Twitter Rules Change had a devastating effect on my traffic :(
New Twitter Rules Change creates a dilema for social marketers
As you may be aware, Twitter announced a change of rules which took effect on the 23 March 2017. If you are not aware of the changes here's a link to the announcement over at Twitter.
In a nutshell, you are no longer permitted to:
- Simultaneously post identical or substantially similar content to multiple accounts.
- Simultaneously perform actions such as Likes, Retweets, or follows from multiple accounts
- Use of any form of automation (including scheduling) to post identical or substantially similar content, or to perform actions such as Likes or Retweets
Users of TweetDeck...
... will no longer be able to select multiple accounts through which to perform an action such as Tweeting, Retweeting, liking, or following.
Additionally...
- Posting duplicative or substantially similar content, replies, or mentions over multiple accounts you control, or creating duplicate or substantially similar accounts, with or without the use of automation, is never allowed.
- Posting multiple updates (on a single account or across multiple accounts you control) to a trending or popular topic (for instance, through the use of a specific hashtag) with an intent to subvert or manipulate the topic, or to artificially inflate the prominence of a hashtag or topic, is never allowed.
Avoiding Account Suspension will be a Key Issue
Online Marketers and many providers of automation services have been left scrambling to make sufficient changes to ensure they address and comply with these new rule changes.
Interestingly, I have been a Hootsuite user for years, and did not receive ANY notification that these rule changes were coming. It was only by fluke that I was exploring a new automation tool that I became aware of the rule changes. As a result I ended up changing to a different tool that seemed to have a better grasp and level of communication with it's subscribers about the changes *
Though I note that Hootsuite do now have some documentation on this topic in their help centre - for me it was too little too late :( *
Was my previous Twitter behaviour spammy?
Apparently so! Whenever I created a post, I would schedule a daily tweet for a few weeks, the content of each tweet was identical, and I would post it across a couple of twitter accounts. BIG NO NO
I also regularly find interesting WA articles and tweet them ferociously across my twitter accounts for a few weeks. Another BIG NO NO
Using RSS feeds to post interesting news about my niche was another tactic. You guess it... BIG NO NO
But this stuff worked!
And here's the proof.
You see, I've been conducting a bit of a twitter experiment since early February to find out if tweeting and auto scheduling tweets really does drive traffic - and here's the results of that experiment.
This is a screen shot of my WA content clicks.
Prior to kicking off my 'tweeting campaign' you can see the visitors I was generating to Wealthy Affiliate were pretty abismal. Through use of my automation tool and rescheduling tweets to repeat over time, I quickly got my traffic well over 100 visitors per day, with my top day in excess of 400 clicks.
But once the rule changes came in, I have changed my tweeting behaviour to comply (I'm a rule follower from way back and I don't want to have my account suspended!!). The effect on the traffic I was sending to WA immediately dropped off and now is sitting at about 20-30 clicks/visitors per day.
Where to from here?
If I'm being perfectly honest, all that twitter activity to my WA affiliate links did not generate a ton of referrals. Sure I had a dozen or so referrals in February, but only one person went premium and that person did not sign up as a result of my tweets. I'm fairly certain that they signed up after visiting my website.
My key take-outs as a result of this change are:
- Don't rely on one source of social media to generate traffic and leads. In fact social media should only be a very small part of your overall engagement strategy.
- DO focus on creating quality content for your own website with the targeted use of appropriate keywords. This by far is your best strategy as you will attract genuine readers and people who will be interested in what you have to offer.
- Follow the training here! I know we all bang on about this one, but the training works. It really does. And the more I learn - well... the more I learn.
One final thought.
Good on Twitter for leading the way on this one. For a long time I've wondered if it's just a magnet for spammy behaviour, but I've been reluctant to change my tweeting habits because I was getting good click rates. Twitter's changes have made me look long and hard at my own strategy and evaluate if it's actually working.
Don't be surprised if other social media platforms follow suit and clamp down on recycled posts in the future.
Your feedback...?
How are you using Twitter - were you aware of the rule changes? And if so, do you need to think your twitter strategy?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one, so please, drop me a note in the comments below...
Cheers Karen :)
Recent Comments
55
Thanks for this information
So does this mean we can never recycle older tweets even if they have been updated? How would an updated review go?
Geoff
Hi Geoff, If Twitter enforce their new rules verbatim, then yes, that is correct. However, I envisage that they have put this in place to stop people creating multiple accounts and abusing the system. I am using a new auto scheduling tool which I'm really impressed with and they are currently looking at solutions around how we can recycle tweets. Feel free to PM me if you'd like further info. Cheers, Karen
Hi Karen. Thanks for this post which is very informative. I too have been using Twitter quite a lot and have received a number of clicks through as a result but I only have one account set up and tweet manually.
I do retweet things but I usually reword them as well and add a different image so that even if the link is the same, the surrounding wording and image are different.
I have seen a growth in clicks using Twitter too although I have to say, that I often wonder if these come from real people or not. What I have noticed is that if I post a link to Twitter and it contains my affiliate link to a WA post for example, that I can usually add between 5 and 20 clicks per link, usually then appear within a few seconds of the tweet being sent. This makes me a bit suspicious because I use Bit.ly and the number of clicks that they report, does not correspond to the 'clicks' I get on Twitter. Interesting. I think this may be a reason for the low response and sign up rate with these Twitter 'click's.
Just a thought, but adding my experience to the debate to see if anyone else can clarify it a bit.
Thanks for sharing. Gail
Oh that is interesting Gail! I never got much traffic from Twitter to my website but I did get traffic to WA when I posted about it on Twitter. If I was not actually getting as much real traffic as I thought, then it makes me feel better about my decision to stop using Twitter recently!
I just get so much better results from focusing on organic traffic through adding content! I have never had much luck with social media. I am getting some traffic from Quora but the others just took too much time.
I am glad I have learned my lesson and know to focus on adding content now. I just don't have enough time to do it all and if I have to choose one thing, adding content should be that one thing.
I need to try Pinterest and some others someday, but for now I am taking a break!
Thanks!
Jessica
Hi Jessica, I think this recent twitter change has just reinforced for me the importance of focusing on building out the content on my own site. sometimes it's easy to get carried away with the instant gratification of tweeting, but really - it hasn't generated the results I had hoped. Cheers, Karen
Hi Gail, that's really interesting and yes I would say my experiences with click through rates to WA content is similar to yours. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Karen
Hi Jessica. I think it does bring in some people but not nearly the same as the clicks we see. Like you say, you can't do everything so adding content is definitely the best thing to do I think, otherwise, our Twitter posts will get more and more repetitive with less and less original content. Gail
Totally agree with that Gail. And on that note, I'm going to bed, to dream up some more fabulous content for tomorrow! Nite nite all. Cheers, Karen
That's the one thing about online biz that I don't like. The big players can change the rules at any time. Facebook has recently made some changes because of the Cambridge data breach. YouTube made changed a few months ago that hurt smaller channels as well. You're right about having several sources for traffic.
Yip, it's a fickle business indeed and this is just another example why you'd never rely on one avenue only to generate traffic to your website. Thanks for your feedback, cheers, Karen
Sounds to me like a measure against spamming. Good change.
Although I see where automation comes in at tedious tasks, the tedious tasks are however part of a good marketing strategy.
Spamming shouldn't be done with any social media and success through social media requires a lot of work and effort.
The results can never have been quality results in my opinion. Best is to do everything manually and with one account per niche or theme.
Tedious tasks like these can be replaced by hiring people for it too. Messages stay human and personalized.
Steven
This is interesting to me, and quite a downer, as well. I haven't used Twitter in some time, but before joining WA, I used to use it to promote blogs on the rather poorly performing sites I had then. I'd always get a spike in visitors and I was using multiple accounts. The only difference was that I wasn't automating them. I was manually going into my accounts one by one, posting the link with a few words, then following it up with several retweets from other people, then posting another link to another blog, then another handful of retweets, etc..., for maybe 3 or 4 of my website blogs. Then I'd switch accounts and do the same thing. I never had any of my accounts closed or any problem. I think the last time I did that might have been 5 or 6 months ago. It was all manual, though. So I usually did this over the course of an hour or so, usually while watching television, lol.
Hi Mark, sounds like that worked well for you. It's going to be interesting to see how Twitter is going to implement its' rule change, I think they are probably more interested in the automated bots and things of such spammy nature. I am using a new auto scheduling tool which I'm really impressed with. Feel free to PM me if you'd like further info. Cheers, Karen
Thank you for this, Karen. I was just considering a third-party service but not any more. I've always just tweeted manually. I guess I'll branch out more between Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter.
Thank you for this information. Forewarned is forearmed.
All the best,
Sue
Hi Sue, I am using a new auto scheduling tool which I'm really impressed with. Feel free to PM me if you'd like further info. But yes, forewarned is forearmed, it definitely pays to make sure you're not overstepping the protocols. Cheers, Karen
I think is better do my best about social media.
We are forced to apply the rules for social networks because we need them for business online
Absolutely. there's no point trying to short circuit the rules, you'll only end up getting your account suspended and that's not nice. Cheers, Karen
Thanks for sharing. I didn't even know you could automate tweets by using third party services so I've been doing all my social media manually for years.
Hi there, you most certainly can. I am using a new auto scheduling tool which I'm really impressed with. Feel free to PM me if you'd like further info. Cheers, Karen
I think the social media is more trouble than it is worth. I know it generates traffic.... :(
I hear you. At times it feels like a necessary evil. Moving forward I'm going to restrict my social media activities and focus on the content and building out my website and email list. Thanks for sharing.
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I am still fairly new to using the social media to get traffic. However, yes I did hear about these rules. And yes it does stink but I see their point also. Sorry you have to figure out another way.
Hi there, and I'm not sorry at all. It's a good reminder that we need to focus on creating quality content that gets organic traffic... so that's my strategy moving forward. Thanks for your feedback, Cheers, Karen
Your are welcome and good luck in your new journey.