Recently there was a post from John Reese on why twitter auto-follow is a bad marketing tool.  I understand the points he was making but I think there are some points that can be made for why it is a good tool.  I have personally been using the auto-follow tool for the past few months and have realized many benefits from the tool.   I would like to share my experience and the top 5 reasons why I advocate the tool. 

Before I start let me tell you who I am and who this post is directed to.  

I am not a famous or even mildly well known internet marketer.  You have probably never heard of me.  I have been studying and working on my internet marketing and affiliate marketing business less than a year.  In this amount of time I have learned a tremendous amount and spent a lot of time studying the business. 

This post is directed to people like myself.  If you are just starting or have less then 2 years in the internet marketing, social media world you should be able to relate to what I am talking about in this article. 

I have written another article on my personal experience with Twitter and how I got started.  This will give you some insight to who I am and what my experience has been so far in my evolution with Twitter.

Here are 5 reasons why I use a Twitter Auto-Follow tool.

1. It Helps Me Find People In A Particular Niche

When I started Twitter about 9 months ago I tried all of the angles to growing a following.  I posted regularly, good content, responded to other twitterers and saw my twitter following sometimes move backwards. 

It was frustrating. 

Now, I am not trying to get a gazillion followers in the next 90 days.  To see a steady increase of 3 – 5 new followers a day is more than satisfying and gives me a little moral boost.  One of the things I have learned over the past 9 months is that internet marketing is not easy.  It takes time and effort.  Money does not start rolling in because you put up a website and stick a banner on it.  

Twitter is the same way.  Just because I was sending out good solid Twitter messages did not mean people were going to start following me.  As time goes on and I become more influential in the marketplace and make more of a name for myself with good content there is a good possibility that my following will increase based on my content and reputation.  Until then, having a way of growing a following at a steady pace is helpful to the process.

Part of the process is finding people in a particular niche I am interested in.  Auto-follow has helped me tremendously in this area.  Over the past 3 months I have been using Auto-follow I have found some very interesting people.  People I most likely would not have found if I was not using the Auto-follow.  Some of these people have moved me in directions I would never have gone if I had not found them through the Auto-follow tool.   There is always the possibility I would have found them on my own if I was scouring Twitter-land for people.   I just don’t have that kind of time.  I still need to keep my day job.  Actually, I am a small business owner so I have even less time than I would if I just had the 9 to 5 routine.

2.  Following the Marketplace.

One of John Reese’s problems with Auto-follow was not being able to read all of the tweets from people you are following.  I agree, it is impossible to read everyone’s tweets if you are following so many.  My answer is, does it really matter so much if you read every person’s tweets.  Are you really sitting there all day long making sure you don’t miss one tweet from one of the 42 people you follow.  

When I sit down in the morning and then again at night and take a look at the current tweets from my following I usually see some of the same people anyway.   I also feel it gives me a better idea of what the industry is doing.  I watch a couple of different niches and having a variety of people gives me a fresh look at what is going on.  If I only kept my core people or did not allow new people in I would not have as clear a look at what is happening in the marketplace. 

3.  What To Do and What Not To Do

On the flip side of things, having a fresh look at new people lets me see what I like and don’t like.  As Twitter evolves there will be new ways of marketing and feeding the messages.  Some will be bad and some will be good.  I can incorporate the good and take note of why the bad is bad.  At this stage of my internet marketing career, everything is important.  Seeing mistakes others make before I potentially make the same mistake is a valuable tool.  Watching a variety of people helps to keep me on the cutting edge of Twitter marketing.

One of the  - “What Not To Do’s”

If somebody has 4 or 5 or 6 tweets in a row, bombarding the system, I un-follow them.  Those people wear me out.  It’s rude.  You have 140 characters, I’ll even give you 280 but not 3, 4 and 5 times.

4.   Twitter is a Party

Watch this video Perry Belcher does on social marketing.  I love this concept and I completely agree.  In John Reece’s article he talks a lot about making money with Twitter.  I think John needs to watch this video.  It’s not that you won’t make money with Twitter and other social media sites but it should not be your focus.  What is the focus.  Going to a party and being a good, interesting guest.  Auto-follow has allowed me to create a larger party so I can practice and hone my guest skills.  When I Tweet now I usually get some @ responses and conversations about my Tweets.  That rarely happened when I only had 300 followers.  This invalidates the other issue John was bringing up about people that auto-follow you don’t read your tweet

5.  Providing Good Content

This is really the key.  We all know it.  The fact is when my twitter following started to grow I felt the pressure to keep providing good content.   I want to be a good guest at the party so I need to stay focused on providing good quality to the attendees.  I feel like if I can provide good content to the people I have attracted through Auto-follow then I am providing good content to the rest of Twitter-land and I will attract them as well. 

Would You Keep Twittering With No Following

I believe if there are only a small number of people with large followings and everybody else struggles to attract people, Twitter will lose its momentum.  I know I would be less apt to continue my Twitter presence if I was not seeing some payoff to my hard work. 

Something tells me if John Reese and his circle of Guru’s were not getting people to follow them, they would not be on Twitter.  What makes them think anybody else would. 

In closing I would like to leave you with some Twitter tools that I have found helpful. 

Twollo  -  This is the Auto Follow tool I use.  It allows you to specify what topics you want to target.  When it finds tweets about specific niches you pick it follows those people.

Tweetils – This is the easiest tool I have found for un-following people.  It is a great tool to help you get over the 2000 follower mark.  It is also useful to keep you in the correct ratio after you get past 2000.  If your ratio of who you are following vs. followers is to high you can’t keep following people.  Un-following people will allow you to continue the process.

100 Twitter Secrets – The most comprehensive smart tips I have found on Twitter land.  Great “How To’s”, “Why For’s” and “Don’t Do’s.

Twitter Traffic Video -  This is the system I used to finally get me Twitter Traffic on the move.

I appreciate any comments you might have, please leave them below. 

You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sagacious1