Automation through technology is a beautiful thing from an efficiency and productivity standpoint. I’m a fan of automating low-level and/or repetitive tasks to free up time for cerebral and creative work. Unfortunately, there are also many things people choose to automate that can actually do more harm than good.
Here are several cases where you should avoid automation:
Auto-responses to DMs in any social platform
Nothing irks me more than when I choose to follow someone on Twitter and I get an auto-DM thanking me for following them. It is especially bothersome because Twitter DMs from the people I chose to follow have an incredibly high signal to noise ratio – I don’t think I receive any DM spam from the 800 or so people I’m following (pretty amazing actually). I immediately un-follow people who auto-ping me after I follow them and you should too – it shows a complete lack of respect for users as many of us have tied Twitter to our mobile devices. DM’s were designed to be personal communications to the person receiving them, treat them as such.
Blind/automated digging or sharing of content
A reason certain people are extremely trusted or seen as high degrees of signal is due to the fact they share content with care and purpose. You simply can’t automate this, and it ruins your ability to build social capital and a strong digital reputation. Besides, automating sharing can’t approach the quality of doing this selectively and personally. Having an eye for strong content is a talent in and of itself and is actually what makes many social media power users special. Also if you’re caught doing this on sites like Digg, they’ll outright ban you.
Auto-responses from customer service
If you’re in a consumer-facing business and actively pushing marketing/PR efforts on the web, yet at the same time pushing automatic and/or canned responses to consumers from your customer service department, you’re potentially fighting yourself. As Steve Rubel has noted on more than one occasion, customer service is the new PR. Direct, personal and quality human responses that leave consumers buzzing is a huge PR tactic in itself not just to hedge negativity, but also to build positive relationships. Be a special company that deeply respects every customer enough to take the time to interact with them personally.
Content creation
Some people use tools to automatically scrape content to build resource lists, but the only way to build truly useful lists or any type of content that is compelling enough to be shared and linked to is to create it manually with thought behind it. Don’t ever be sold on tools that automatically generate or scrape content, there is no machine that replaces what a smart writer can do.
AdWords optimization
As someone with several years experience working in AdWords I manually work on my campaigns. I’ve played around with Google’s campaign optimizer before – and while it can prove somewhat useful under certain circumstances, you really have to vest time in AdWords manually if you want to get results from their system. I get what they’re trying to do with the campaign optimizer, but the system is one which begs to be tweaked manually by someone who has been watching the data carefully and understands all aspects of what is happening with thought behind the decisions.
White papers/resources for clients
It may be tempting to template general insights for clients if you are in the marketing industry, but there is much greater value in spending the time to provide industry-specific, researched reports tailored to each client. Take the time to create specific consulting, and you’ll prove yourself that much more of an asset than merely providing generic material. Done properly, these types of documents/consulting demonstrate you truly understand the business a client is in.
Relationship building
Simply put, you can’t and never will be able to automate this. It’s the antithesis of what a relationship is. Every relationship is unique, and for it to be valuable it must be forged and nurtured in that manner. If you try to automate any parts of this, you’re missing the point entirely.
Conclusion
If you’re in the web industry in any sense, trying to automate things where others work carefully to provide unique, tailored results positions you as the colder, less human option. The web actually enables you to be warmer and more personalized, and there is much to gain by embracing that philosophy. I’m not saying to not use automation where it makes sense from an efficiency standpoint, but be weary of removing the human element from your communications, strategies or content. Automation is best used in a fusion with personalized insight from a savvy individual or organization.
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The Future Buzz is a blog run by communications professional Adam Singer. Adam has experience as both a digital PR strategist and online marketing manager for some of the top-rated brands globally
Nate @ Debt-free Scholar (7 comments)25 March 09
I have always dislike automated direct messages to new Twitter followers. Sometimes I have almost unfollowed people after they sent an automated direct message.
Thanks,
Nate
Mark Stegman (1 comments)25 March 09
Thanks for the post. Do you think and automated Twitter return DM is better that no return message at all? For automation of forms and passwords I am really happy with Roboform @ http://www.roboform.com/
Steven Bradley (15 comments)25 March 09
If someone wants to send an auto reponse on Twitter it should at most be a reply and not a direct. I’ve been seeing a lot of honest people who’ve been sending the auto responses and I think some did have good intentions. But it’s crossed a line into being annoying and even insulting.
I’ll definitely unfollow anyone who auto responds with a link of any kind. The rest it’s more of starting off their relationship with me on the wrong note. I’m less likely to listen to anything they say after.
Sun (1 comments)26 March 09
What if interacting with every customer and potential customer causes me to lose money? For example, if I paid myself $0.50 a minute ($30 an hour), talking to a customer for five minutes means any profit would be gone. I think you can automate customer service as well, but you require more upfront investment. Google is actually doing some excellent R&D on their help system. Being able to find help articles based on the subject you type is interesting. The AI needs to improve, but we are getting there. We are not so different that someone else has not asked the same question before. This will not solve the service requirement completely, but it does free up humans to actually perform tasks that require human intervention.
Kenny Laurie (1 comments)26 March 09
I completely agree, particularly with automated responses on Twitter. I think it is crass and defeats the object of social media and content sharing. Nothing can replace human interaction and nothing builds up trust and respect like a service that is particularly commited to open dialogue with its customers.
Good post
Jakatak (9 comments)26 March 09
I think people are being way to emotional over auto DM on initial following. I do it only because I get about 30 followers each day on twitter. I have no time to write each one saying thanks for the follow.
I also do a auto follow for anyone who follows me. I will later unfollow if I see any spam or too much self promotional information being sent.
Everyone needs to stop whining about the auto DM. I bet you guys don’t sign your name at the end of each email. You probably have the signature automated. HOW DARE YOU!
Craig (19 comments)26 March 09
I agree the auto DM’s or customer service responses are awful. Make me automatically not want to connect with that person or company.
KristinCurrier (6 comments)26 March 09
I think this ties very much into “fear of the internet”.
One of the reasons people fear the internet is because automated systems designed to replace human interaction alienate them. No one wants to do business with a robot. Perhaps in the past “irrationally exuberant” economy, one could get away with skimping on the human element. No longer, unless you’re the only service in town.
KKirsch (1 comments)26 March 09
Great article and a general reminder that we need more, not less, human interaction.
Michael Pratt (1 comments)26 March 09
It’s unfortunate that some of your commenters just don’t get your point. I’ll approach it from a different angle. I am a partner in a statistical arbitrage hedge fund. We automate much of what we do (we couldn’t trade otherwise) We generally follow one rule: we automate that which does not require judgment. All of the cases you mention DO require judgment. The email signature is a perfect example of how Jakatak is wrong. Signatures require (nor are expected to show) judgment. Twitter messages DO. That’s why you should not and cannot effectively automate them.
Ethel Powers (1 comments)26 March 09
I see the @ posts on Twitter against DMs. Your article makes it clear that it is not really acceptable. I agree that personal interaction is much better, especially with consumers.
John Clark (1 comments)26 March 09
When I was new to Twitter I hooked up with an auto-response thing because I thought it was the thing to do. Then, after trying more things than I could count application wise, I totally forgot which service I used to set the auto-response. Now knowing I needed to shut it off, couldn’t until I figured it out. http://www.tweetlater.com has a way to Opt out all DM. Very useful.
Stephen - Rat Race Trap (6 comments)26 March 09
“The web actually enables you to be warmer and more personalized, and there is much to gain by embracing that philosophy.”
How true this is. I have established some true, warm, and personal friendships on the net. Some of them came first from Twitter.
“I have no time to write each one saying thanks for the follow.”
I don’t either because I don’t have time to answer them all. However, I don’t auto DM either because they are so transparently auto DM.
Catherine Lockey (30 comments)27 March 09
It’s human nature to desire love and belonging from society. Automated responses do not make people feel connected to people.
Adam Singer (303 comments)27 March 09
@Nate @ Debt-free Scholar – un follow them totally, I do it – do you really want updates from these people?
@Mark Stegman – no, it would be better to wait to write until you have something worthwhile to say.
@Steven Bradley – exactly
@Kenny Laurie – thanks, I’m with you there.
@Jakatak – not the same thing at all, those are two totally different functions.
@Craig – I feel the same way
@KristinCurrier – the possibility of automation has existed since we had phone systems, it is not new to the web. Technology used properly enables us to build deeper interactions.
@KKirsch – yes, follow that path and you’ll have great results.
@Michael Pratt – that’s a smart way of putting it.
@Ethel Powers – yes, especially if you really care about your customers and want to build loyalty.
@John Clark – that would be useful under specific circumstances, but the DM function has a purpose if you’re following just those you trust – would ruin part of the service to block it out altogether.
@Stephen – Rat Race Trap – you shouldn’t feel a need to thank everyone for following you anyway unless there’s a special reason to, in my opinion.
@Catherine Lockey – you’re right about that.
Adrian Trenholm (1 comments)3 April 09
Auto customer service is better than no customer service. My experience when pre-ordering items that not yet in stock has, with one exception, been woeful. Essentially where humans are involved, my order has been forgotten and when I call or email, I am ignored. The one exception: an automated email explaining that the supplier had not delivered, offering me the option to cancel for immediate refund or continue to wait another 30 days. This email auto repeated every 21 days. After a couple of waits, I clicked the refund option and my money was refunded the same day. In this context, auto beat human.