-Thanks for following me. I look forward to connecting with you soon! –Un-Social Network Marketer

Don’t you just hate it when you follow someone on twitter or become there friend on other social networks like Facebook  and you get one of those automated "thank you" or "welcome" messages?

I mean, is it really serving the purpose of building rapport and a relationship with potential customers and partners in sales?

The lure is that you can add friends and followers quickly without investing much time or effort. But, what good is having plenty of friends and contacts  if no one is actually listening, and,more importantly, interacting with you?

This is a common problem with using automated canned messages in Social Network Marketing.

Here we discuss three (3) Reasons  automation in Social Network Marketing may actually hurt your personal image and the image of your business.

It’s Impersonal

If your intention is to at least to appear to be a genuine person, automated messaging  says to your new friend, "you’re not worth me making the effort to actually respond in person".

You not the only person using the same canned message, either. So your new friend gets 3-4 (maybe more ) similar messages a day.  Your new friend soon lumps you in to a category you don’t want to be in.

A *canned* message lets your new friend know just what you think of them, "You’re not worth a personal note and I hope you’re dim enough to think you are".

I know, I know, not YOU though, right?

You actually care about people and would prefer to not send them anything at all rather than to insult their intelligence with a cut and paste message.

It’s Unprofessional

The are some instances where automation is very necessary but not in networking.

Why?

When you meet someone as an individual, your intention  is to WOW them to the point where they would want to refer you to their friends as someone to get to know, trust,  and buy from.

Professionals know when automation are necessary ( i.e., op-tin email marketing, e-commerce and answering machines) versus when it’s inappropriate. Networking requires actual interaction with real human beings, so automation would land in the "inappropriate" category.

Contrary to what you may have heard, social media is not about selling through that medium, its about interacting with people and giving them value to get to know more about what you have to offer.

It’s Boooo-ring!

It’s hard to be engaging and entertaining, which are two crucial elements that set you apart from your competition, by automating a "high-touch" tasks like social networking.

Creativity and individuality is more important than ever in the eyes of your customers, clients, and partners in sales.

Savvy browsers are developing a keen eye for who’s genuine and "real deal," and who is just going through the numbers game.

You’d be better off outsourcing your personality and wit to a VA, personal assistant or PR firm.

Is All Automation in Social Network Marketing Tacky?

Nope. There are great tools like tweetlater and their new product postlater that can help the perpetual poster pace themselves.

Like me, some smart marketers prefer to work in batches.

Therefore, tools that allow for future dating help to streamline marketing campaigns and promotional updates.

However, this augments, not replaces the high-touch relationship building activities like strategic friend selection/adding, commenting and networking.

The effort put forth in relationships built on a personal level, cause your friends and followers to  take notice and take action on your promotions when you post them.

Isn’t that what really matters most anyway?

To smart automation,

Malika Duke

P.S. For more powerful, practical social networking, and marketing principles checkout the Savvy Business Mastermind. Here, you’ll also get candid reviews from me and your peers about your website, marketing and social media campaigns so you can attract and convert more eager to buy leads, loyal partners in sales and unsolicited referrals.