If you’re on Twitter, don’t be worried about cluttering up your followers’ timeline – @ replies are no longer visible from the main feed unless a user is following both the user replying and the user being replied to.
If you can’t answer in 140 characters, take it to DM (or Direct Messages, for all you Twitter neophytes out there). If replying to every follower simply isn’t feasible, then congratulations on your popularity. You can get away with not responding to people complimenting you, or just “liking” or “favoriting” their posts – of course, a quick “thank you” will likely be appreciated. You can also ignore users who are hostile or trying to get a rise out of you. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of these people on social media. Don’t feed the trolls. When followers have legitimate questions and concerns, however, giving them the cold shoulder will inevitably harm you. Aloofness on social media shows that you aren’t interested in socializing; ignoring your followers shows that you view your communication as completely one-sided. Don’t just use your replies as a vehicle for blatant self-promotion. You have enough chances to plug your latest link in your normal post. Only respond to something relevant to the original comment or reply. Don’t give a canned response. There are services that let you auto-reply to Twitter mentions, but these are no substitute for human interaction. Enough focusing on the negatives, though. A personal response can really make a follower’s day. Facebook messages, and Tweets especially, don’t take too long to write. If you show them you care, they won’t forget it. |
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