I dont Like Auto Follow Programs!

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Permalink Reply by Scott Reynolds on February 28, 2010 at 2:42pm

Automation and the easiest way is what we are all looking for, that is certain Diane! You mentioned my auto follow I had on my twitter account. This makes a perfect example of what automation will do.

When I first started on Twitter, I was using my brain and only posting good info and mostly only getting followers that were interested in what I had to say. But I couldn't take all the buzz about how easy it was to build your follower list, so I joined a program that auto tweeted and auto followed. All the while knowing I was going against all my principals........ This program alone started building my Twitter followers quite quickly but I had to join one of those Twitter builders also. I still couldn't make myself promote these builder programs like I should have to make them really work the way they were meant (total spamming)! My twitter is so automated I never log in anymore (well very seldom) and had forgotten about the auto follow and auto message on follow.

But! This is what I had been taught by the Guru's of internet marketing! Maybe I should say I was "Sold" this line of bull....

My results are a list of about 2500 twitter followers .... fairly targeted to biz opp & online income spamming, that will never even see anything I post on twitter. All the work I put into twitter has only degraded my name and online reputation. Yes.... I am proud of myself!

Any automated or copy and paste solution could get you in places where you really do not want to be. Be very careful and do your research before starting any of these "make your life easier" deals! At the very best you will only ruin your online reputation which is the only thing that will make you money online.

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Permalink Reply by Diane Bjorling on February 28, 2010 at 3:16pm

i am going to disagree with you about degrading your name or online reputation. The mere fact that you would talk openly about your thoughts about this type of topic such as automated systems, speaks to what you have learned and are passing on to others.

The fact is we are taught that when when blogging or marketing we have to reach a wide audience and at times..many times to be honest we have to think in terms of automating some of these processes.

The question is in the how?


I know that Tim and I are looking at these very same issues and it is indeed complex.

I will just talk to my personal observations. There are many systems out there that will help us save that needed time without the losing integrity of what you or we are doing. Finding them is the key and as you and people, for example Angie is finding out, that is not so simple.

After what you have said, what advise would you give others in finding good systems that will work for you in a better way? What criteria should a person use?

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Permalink Reply by Scott Reynolds on February 28, 2010 at 5:25pm

There is automation that has worked well. RSS has been on the scene for a long time without may problems. The problem still lies in the lack of control of what is posted. Automation of even your own blog comments can get a rash of spam and itis posted where ever you have your RSS comment feed.

I was trying to help the bloggers on my network using RSS to get their posts more exposure and got some spam signups (even with way to much protection) which generated the default post over and over, ruining the prospect of helping my bloggers that way.

The forum, blog and comments RSS on this site are placed on other sites, search engines, and even my profiles to give us more exposure. Maybe I am to picky about what gets posted here, but it reflects on every member here.

Any automated friend or follower getter is a no no because of obvious reasons. (where is the trust and relationship?)
RSS and other automated posting options can be used to spread your information fast to many groups, sites, lists, media, ect. But be sure the info going into these auto posters is done manually by trusted people.

I like everyone else would love to see automation to reduce my workload, but my experience tells me it usually gets you nowhere fast!

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Permalink Reply by Scott Reynolds on February 28, 2010 at 5:35pm

The funny thing is there is a new site launching soon that is all about automation and duplication. It is very hot and climbing in the ranks because that is what everyone wants! Will it work? I doubt it.... duplicated automated? The people will click on the top link and the search engines will not even index most members pages.... To work, each member will have to hand deliver their link to each new signup...... sounds like its not automated to me!

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Permalink Reply by Diane Bjorling on February 28, 2010 at 6:07pm

lol... talk about things happening about automation, criteria and so forth.

You got one invite or saw a new site in a prelaunch and I have an invite to join a different social site.

What I observed was when i put the two sites together ( i have this very kewl addon for firefox that lets me see a split screen.) the site that you showed me was missing something very important...wanna guess what that is?

On the social site that i was invited to...at the bottom it has Terms of Service, a Privacy Policy, help section, an about section and an about us section. The one you showed me was more like a splash page...hmmm This is the kind of page which will capture somebody's information without regarding important facts such as...Terms of Service etc

Guess which one I would be more inclined to join? you bet ya..the one that has taken the time to do things right. This is just one of the criteria that i look at when i look into products, services or even social venues.

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Permalink Reply by Diane Bjorling on February 28, 2010 at 6:47pm

i have to add to what i said. i just reread the site you showed me and here are a few of the so called advantages:

# LUCRATIVE and UNIQUE CIRCULAR COMPENSATION PLAN THAT PAYS YOU TO INTERACT WITH YOUR TEAM MEMBERS!
my answer to this: This is a set up! It is one thing to say this kind of statement, but with no way of hearing about this quote lucrative plan...how do i know it is worth my time? I have been trying to find out what the heck a circular compensation plan is? never hear of that concept! maybe it is legit, maybe it is using words for another kind of pay plan..i just don't know and that is my problem. i like to know what things are all about.

# 1,000's of New, Fresh Prospects - using our lead generation systems - Refer 1 person, we give you 2 more - Your network will EXPLODE!

my answer to this: prospects? alrighty then! I totally agree that we need to use marketing methods for blogging or any other kind of online business. There are even certain situations, where getting prospects is very worth while and required, but this statement does not answer one question...will any people they give "us" be targeted to what we are doing? That has been one of the issues for the twitter auto follow systems.

# Incredible Marketing System for ALL Your Opportunities!

my answer to this: there are many quote marketing systems out there, some are good and can be of great benefit to an individual. My problem is as usual, is the system based on sound business practices? without proper information, this is a sales job!

# Powerful automatic TWITTER and FACEBOOK marketing system - can you imagine the HUGE potential here?!

my answer to this: good grief! quite a hype here... most people do not have the first concept of how to use twitter or facebook properly to leverage a way to advertise themselves never mind their products or services! Twitter and Facebook is all about people..NOT marketing and unless one learns how to do this properly, then all you will do is what so many do..market to the same people that you have on your list everywhere else. There is no doubt that when you learn how to use these social medias properly, then yes you can indeed create loyal customers, readers , fans or whatever other word you wish to use.

hmmmm just these few "advantages" have my red flag raised.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Reynolds on February 28, 2010 at 8:00pm

WOW! Let um have it Diane! Cool!

Let me try....
# LUCRATIVE and UNIQUE CIRCULAR COMPENSATION PLAN THAT PAYS YOU TO INTERACT WITH YOUR TEAM MEMBERS!

My Problem with any "pay plan". Who pays, so you get paid? If you know a lot of people that will pay you for helping them..... why aren't they already?

# 1,000's of New, Fresh Prospects - using our lead generation systems - Refer 1 person, we give you 2 more - Your network will EXPLODE!

Use your head here people! Why are they going to give you their paying customers so they can make less? Are you going to give your hard earned customers away? Besides, remember us talking about trust? It just doesn't work that way in the real world! What they are giving you is the people they could not convert so you can work them over. Mafia style?

# Incredible Marketing System for ALL Your Opportunities!

This "Incredible System" would be you! Don't let them fool ya!

# Powerful automatic TWITTER and FACEBOOK marketing system - can you imagine the HUGE potential here?!

Yup! About 0%! (Weren't we just talking about how well automation worked at Twitter?)

To be honest Diane... and everyone. I didn't even read the page...... just a quick glance told me this would cost me money!

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