by Leo Dirr from UtahNewsBlog. Follow him @UtahNewsGuy
DM me, baby. Anytime! Whoo!
DMing, or direct messaging, on Twitter is a little bit like going on a blind date. You never quite know how the other person is going to receive you. Or react to your advances. Me? You don’t have to worry about me. I’m easy. You really can DM me anytime.
But other tweeple are not so understanding. They have rigid protocols ingrained in their brains about what IS and is NOT acceptable DM behavior. Rather than dwell on the negative, I thought it would be fun to simply show off some of the best DMs I have personally received. You, my friends, can draw your own conclusions.
“What do you want to know about me first? That I loved your Tweet piece? Or that everyone in my family is named Leo? Thanks for following!”
That little gem is courtesy of Erin McHugh @ErinHere. It’s the best darn DM I’ve ever been sent. Erin, bless you, my child. Why is it so good? ‘Cause it hooks me like a big, old bass that hasn’t eaten in days. Such kindness, such sincerity, such a personal touch. I would pretty much die for Erin after that.
Tweeple, learn from hr. She is wise beyond her years. These next two ain’t bad, either.
“Thank you for following me…please tweet me anytime…if you have a blog dm it to me and i will check it out…Tweet ya later:D.”
That’s from Allen Resha @thewildjoker. Friendly enough fellow. I LIKE him!
“Thanks for following me! I look forward to your awesome tweets!!”
And that one’s brought to you by Christine Hill @chillami.
Pretty simple. But it still made me smile. The word “awesome” and the double exclamation marks were nice touches, I thought.
Now, friends, go out there and DM with grace. Make me proud! And please, DM me anytime, baby! Whoo!
@jonbuscall
I am a fan of the DM. But I have to say I’ve noticed a sharp rise in the number of undisclosed affiliate links being sent when I follow people.
I’ve written about this at length yesterday at http://www.jontusmedia.com/the-evil-of-affiliate-marketing-on-twitter/
The trouble is that as soon as you hit someone with a link in a DM you’re putting your reputation on the line. In the case that I blogged it resulted in me unfollowing the person immediately.
Lets remember to use DMs to build relationships. They’re a stepping stone not a direct line to marketing.
@PowerCV
DM’s are sweet … they often result in lovely friendships secretly!! Thanks for the great tips Leo.
@robbsutton
I am a fan of DM’s if it is a personal DM sent to me…not an auto DM aimed at selling me something or trying to get me to visit your site when I have barely read your first tweet. It seems like the auto DM is on the rise and to me…that is extremely impersonal. I am not going to unfollow you because of it, but it is a small annoyance as I have to delete all of the auto DM’s.
If you are going to DM someone…try to show that you have at least read what they have had to say. DM’s are a lot like email…don’t SPAM them.
@techvenkat
DMs are like personal message to your friends which u don’t want to be shown in public,other twitter user always in dilemma when his follower receives DM and replies to it
@cynthiaware
Always wonder who owns my dm’s, know what I mean. They seem private and untouchable but really who owns them is a reality? Twitter business model still hasn’t been developed. Wonder who’s gonna end up buying, archiving, accessing & possibly selling all our “direct messages”? Anyone else?
@ivanwalsh
<Lets remember to use DMs to build relationships.
Agreed. For me this is what I think of most before I hit the button.
Ivan
@EzyBlogger
I’m not very sure about welcome DM. Auto or Manual ?
Auto and tweeple will hate you.
Manual and you won’t have time to write for your blog.
Sigh…
@RenaR
I have 2 twitter accounts. For my personal account, I don’t think that I’d ever automatically DM anyone. For my website account, I have it set up to auto DM when someone follows. I’ve been rethinking that later, afraid that I may be annoying people. I like your solution.
The examples that you use are very clever. Perhaps that if you make it interesting, people won’t mind and might even enjoy them.
As for manual DMs, I can’t imagine why anyone would have a problem with them. I have often used them to give suggestions that I don’t think that everyone should hear. It’s a nice feature.
@rhodester
So yesterday, this guy follows me. Okay. I get a handful of new followers daily and I’m one of those people who’s selective – I look at the profile and if I like what I see, I follow back. If not, I just don’t follow.
I liked the profile. Writer, thinker, smart and witty guy.. so I follow back. I even did something I seldom do.. I sent a DM. I really only DM people I’ve known for a long time or have established some kind of rapport with. But I made an exception here, because the profile was so genuinely impressive.
“Hi so and so (used his name so he wouldn’t think it’s an auto-responder) – I dig the profile, thanks for following!”
About an hour later I check Friend or follow (http://friendorfollow.com/) and he’d unfollowed me. Now, not a big deal.. people unfollow me all the time.. I don’t care. But this was a BURN. Wow. I liken it to walking up to someone at a party and saying, “Hey, I’m Dave.. just wanted to meet you and shake your hand, I’ve read some of your stuff and it’s pretty awesome” only to have them disdainfully sneer and walk away.
Seriously, I don’t sweat unfollows or care about them.. THIS ONE just got to me. Whoa.
@writerdad
RhodesTer: I totally feel you. That is a burn.
I rarely if ever send DM’s unless they’re people I know well. I’m cautious about invading someone’s space. I’m selective about who I follow as well. If I’m being sold in a DM and we don’t know one another. That’s no bueno.
@marinavillatoro
Hi, you know, if I got any of these DM’s and I’ve got a lot similar, it doesn’t really make me run out and want to DM them back. I mean, this is what they send out to everyone!
I like the DM’s that are directed at me. When you take out the time to say something about me or my blog, I will run out and check yours out, rss you and a whole bunch more. But, family of leo’s doesn’t really grab me, sorry…
@KMWeiland
I discovered the power of the DM the first time someone responded to my following him. His kind response not only taught me a thing or two about the “secret art of the DM,” but he also favorably impressed me as someone worth paying attention to in the future. Of course, I’ve learned since them that not DM’s are as personal as they may initially appear. But I’m still thankful to that first DM-er for teaching me how to favorably impress my own followers, in turn.
@johnonolan
Say NO to AutoDM’s
@carlarose
I too rarely DM unless I either know the person well or if I’m sharing personal information. I also dont DM much because there are already so many people using auto DMs, I fear I may get lost in the noise.
@griffmiester
I was actually thinking about this the other day, and wrote my own blog post on this topic, but I titled it My Latest Pet Peeve.
With DM’s in general, I’m of the opinion that they are for sending messages directly to an individual, that you don’t want others to see. This normally means that you know the individual on some level.
I understand the logic of sending an Auto-DM as a Welcome, as you don’t want to SPAM your public time-line every time you add a new follower, but even the examples that Leo gave, like:
or
come across to me as being insincere, and just trying too hard.
If they are Auto-DM’s (and I don’t know for sure if they are or aren’t), there may have been thought involved in structuring the “template”, but there was no thought involved when they were actually sent to the recipient. And this is what irks me. :/
@adigaskell
I don’t really like DM’s other than from people I know well, but automated ‘welcome’ DM’s are a pet hate. If we’ve only just met then you havn’t earnt the right to private message me, that comes with time and the fact that you’ve automated this supposedly personal message says to me that this relationship will be all about you. Not a fan of any of the messages highlighted in the OP I’m afraid, they just don’t do it for me.
@septiadysubagio
I often use DM. Everytime I get new followers or get follow back, I always sent a thank you via DM. Why via DM? Because it more personal, and its not showing at my twitter page.
I also DM for asking to specific people or just saying Hi.. I don’t use auto DM, but sometimes people send me their auto DM. I’m not mad or start to unfollow, but it just take my time o erase it one by one.
Oh, speaking about build relationship on DM.. I would say I’m quite agree with that, because I did it. hehe..
Last but not least, if you’re wanna DM me, fell free..
@lethalvb01
People are just sensitive to many things.
@www.blinkyit.com
Wao its a good idea to have a direct message for fallowing me and that a great idea of course, this would be mains.
Hey! Gracias por seguirme, una razon mas por la cual seguir twitteando, me has dejado sin palabras, soy un loco y no tengo nada mas que hacer que ver tu perfil y visitar tu blos, ¡si tienes! Muchas gracias.
My would be like that but its to long and i don’t think it have so much feeling like doze you give for example. I will try to have mo re imaginative, that mean am lack.
thank you for the post.
who cares really??? All you twitterholics need to get a real life!
@Real_TechGuy
I guess it all depends on how you use twitter.
I use twitter to share interesting articles and information and meet new people. I think auto DM is fine if you are not shoving links in people’s faces. I happen to HATE when I get a link in an auto DM.
I have an auto DM set up on my account for any new followers. It reads: “Hey, thanks for the follow! How long have you been tweeting?” I find this is a great ice breaker and it gets people talking. It’s the first step to getting to know my followers better.
The key is to respond to their replies daily.