass the human factor altogether and tap directly into everyone's credit card or Paypal account with their sneaky "forced continuity" schemes.

Ultimately, we each have our own reasons for using Twitter. If we use its potential to develop and nurture good relationships with others, we will flourish. If we simply treat it as some sort of resource to be harvested to generate profit, then we start becoming very similar to some of those contemptible heartless mega-corporations who are only beholden to the bottom dollar - at whatever cost.

That sort of attitude, in my opinion, is a major factor involved in bringing about the global economic situation we're all now forced to deal with. Again my opinion = the ultimate solutions will not come from above (the government), but from the very bottom - the grassroots everyday people who choose to strike out on their own looking for a better way, and who won't give up until they find it.

Now, I'll follow them to the ends of the earth - Twitter or no Twitter.


--- "Digital" Don Hill ---

Co-Host - Google Me Talk Radio
http://www.GoogleMeTalkRadio.com

[Andrew Peel Company: Magnetic Sponsoring Contribution Level: 3]

By contempable mega corporations who don't care about it's users I take you include Google because if anyone promotes people harvesting by the millions they do. I find your double standards on this issue somewhat confusing. Support Google as a radio host but don't allow the same practices for free on Twitter. Twitter can be a TOOL or HUMANOID it is not an either or. Is email a tool or humanoid. When you reply to personal emails your self it's humanoid. But as long as you are prepared to say you don't have pre-prepared emails and autoresponders then I respect your position. If not then it's a somewhat hypocritcal stance to take in the correct dictionary definition of the word.

I am finding people's position on not using Twitter and Social Networks to generate leads in this forum is becoming very hypocritical, I would like to bet all of them use email auto responders and I would defy any of them to say they have a personal relationship with all the people on their lists. Prove me wrong people.

If you don't know or are not able to harness the power of Twitter then do the research. I have see my article today, but don't blame the tool if you get poor results. I spent $000s and got very few quality leads on Google ads was that Google's fault or mine? Mine of course I dived in too soon. I got PPC Dominator and Perry Marshalls course and now understand PPC a lot better. I still won't use it because unless you have a significant budget as a start up business is the wring way to go. There are plenty of ways to get listed on page 1 of Google's left organic side without paying a penny.

[Josh Thomas Contribution Level: 3]

Hi Andrew,
I have seen the email auto-responder defense used several
times and here is my response to it.

An email auto-responder, while set up for broadcasts, personalization, etc,
is a message sent directly to one person. The audience is the owner
of the inbox. No matter how many messages you send out, only
one person is reading THEIR email. You are leveraging your efforts
to communicate with one person.

With twitter, the Auto-DM's are close to an auto-responder, but are
not meant to foster and develop relationships. They exist in their
140 character glory to send a useless "thank you" or to get you to a
website.

If you say any different, you're lying.

Auto-DM's are stupid, annoying and no one reads them. Many people are
now blocking them altogether. When I was sending Auto-DM's to all of
my "auto-followers", I had a link to Better Networker that got 0 clicks.
That message went to over 100 people and not ONE of them clicked on
it. I eventually blocked them from my inbox, because I wasn't reading
them either.

Autoresponders are regulated by federal laws like the CAN-SPAM Act.
There are a certain amount of hoops we have to jump through and
processes we have to follow. Certain complaints we must answer to.
Twitter has none of this protection for the consumer, so it is not the
same and should not be used in the same conversation. It is NOT
the same thing.

When someone opts-in to my email contact form, they are giving me
permission to contact them and send them valuable information.

To an extent, a "follow" is permission, but the environment is set up
differently. Twitter is a place for conversations with many people.
Auto-Responders are designed to create a personal interaction between
two people. Sending a blast out to your "followers" that you have
updated your blog is not providing any value. It is only promoting
yourself. It's not targeted and typically not wanted. I would NEVER
send out an email telling my list that I had updated my blog.

Automated tweets to the community at large are more of a nuissance.
Services like TweetLater, Twollo and the like only create a more
mechanical experience. Sure Twitter is a tool, but it is not set up to
be an auto-responder and should not be compared to such. There is
no comparison. Twitter is becoming permission-based SPAM and it will
soon come to reckoning, like everything always does.

There is no hypocrisy in using an email autoresponder and not spamming
twitter with useless junk.

Andrew, I hope this wasn't taken personally. I was mostly responding to the
notion that these two methods be compared. They are apples and oranges,
my friend.

[John Zajaros Contribution Level: 1]

Re: Mike Dillard Is Doing The Right Thing
by JackZ on Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:58 pm

I just unfollowed Mike Dillard! Not only his official Twitter username but the "other" one too!

I also unfollowed Lance Armstrong, MRFIRE Joe Vitale, Alex Mandossian, and others...about 1000 others!

You see, I have people in the wings that I couldn't follow back because I had reached that Twitter Limbo of 2000 & didn't have the proper RATIO to add more!

That's right!

People have 35,000 versus 30,000 but it's the RATIO, the MATH that drives the ability to follow or not.

Do you think Mike is going to miss me? He isn't even subscribing to me, he won't know I am gone, probably didn't know I was there! How much time do you think Mike Dillard spends Tweeting? Or Eben Pagan or Mike Koenigs or Tony Robbins? I've seen them on maybe once, perhaps twice in months!

Tweeting?

If someone told me I would be using words like Tweet & Twitter even a year ago...I would have laughed in their faces! I don't even know who Mike Dillard was! Still don't know who he is, really is! The first time I heard or read his name was when I accepted HIS request for friendship on Facebook! Remember when he was on that tear to add a ton of "friends" to Facebook? He was driving from point A to point B and telling everyone about the trip! Well, then he added me to his Twitter account.

HE added ME!

Now several people are getting religion, of sorts, and cleaning house!

You see, and I am NOT saying this is what Mike has done...but it might be! You can go in and follow a bunch of people, some follow back, then you cut out the people that didn't follow back and move on. You can easily get your twitter account into the stratosphere in no time! Just add, wait a day or two, until the dust settles, then using http://www.FriendOrFollow.com add again. The feedback loop continues as long as you like! You caneasily get your numbers up...& business is numbers!

Yes, I know everyone is talking relationships but if you don't have the numbers, how do you find people to build relationships with?

The problem? We are spending a lot of time on something that is productive, to a degree, but how productive when weighed against other strategies you could be employing if you spent your time on those other pursuits remains to be seen. Forums? Blogging? Commenting on blog posts? Article writing?

I have a series of 15 articles up right now on one of my many niches. From just one of the article sites/directories, I have generated over 1100 clicks! Can anyone say that about Twitter? Except for a Mike Dillard or Joel Comm or Alex or Tony or Shawn or Tellman?

So, I unfollowed Mike, Jason, Alex, Lance, Al, Obama, Eben, Shawn, Richard....

And, a whole tribe of others who at one time found it fashionable to follow others, understanding that by doing so they would build a base. Now? Now that the base is solidified? Drop 'em! Well, that's what's happening!

Are they wrong to do that? No!

This is business! The warm and fuzzy stuff is for home, family, close friends! Does that mean you can't make "friends" using the Web 2.0 vehicle? Absolutely not! But chances are, you won't. Again, it's numbers!

Insulation!

Most of these guys and gals, the "gurus," won't even accept an email or a direct phone call! Do you really consider them your friends? If so, I'll give you my phone number, for real(!), and I will talk to you, listen to you, help you, assist you, FREE! Does that mean we are friends? Maybe, perhaps, given a long enough period of time and a level of commonality, but probably not.

So, follow, unfollow, tweet or be silent! But in the end, we are in business and business is about making money. For some reason, Mike and others may have discovered what others are finding out, that Twitter may generate lots of clicks, and even some sales, but it is not about friendship, it's about...well...

TWEETING!

I apologize if I offended anyone's sensibilities. But come on! We are all adults here! Or are we twittering idjits?

Sincerely,
Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., PhD
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimateinternetmarketing.info
http://www.thequestrevealed.com
and many others.....

JackZ

Re-Post: From another forum dealing with the same matter!
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2009 1:55 am

[Mike Dillard Company: Magnetic Sponsoring Contribution Level: 5]

Thank you all for your support. It's been quite interesting to see the reactions from people about this...

The bottom line is that I chose a quality experience over a push for quantity. Rest assured that I end up on the losing deal of this move. I have fewer followers, less exposure, and risked pissing a lot of people off.

So why go through all of that?

Because I'd rather be genuine, honest, and authentic.

That's the bottom line and that's how I've always conducted my business. I'll choose to uphold those 3 characteristics over making money, or building a bigger list any day.

I'm not saying following everyone in the world is wrong. Obviously there are huge benefits to doing so.

It just doesn't work for me personally.

Mike

[Andrew Peel Company: Magnetic Sponsoring Contribution Level: 3]

Nice display of honesty in your part Mike and earns some kudos from me (which you don't need ). Gotta say I am loving putting together your ideas with social media and using Twitter as a way of making relationships. I don't even prospect now I get at least 20 followers a day and they seem to follow on from a Blog or Squidoo I do. Anyways as I say for all it's worth from a newbie who initially thought this was a bad move on your part I see your point and putting integrity before commercial interest is rare nowadays.

Andrew Peel

[Don Hill Contribution Level: 2]

Andrew,

I re-read your first post above numerous times, trying to understand your point.

Regardless of whether you love Google or you despise it as an "evil exploitative mega corporation," it's an undeniable fact that Google is the predominant search engine of choice. Why do you suppose that is?

Is it because Google abuses the millions of people who rely on it to find what they're looking for on the internet? If that were true, Google would never have achieved the stature it now enjoys as the predominant search engine of choice in the marketplace - and would certainly not be able to command the high advertising prices it currently does.

Should laws be passed making Google responsible for the losses incurred by its PAYING customers because those customers don't take the time to learn how to properly use the tools Google sells to them - in much the same fashion that the owners and employees of a tavern are held responsible for the actions of their customers when they've been served more than they should have been served? If so, when and where do we draw the line?

I should point out that I don't engage in PPC advertising at all - on Google or anywhere else. Like you, I have other methods of achieving the placement in the search results I seek - methods probably very similar to yours.

Nor am I an employee, agent, or official representative of Google, and have no authority to speak on their behalf in any official capacity.

If you have such apparent disdain for Google as an "evil mega-corporation," then I suggest you simply instruct your webmaster to block all incoming traffic referred by Google in protest - including the ones resulting of the placement of your site in the "organic" results. Failure to do so would seem to indicate to me at least a certain degree of hypocrisy on YOUR part, if I read the intent of your first post correctly.

But back to the Twitter issue...

If you examine my previous post, you may find that I actually agree with you that Twitter is simply a communications tool. Any tool - whether it's Google Ads, Twitter, Facebook, or any other online communications medium - will only be effective as a marketing tool if it's used properly by those who understand how to use it to communicate with people.

Communication is a two-way process, not simply a one-sided diatribe. Unfortunately, the mechanisms currently being used in attempts to exploit Twitter tend to fall into the latter category. Once again, the mercenary people-exploiters have invaded a fairly pristine territory and are strip-mining as much as they possibly can from it before they declare it exhausted as a resource and move on to the next identifiable collection of large masses of people online.

The ultimate irony of all of this hubbub is that the owners of Twitter themselves are still in the process of figuring out how to monetize the service! It started out as a simple micro-blogging platform used for quick near-instant INTERPERSONAL communications. When it was conceived and implemented, the creators of Twitter had no idea things would ever evolve into the state they're in now.

The final chapter in the Tale of Twitter is far from being written. I don't see or hear of anyone completely canceling their account - only making declarations about how and why they use it. And each person has a different story to tell in that regard. I know that Mike thought long and hard about his decision, and I deeply respect him for having the guts to stand up for his principles.

If you'd like to further discuss this on our radio program in detail, please feel free to call in during our live broadcasts, which take place Wednesday through Saturday at 8PM Eastern time. The call-in number is (347) 838-9023. Archives of our past programs may be heard by visiting the link in my signature. Bear in mind that our program is LIVE radio with no delay imposed for censorship - what is said on the program WILL be heard by our 20,000+ listeners.

I can't speak for others in this community in this regard, but before you accuse me of only using this medium to try to recruit people into my business or to generate leads, I invite you to please visit the link to see if you can find any mechanisms where we're trying to do that. While you're there, you may want to have a listen to one of our archived shows. Yes, there is a form present on the page for people to subscribe to our autoresponder newsletter.

But the only "compelling copy" to entice people to fill in the form is the actual audio content of our radio programs - which isn't about us (the hosts), but about our listeners.

Which is as it should be.


"Digital" Don Hill

Co-Host - Google Me Talk Radio
http://www.GoogleMeTalkRadio.com

[Ben Settle Contribution Level: 2]

The bottom line is that I chose a quality experience over a push for quantity. Rest assured that I end up on the losing deal of this move. I have fewer followers, less exposure, and risked pissing a lot of people off.

IMHO, you're 100% correct on this.

I've been doing the exact same thing since day 1 on Twitter -- despite the "twitter police" getting on my case.

Anyone who's actually pissed because you -- GASP! -- un-followed them should probably read (or re-read) Blackbelt Recruiting & Magnetic Sponsoring.

That way, they can learn cool strategies like (for example) posture and positioning that'll turn 'em into Twitter studs that attract lots of followers of their own.

It's ALL selling in the end.

Even if it's to "sell" people on following them.

Word up.

Ben Settle