Too many #hours in the day?

The phenomenon of local #hours on Twitter has increased steadily over the last couple of years. It's a great idea and I use appropriate geographical and subject themed #hours for my own business and for my clients.

There comes a point, however, where several #hours coincide or follow on from one another. At this point I'm seeing the same tweet from people 4 or 5 times in a couple of minutes - each with a different #hour on it. This is then repeated every 10 minutes until the #hour is over. This makes for very repetitive and boring content! It's also a wasted opportunity in my opinion.

I had a debate with a particularly enthusiastic #hour frequenter. Their response to their followers that were getting bored with all the "noise" they were generating was...

...use the mute feature.

Really!?!

Do you really want to be the account that encourages your followers to mute your output? Seems like an exercise in self defeat to me!

Using loads of scheduled tweets to cover multiple hours may seem like a cost effective solution, but you'll soon hit a brick wall. I think that a training company local to me summed it up nicely:

@followthethread That's true. It's a bit like not going to a networking event and sending a flyer instead! #staffordshirehour
— abv Training (@abvtraining) May 28, 2014

Well said...!

The other major issue with #hours is over zealous retweeting. You've probably come across the "retweet everything that moves to try and get new followers" gambit. It can create just as much noise as the sales tweets. If you want to curate good content for your followers to keep them engaged then you don't want them turning off your retweets on your profile page.


Here are 3 top tips to keep you involved with your #hour of choice without boring the rest of your followers:

1. Interact with people on your #hour of choice (i.e. start your tweet with an @)  You're still visible on the hashtag and it limits the #hour fatigue generated amongst the rest of your followers.

2. Retweet selectively. Target businesses that are good suppliers/clients or ones that you'd like to talk to. Or, of course, tweets that say something relevant to your followers' interests!

3. Looking desperate is not a good sales tactic. Concentrate your efforts on a couple of #hours and try actually talking to people instead of just broadcasting. You'll get better results.




TL;DR
Don't annoy the followers you've already got.

Ezinegate

Occasionally things happen when you're running your own business that, initially, can be upsetting. They can even progress to being vexing, but eventually mellow to a humorous anecdote with a side order of food for thought.

Ezinegate started when someone that I've worked with sent around their monthly E-Newsletter. (No names, no pack drill!) They made some comments about a number of businesses - other than their own - which were less than flattering.

My company specialises in Social Media. This was one area that was targeted thus:
"Then we have the social Media experts who are usually broke, but have thousands of friends on Facebook of followers on Twitter. They are all about building relationships, but struggle to offer something and ask for the sale."

At first - I'll be honest - I couldn't help but take the comments personally. I soon got over that as I know that this person is not daft enough to make a personal attack on anybody! Whatever I may now think of them, they run their business effectively.

Then I was vexed at what the networks we had in common would think. Now, it's become a something to laugh at and the negative emotion is long since spent.

It has, however, made me think about how Social Media is perceived by businesses that have yet to take the plunge. It has also made me think of what assumptions are made about companies and people that offer Social Media services.

People who meet me (yes, I do go out of the house!) are quickly disabused of the code bashing hermit stereotype. I'm not a pale, ghostly figure chained to a keyboard - social media is as much about people as any other sort of networking. The fact that it uses technology as a way of facilitating interaction can be misconstrued.

So - what did I learn from Ezinegate?

I think that there is a need to actively challenge the negative assumptions made about social media and the people that use it. It's a mainstream business tool, not a minority curiosity. We're clawing our way out of a recession and every inch of advantage needs to be fought for and held on to. If I need to change the view of business one person at a time I'll do it!

Will you join me...?