You can't automate social

When I was a salesman, I was told that the best way to get new leads was to go to networking meetings and meet new people. I was told that if I could just go out to talk to more people and created new relationships then I would be able find more opportunity.

A good salesman knows that when building these relationships, it's never a good idea to assume that everyone you are talking to will naturally buy from you. In fact, it's never even a good idea to assume that person will naturally do anything for you. However, when you treat these new relationships with an attitude of "what can I do for you?" then it won't take long to find relationships that become mutually beneficial.

Enter the social media world.

MySpace then LinkedIn to Facebook and Twitter.

With the ability to connect with people online so easy now, marketers and sales people have become lazy. They have decided that one message fits all. They are keen on posting the exact same message across all their platforms regardless of the audience (ever notice a hash tag on Facebook or LinkedIn?) or, even worse, having automatic posts to a timeline without thought of how the audience will interact. (Take a look at the picture on this post and you'll know what I mean.)

To be successful in social media all you have to do is be social. Just post content that is right that audience. Just because you says something on Twitter it doesn't mean that it's right for Facebook or LinkedIn.

It is better to be social on one platform and ignore the others than it is to try and automate all of them. Trying to automate your social media simply demonstrates that you lack authenticity or interest in truly engaging with your audience.