<—- Is this a better option??

That’s it, I’ve had it.  It took me more than a week to change my settings on all my LinkedIn Groups so I no longer received fifty-two different emails every day containing Group Updates.  What a relief that was, however, email notifications continue to stream in from other sources.  My inner brat reared its ugly tech head and like the raven, cried “Never more.”

I reviewed the constantly streaming in emails that every single morning, I methodically delete.  I finally said to myself, enough is enough.  I am tired of it.  So, do you know what I did? I, one by one, went through each marketing email in the inboxes of my personal and professional accounts and systematically unsubscribed.   It was not easy and it took longer than I expected.  I will repeat the process tomorrow and the rest of this week as others continue to stream in.

In my personal email account this morning, there were sixteen different marketing emails by the time I sat down to my computer.  They were from the likes of Bath & Body Works, Sage Act Software, Groupon, Barnes & Noble, Enterprise, LivingSocial, hunch, ModCloth, Ace Hardware Store, Goldstar Events, Xbox and so forth.  Some were a simple process of click here to unsubscribe and it was done, others required you to carefully review your options and make sure you had ticked the right box, and others begged you to stay and change your mind.  I think the idea was to make it difficult, so you didn’t actually go through with it, you didn’t actually cut the ties of your favorite retailers.

Only one – ONE – asked why I was unsubscribing:  Nordstrom.  I love Nordstrom, I cannot always afford to shop there but they have great sales and better yet, they have excellent customer service.  And their unsubscribe process proved my case in point.   A drop-down menu appeared, not begging me to stay or to please reconsider, but rather with options of why I wished to stop receiving emails.

Options consisted of *Too many emails from Nordstrom or *I don’t shop at Nordstrom.  But the one I selected was *I receive too many retail emails.  And it is true; I spend my first waking half-hour deleting emails on my mobile device before I even leave my bed.  And today’s barrage proved to be e-fatal to the retailers who have access to my multiple email addresses.

Interestingly enough, as a marketer, I am extremely adverse to email marketing.  I know that most emails are OptIn, but what I struggle with, like most, is spam and I have no desire for my carefully-crafted message to be lumped in with spam or to end up on the cutting room floor with the others before me.  I want my information not only received but read, in full.  So, as a business-to-business marketer, I appeal to you – what is the right option?  Are you as sick of email spam or blather as much as I?  Are you eBombed twenty times daily, as well?  Are you leery of distributing your email address to vendors or businesses?  Have we reached critical mass?  I think yes, I think we have.  With so many different ways to advertise your product or service, is email still a viable marketing tool?

I think we have a way to go before email blather is completely eliminated, I am also a firm believer that email is not dead – I do most of my customer  response and industry communications through Twitter;  I am ready to do my part, to proceed with awareness that eBombing is a pain in most people’s sides.  Including my own.
                                                                                                      ~Eradicating the eBomb, one email at a time.~

Rayanne Thorn, @ray_anne is the Marketing Director for the online recruiting software company, Broadbean Technology.  She is also a proud mother of four residing in Laguna Beach, California, and a contributor for Blogging4Jobs.  Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Door-to-door salesmen, junk mail, telemarketers, urgent recorded phone messages, and Viagra emails.

Utter just one of these words to a family member or friend and chances are they will elicit words of anger, frustration, and just flat out negativity. Automatic DM’s are no different. There has been a great debate on Twitter ever since the auto-DM (automatic Direct Message) was first utilized.

An automatic direct message is a canned response that a Twitter user can program using a third party Twitter application like Social Oomph and others to send automatically upon receiving a follow request by another Twitter user. Twitter users are able to send someone a private or direct message once a user selects to follow that person.

FACT–an automatic direct message used on Twitter is essentially a form of spam. Users of the auto-DM are often categorized as affiliate marketers, spammers, or just lazy people who seek an easier and less cumbersome method of communication and relationship building.

FACT–the negative connotation associated with receiving an auto-DM is so strong that many Twitter users will automatically unfollow someone upon receiving.

FACT–It is important to consider how you want your brand and image to be received by someone who is a potential client, customer, or business partner. We call things like this Branding and there are consultants and business people who are part of a billion dollar branding business.

Feelings and opinions among the Twitter community are so strong on this topic that a website, Stop Auto DM has been created as a way to educate users on the brand perils of using the auto DM while requesting that Twitter remove this feature altogether. The site which provides a short dialogue about the auto DM sends a clear message to web surfers who visit. Personally, the sheer number of automatic direct messages I receive clog my DM in box and has kept me from missing my share of important direct messages from friends and followers with whom I have actual real and engaging conversations. In fact, some go so far as to refer to these modern day door-to-door encyclopedia salesman as the social media douchebag. Unfortunately, unsuspecting housewives and twitter newbs have fallen prey on more than a few occasions buying what these folks are selling.

While I don’t all hate auto dms because I am a believer that in certain situations these messages have their place, here are some suggestions:

• Use Auto DMs creatively. If you are making the decision to utilize an auto dm as a form of marketing or promotion, I encourage you to be creative and original with your methods. Asking me to friend you on FaceBook or visit your website are not enough. Consider adding a link to an interesting video or something original and professional or at least funny.  Consider the ROI and how you will measure their effectiveness.

• Choose your words carefully. The absolute best auto DM I have ever received is displayed here. Upon receiving this message I immediately responded back to this account and have not received a response back and it’s been almost 2 weeks. Hint–If you are going to send regular auto DM’s, make sure to check your own in-box from time to time, people might be interested enough in having more than a one way conversation.

  

• Consider removing your Auto DM altogether. There are some great tools to create groups within your Twitter followers allowing you to send one group a message much like you would within a FaceBook Fan page called Go Twitr. This is a good option for Twitter users who are geographically based or are representing some type of professional organization or group.

• Engage your audience. Here’s an unorthodox suggestion, try engaging your audience for a change. Social media is more than telling it’s about interacting and listening. If you dominate the conversation at a cocktail party or networking event, your audience feels uncomfortable, cheated, and opportunities to build relationships are lost. Social media is no different.

In my opinion, an auto DM is like running with scissors. Keep doing it and you’re bound to get hurt. You need to make the decision if it’s worth the risk.

Photo Credit JasonorMark.

Folks,

Apparently, Twitter has suspended some accounts inadvertently due to some sort of Twitter spam that is making the rounds.  Unfortunately, I have been caught up in the mess.  Our accounts, @blogging4jobs, @xceptionalhr, and @soonerexecrec have been suspended.

If you are on Twitter, I’d appreciate it if you would send @spam a Direct Message or @reply requesting that our accounts be unsuspended.  I’ve contacted Twitter and submitted a ticket requests.  In the mean time, your tweets will be much appreciated!

Cheers!

Jessica

***Update:  Just learned that all Twitter Accounts that use TweetLater have been suspended.  If you are interested in staying up to date, do a search with keywords, “suspended accounts” at search.twitter.com.  Look for a post coming from @mashable at www.mashable.com as well.  Until then, see you on Facebook!
***7/5/09 Update at 10:15 pm CST:  Twitter accounts @xceptionalhr and @blogging4jobs are back!  We’ve resubmited ticket request for @soonerexecrec’s account (Greg’s account).  www.mashable.com reports that Twitter will be posting an update on their blog at blog.twitter.com very soon.  Thank you for all the kind tweets!  It’s good to be back.

Door-to-door salesmen, junk mail, telemarketers, urgent recorded phone messages, and Viagra emails.

Utter just one of these words to a family member of friend and chances are they will elicit words of anger, frustration, and just flat out negativity.  Automatic DM’s are no different.  There has been a great debate on Twitter ever since the auto-DM (automatic Direct Message) was first utilized.

An automatic direct message is a canned response that a Twitter user can program a third party Twitter application like Social Oomph and others to send automatically upon receiving a follow request by another Twitter user.  Twitter users are able to send someone a private or direct message once a user selects to follow that person.

FACT–an automatic direct message used on Twitter is essentially a form of spam. Users of the auto-DM are often categorized as affiliate marketers, spammers, or just lazy people who seek an easier and less cumbersom method of communication and relationship building.

FACT–the negative connotation associated with receiving an auto-DM is so strong that many Twitter users will automatically unfollow someone upon receiving.

FACT–It is important to consider how you want your brand and image to be received by someone who is a potential client, customer, or business partner.  We can things like this Branding and there are consultants and business people who are part of a billion dollar branding business.

Feelings and opinions among the Twitter community are so strong on this topic that a website, Stop Auto DM has been created as a way to educate users on the brand perils of using the auto DM while requesting that Twitter remove this feature altogether. The site which provides a short dialogue on the perils of the auto DM sends a clear message to web surfers who visit.  Personally, the sheer number of automatic direct messages I receive clog  my DM in box and has kept me from missing my share of important direct messages from friends and followers with whom I have actual real and engaging conversations.  In fact, some go so far as to refer to these modern day door-to-door encyclopedia salesman as the social media douchebag.  Unfortunately, unsuspecting housewives and twitter newbs have fallen prey on more than a few occasions buying what these folks are selling.

While I don’t all hate auto dms because I am a believer that in certain situations these messages have their place, here are some suggestions:

• Use Auto DMs creatively.  If you are making the decision to utilize an auto dm as a form of marketing or promotion, I encourage you to be creative and original with your methods.  Asking me to friend you on FaceBook or visit your website are not enough.  Consider adding a link to an interesting video or something original and professional or at least funny.

• Choose your words carefully. The absolute best auto DM I have ever received is displayed here.  Upon receiving this message I immediately responded back to this account and with no response and it’s been almost 2 weeks.  And if you are going to send regular auto DM’s, make sure to check your own in-box from time to time, people might be interested enough in having more than a one way conversation.

  

• Consider removing your Auto DM altogether. There are some great tools to create groups within your Twitter followers allowing you to send one group a message much like you would within a FaceBook Fan page called Go Twitr.  This is a good option for Twitter users who are geographically based or are representing some type of professional organization or group.

• Consider engaging your audience. Here’s an unorthodox suggestion, try engaging your audience for a change. Social media is more than telling it’s about interacting and listening.  If you dominate the conversation at a cocktail party or networking event, your audience feels uncomfortable, cheated, and opportunities to build relationships are lost.  Social media is no different.

In my opinion, an auto DM is like running with scissors.  Keep doing it and you’re bound to get hurt.  You need to make the decision if it’s worth the risk.

Photo Credit JasonorMark