We're Following Allan Gardyne
on the Twitter Trap

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If you don't know what Twitter is, see the What is Twitter? page.

In Allan Gardyne's Associate Programs Newsletter, #421, of June 23, 2009, I read the best short little bit of sanity I have seen for a long time. It concerned the modern trend of trying to converse with half the universe on all the trendy Social Networking sites that now abound, and consume--waste would be a better word--so many hours of our day. Hours, I might say (and Allan does too) that could be put to far better use.

Here's what Allan had to say:

"A trendy thing to say these days is that good marketing is a conversation.

Instead of a monologue, talking TO people, we're told we're supposed to be talking WITH our potential customers and maintaining social contacts on Twitter, blogs, FaceBook, forums, and social media sites galore. We're supposed to be everywhere and be involved. And don't forget SMS and Skype.

Careful.

I fell into this trap way back in 1998 and 1999, back in the days when "The Cluetrain Manifesto" (remember it?) was telling us that "markets are conversations".

I fell for that hook, line and sinker.

I'd stay up till midnight or later trying to reply to every email that arrived and help everyone who asked for help. Well, that's madness. Been there, done that. It was wonderful for my business but it very nearly killed me. It might kill you, if you attempt it.

Constant contact is OK when your business is SMALL but as your business grows, conversations can become too numerous to handle.

Microblogging and social media sites make it easier to speed up the conversations. You can reply faster - and then get a fast reply to your reply, etc.

Pretty soon, you've spent half a day on conversations and exactly how much has it added to your revenue or reputation? Probably nothing or not much.

I know it's not trendy to say it, but a lot of very good, highly efficient marketing is ONE WAY.

To be sure, good marketing is all about making a connection with your reader, but you can do that through your writing, by being you and letting a bit of your personality show.

You DON'T have to try to befriend half the universe. There aren't enough hours in the day.

All that frantic rushing around is REALLY bad for your health. I hope you're not getting sucked into it just because other people are doing it.

Let's remember that one of the beautiful things about affiliate marketing is that as affiliates WE make the rules. We design our business to suit our skills and interests.

As well as not handling inventory or postage and packaging, in many cases we DON'T have to have conversations with our potential customers. We can just flick them on to the merchant.

We can reduce the number of questions we receive by writing comprehensive reviews. We can also create FAQs that predict questions customers might ask.

Let the merchant do all the frantic rushing around, emailing and tweeting, and suffering from burnout. You don't have to - unless you want to.

If you like spending most of your day having "marketing conversations" - that's great. Design your business accordingly. If you're promoting high-ticket items or residual income products, perhaps you have a good business plan.

But if you're wasting most of the day rushing around and earning only $20, your time might have been better spent writing an in- depth product review or creating a case study.

If you do decide you want to be a Twitter king or queen, hire an assistant to help you, as soon as you possibly can. We all need to take time to relax, unwind and do nothing.

Doing nothing is good for your health and good for your business, too, because your best business ideas are likely to come when you're NOT working.

Don't let the Twitter trap rob you of that.

If you follow me on Twitter, don't expect a lot of frantic rushing around, me-too stuff. I haven't decided yet what I'll use Twitter for, but it won't be me-too stuff.

You can follow me here...

http://www.twitter.com/AllanGardyne

Do you agree?

Do you agree that Twitter and "marketing conversations" can be an inefficient waste of time and a health hazard?

Or have I got it all wrong?

If YOU are having brilliant success with your marketing on Twitter, I'd love to hear from you.

You can always comment on articles in this newsletter simply by going to the main page at AssociatePrograms.com where you can see a link to the latest newsletter.

Find the latest newsletter archived here...

http://www.associateprograms.com/

I'd love to hear what you're doing - or not doing - on Twitter."