Have you joined my incredibly non-annoying, once-in-a-while email newsletter?
I’m speaking at a conference in a few months – keynoting it, in fact. I’m obviously not going to mention which one, it could be any of the countless conferences at which I’m speaking over the next six months.
But the person running this conference has sent me (and my assistant) no less than five emails a piece asking me to blog, tweet, or otherwise do free PR for their conference. Knowing that I have over 50,000 followers, this conference organizer suspected that getting me to tweet about my attending would be an easy way for her to get free PR.
Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.
I’ve built my Twitter following on what I preach in my speeches: Honesty, transparency, brevity, relevance, and top-of-mind presence – i.e., offering you valuable information in exchange for you letting me into your life. The day I start shilling for other people is the day my Twitter stream becomes nothing more than advertising, or than a press release submitted over a wire.
Ain’t. EVER. Gonna. Happen.
So… Next time you’re doing something and someone asks you to “just make a quick tweet” for them to promote for them, feel free to steal my email below.
Dear XXXX
My assistant Meagan and I have received your multiple messages regarding my tweeting and blogging my speech at your conference.
I’ve built my Twitter following to well over 50,000 people by obeying some very simple rules, which I’ll share with you here:
1) I don’t blatantly self-promote.2) I post links of interest, and links of value.3) I don’t waste people’s time with repetitive posting, or tweets that serve no purpose.4) I don’t double or triple post.
As we get closer to the date of the conference, I will make mention that I’m keynoting your event, in a way that benefits my followers. I will not, however, advertise for you to my followers, who sign up to receive valuable insight from me, not blatant advertisements.
I tweet about all my keynotes, XXXX. But I do it in my voice, on my time, in a way that’s not blatantly advertorial, self-promoting, or self-serving. Those are my rules. I don’t violate them. Ever.
I’m sure you understand.
Best regards,
-Peter Shankman
EDITED TO ADD: I mistakenly left the person’s first name in the second XXXX in the last paragraph. That was an editing mistake, and I never intended to “out” said person. I have no reason to. As such, I’ve removed the name, and all references to this conference or person. This post was designed to talk about my Twitter rules, not to take anyone to task.
