So today I was going through my reader this morning and I found a post by Gini Dietrich about Using LinkedIn to Prospect for New Business. I really enjoyed the article, and while reading it I realized I wasn’t using LinkedIn enough……. anyway, that is a totally different topic that I am sure I will be writing about later. Anyway, back to my story…. it started with a tweet about that particular article.
Automated DM’s:
I detest anything much in automation right now, and while I do schedule a Tweet here and there (mainly using Buffer to spread them out and they aren’t always my own links), I have NEVER sent automated DM’s, and I can’t see any reason why I would.
I have started following a few more people on Twitter now that I am active on it again, and I do get the occasional DM because of that. I usually ignore them. Sometimes I will tweet the person that sends them something like:
Hey @automated, how are those automated DM’s working out for ya?
Sometimes I will get an answer like:
@kbloemendaal I have just started testing with them, not sue of the results yet
And I usually won’t hold that against them, but I might express my general hatred towards the idea of automating social.
Other times I won’t get any response, and I might unfollow that person, depending on what kind of tweet they are sending, because let’s be honest, it’s my Twitter account, and I can follow/unfollow whoever I want. (neener neener neener!)
Anyway, I sill despise auto DM’s on Twitter.
Gini Dietrich’s DM To Me:
So, earlier in the day I had gotten a DM from a source I won’t name, and it said:
#Boston #Marketing #Seo Need help launching an email campaign?
Really? Hashtags in a DM? Can someone tell me WTF that is all about? So, I was a little aggravated at DM’s at the time.
Then, Gini sent me a DM, immediately when I saw I had one, I was already about to fire off on someone… but Gini says this:
Thanks for the RT earlier!
WHOA! She DM’d me to thank me for a RT! I swear I was sitting there looking at my screen with my mouth wide open! So, I replied:
No prob, never had someone DM me to thank me for a RT
Gini:
It’s kind of my thing. Weird, right?
Me:
No, I think its awesome! Would u mind if I use it for a post and mention you?
Gini:
Not at all!
Do You Use DM’s?
I will tell you straight away, I hate automatically generated DM’s, unless you are pretty creative in making me laugh or smile with one, I would stay away from them. And you can point to this metric or that metric telling me it works and I don’t care, there is nothing social about sending automated DM’s.
I do communicate with a few people through DM’s, usually personal friends, both business and pleasure. But, this was my first experience like this, and Gini actually made my day.
Do you use DM’s, tell me about your strategy in the comments, and as always if you liked the article please share it freely 
Oh yeah, if you haven’t connected with her yet, do follow Gini on Twitter and you MUST go read and subscribe to Spin Sucks!
I also loathe auto DMs and am going to steal your idea of asking how the automation is going for people. That’s funny!
I also HATE the tweet streams full of @person Thank you! But I think it’s important to thank someone for RTing your work. So I move those to DM. It’s always worked for me. They’re not automated and sometimes I get a response and sometimes I don’t. But do you see what it did with us? Because you did respond, I checked you out, found your blog, and subscribed.
If someone doesn’t respond, but they’ve RT’d my work, the most I do is follow them on Twitter. If a conversation begins, that’s when I do more homework.
It may sound like a lot of work, but it’s effective.
Gini Dietrich recently wrote..#FollowFriday: Joe Hackman
I am guilty of the tweets full of @person thank you’s for sure! Since your DM’s yesterday, I have a new look on using DM’s to actually build a relationship instead of a chat system or self promotion. Absolutely brilliant Gini!
Keith recently wrote..Why Mike Stenger Unfollowed Me on Twitter
First off Gini rocks! Thanks for shouting it in this post, big fan here.
Hashtags in a DM?? I almost spat out my coffee I was laughing so hard, someone found the auto DM button but did not find the note on how to use hashtags..
I use DMs quite a bit, when I see someone is live on Twitter, not triberr or scheduled, I often ask them how they doing or a specific question.
I honestly have to say that getting Gini’s DM gave me a new outlook on using DM’s. It was personal and I got to know her even more. I think it’s brilliant!
Keith recently wrote..MarketMeSuite Dashboard Now Free
Your next post should be on, “Share Buttons vs. Blog Comments.”
I shared my actual response with Google+. As I finished, I wondered what a blog would prefer? (sharing everywhere of course). How many will tweet, facebook, +it or none of the above only to leave a comment here.
Again, damn Keith, it is SO good to have you back blogging…
I love the comments of course so I can keep the conversation going here, but who doesn’t want their stuff shared across networks too. There was a time I only commented on a post on Twitter with a link back to it, but I found less interaction that way.
Keith recently wrote..Mike Stenger Interviews Me About Social Media
Awesome ideas. I use DMs to communicate when I want to keep it a bit more “private” but so many people stopped reading DMs completely, that I have to actually @mention them in a public tweet and tell them I sent them a DM.
I think Gini’s idea is pretty good one. oh, and I really hate auto DMs, they are soooo lame.
Brankica recently wrote..How To Stay Up To Date With Every Piece Of Info In Your Industry
Keith,
I use Tweetdeck for managing Twitter. I always try to use DM to thank people for anything because I don’t think that my followers want their Twitter streams loaded with worthless Tweets about me and my private relationships. The problem is that you can’t DM them unless they are following you already. So then I just create a public Tweet saying something nice about them and send it out.
People should definitely use DM a lot more, especially when they are saying something personal to just one other person. If people would keep their private crap private and public stuff more on topic then I would be inclined to use Twitter more than I do now. It could be so much more efficient than it is right now.
Ted recently wrote..Do You UnFollow Twitter People Who Tweet Too Much
I think I’m going to have to give this idea a try. Thanks for the inspiration, Keith and Gini.
Nicholas Cardot recently wrote..The Super Bowl of Content Marketing
Social networks indeed are becoming a wide virtual community where in you can meet and develop different kinds of relationship. People should use DM when they want to say a personal message to someone.
Janey Dee recently wrote..By: How To Attract Men – What Men Like
I hate receiving DM’s from people I don’t know. It’s more like a personal issue.
Frank @ solar power for the home
I don’t see the point of automated dm’s at all. I do see the point of automated tweets though because you can be out doing other things and still have tweets going out providing good information to people. Then when you have the time you can get on and interact with people. I think that is a fine thing to do. Just you have to interact with people as if you are a human interacting with other humans and many people forget that other people are on the other end sometimes it seems.
Caleb recently wrote..Stealing Competitors Backlinks – Part 4 of the Link Building Guide 101
Hey Keith,
I’m with you on this one. I don’t like automating social messages. I don’t even like scheduling them ahead of the time. To me social should be the here and now. The whole idea is to actually be there engaging with others in the moment, not sending out tweets, direct or otherwise, that you scheduled weeks ago.
Derek Maak recently wrote..Text Your Ex Back – How To Make A Guy Want You Back Through Text Messages