In a recent discussion, a commenter asked if I wanted an automated message sent to me that was tailored toward what I wanted. I don’t want an automated message that someone has crafted in an attempt to get me to buy, because s/he thinks s/he knows what I want. What I want is engagement, and this is why I don’t think automation and social media mix well. At one time, a couple years ago, a lot of people were talking about the benefit of automating your social media by connecting all of your accounts together and scheduling your posts so you didn’t have to be around, or hiring someone else to do it for you. Even now there people who still push this approach to social media.
At some point people who are connected to you on multiple networks begin to notice if your message is the same on each network and even begin to ask if you’re really there and if it’s really worth their time to keep reading the same message across multiple platforms. And they’ll likely come to the conclusion that it’s not worth their time because the message is the same, especially if you aren’t involved in some other activities on the social media site.
While automation can save you time, it can’t help you when it comes to engaging people and since social media is a two-way communication, people will notice if you only push information out, and unless they find that information valuable, or you happen to be a celebrity, they’ll tune you out so that they can focus on engaging with people who want to talk with them. It’s a good idea to take a look at the kinds of posts you write and also look at the responses you’ve received. Also take a look at how many responses you’re offering to people. If you’re not writing responses to individual sites, then it tells people that you aren’t really present on those sites. You’re pushing out information, but you aren’t there to actually engage people.
For some people, pushing out works as a strategy, but the problem in the end is that lack of engagement hurts your business more, especially when people are looking at whether or not businesses are actively and sustaining creating relationships with their customers. Since people tend to trust their friends and network more when it comes to recommending businesses, making the effort to engage people is key to fully understanding what they need and also for creating a sense of community that lasts beyond that initial transaction the business has with them. Automation doesn’t create that sense of engagement, but actual participation and individualized posting can and does work. The investment is a bit more time spent in order to create that level of engagement.
