A person that I have a great deal of respect for who belongs the social media elite (whatever that is) recently announced on Twitter that she would immediately unfollow anyone who sent her an autoresponder.
Autoresponders, the automated messages that you receive when you follow someone on Twitter, are commonly used as a way of moving new Twitter followers to the next step of a sales process. Next steps can include joining a Facebook page, watching a video, visiting the website, downloading a freebie, or asking new followers to retweet something.
To many businesses with clearly defined sales objectives and limited resources, autoresponders are a part of an overall social media strategy. To many social media purists, autoresponders are just poor tweet etiquette.
So as more home builders use Twitter to connect with potential buyers, what role do autoresponders play in a legitimate home builder social media marketing plan?
The Autoresponder Opposition
The autoresponder opposition is based on the idea that messages to new followers should be personalized and an attempt to make an authentic human connection. The living, breathing connections that create relationships between brands and consumers and create loyalty over time.
It’s a really nice idea, right? Personalized messages to each and every new follower? Hard to argue with that.
The Autoresponder Reality
The thing is, we are not the social media elite (whatever that is). We’re home builders, marketing professionals, sales agents, and management. While it is a nice idea that we have the resources to thoughtfully and quickly respond to every new Twitter follower – and definitely a best practice to evolve into – it isn’t always a reality. Pesky things like escrows and buyers and model tours and reports and marketing meetings and walk-throughs and follow up and prospecting and actually selling something are constantly getting in the way of our social media best practices. And then what happens? New followers are simply ignored.
What kind of etiquette is that? How is that empowering our clearly defined sales objectives?
How About Just Writing a Thoughtful Autoresponder?
I think that if you do not have someone dedicated to social media who can send out timely and thoughtful thank you messages to new followers consistently then an autoresponder is a useful tool. It creates a first point of contact and marketing consistency. I also think that inviting new Twitter followers to the next stage of a sales cycle is perfectly acceptable. But there’s a difference between an autoresponder that says “Retweet all of our posts and join us on Facebook and me-me-me” and one that says “Thank you for following! My name is Caroline & I’m happy to answer your new home questions. Have you seen our virtual tour? [short link].”
Maybe it’s just me, but as long as autoresponders are focused on serving the needs of buyers and not solely on pushing our own agenda I think they are an effective tool. Assuming that you do not have dedicated resources it should be an imperative to creating a strong, measurable sales funnel that moves followers to leads and prospects. Isn’t that why we’re all here?
That’s my take… what’s yours?
