Are You a Twitter Spammer?

Let me confess something – back in my TV-viewing days I used to think of all marketers as spammers. Well, a lot of things have changed since then. For one, I don’t even have a TV set in my house any longer. Most importantly, I changed the way I think about marketing and advertisement.

My hubby on the other hand is pretty much an unreformed believer in most marketers being spammers. Needless to say, we have lively discussions on this topic once in a while. But I’m grateful for this since it constantly makes me look at my own marketing with a critical eye – is it going to be perceived as spam?

Here’s what changed my mind about the whole marketing v. spam issue. Years ago I signed up for MyPoints.com program (Full Disclosure – I no longer participate in this program, nor am I their affiliate or am being paid to write this). The deal was they would send me e-mails with various offers and specials. I was under no obligation to even open these e-mails, much less to view or accept any of the offers. But if I did, I would earn a certain number of points that could be redeemed for merchandize.

The e-mails with ads, offers, and ”hot” specials that I got through MyPoints helped me change my point of view.

Spam is about taking the choice away from someone and delivering them information about products and services without their permission. Spam comes in the way of unsolicited emails, junk mail and telemarketing. Spam leaves a bad taste in our mouths and for good reason. We have not asked to be inundated with the information that we find floods our inboxes these days.

On Twitter we each have an option as to who we will follow. And one might suggest it is that choice that gives others the right to “spam”. Wrong. Spam is irresponsible and annoying. Ok, so maybe your Twitter followers won’t block or unfollow you. But they will simply ignore you by “tuning out”.

So how do you know if your tweets will be viewed as spam or marketing by your followers? Ask yourself these questions before hitting the Update button:

1. Are you sharing a valuable service, product or resource?
2. Do you take the time to share on a personal level as well as sharing on a business level?
3. Have you established a relationship with your followers?
4. Is the information you are providing timely and appropriate?

If you can answer these questions with a yes answer then your message can effectively be considered marketing rather than spam. Your followers will welcome your update rather than turn away from it. Share your tweet with others and in turn respond in kind to their own messages and tweets. After all, marketing is all about the relationship and spam is about nothing more than the bottom line.

Technorati Tags: Twitter, social media marketing

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