I got a new follower on Twitter this week.
Actually, I got a few, but there’s one guy that has made an impact above and beyond the others. Here’s the story….
If I’m honest, I can’t remember if I followed Blake first or he followed me. It actually doesn’t matter. He followed me and I took a quick look on his Twitter profile. He has a pinned tweet – here it is:
“If I follow you, then unfollow… it’s likely because you use an auto-DM for new followers. I hate that shit. Stop automating relationships.”
And I thought, “This guy gets it…. I hate that shit, too!” and decided to send him a quick “Thanks for following”message.
But, here’s the thing… how would he know that my reply wasn’t just an auto-DM?
In his mini bio he says he’s a glass half full kind of guy, so I ran with that…
A little while later he replied – with a video message!
I cannot show the message, but it’s clear he grabbed his phone in his car and thanked me again for connecting and then he asked me “What are you passionate about?”
And I realised. It’s this. I’m passionate about this.
Getting marketing right.
Oh, I’m passionate about a few things: Manchester City, Springsteen, Stephen King books (not so much the movies)…. but when it comes to business, I want to get marketing right.
Part of the problem is that there are so many ways to get marketing wrong. Auto DM’s are just one way. Businesses that use facebook profiles instead of pages is another. And it’s a long list.
But getting it right is about connecting and communicating on an individual level – and managing to scale that as the number of individuals grows.
I get auto DM’s from people I follow who simply tell me that I’m awesome and that it is an honour (yes, they actually use that exact phrase – it’s an honour) for them to have me follow them. And whilst this is true – because I am awesome – there’s actually no way they could know that. So it simply rings hollow.
As a marketer, I struggle with clients that want to do things that often make me cringe and I will argue forcefully against some of these activities that are so superficial as to become condescending to the target audience.
Treat me like an individual. Does that mean answer every tweet personally? Of course not. You’re a big company with thousands of followers. I get that. I’m a grown up. But don’t try and disguise your mass messaging as a personal message, just for me. It’s not. And we both know it.
I’ve made a real connection with Blake. We have this one thing in common – we don’t want marketers to spoil relationships online. Unfortunately they probably will and the whole “Have nice day” telephone manner will permeate through the web there will be next to nothing left which is genuine.
So to answer your question, Blake, that’s what I’m passionate about. Getting marketing right.
Follow Blake at @blakejamieson or at his webpage blakejamieson.com
