It seems like people are always trying to make things easier than they need to be. Just look at all the products being sold on TV. If you want to enjoy delicious brownies but hate the hassle of cutting them, there’s a pan that will bake them up pre-sliced! If your dog needs a bath, there’s a special soap dispenser for your garden hose to spray him down just like your car. There’s even a handy toothpaste gizmo that will apply just the right amount of Crest to your brush without ever having to squeeze the tube!

With all these nifty gadgets available to make even the simplest tasks simpler, it’s no wonder some people are taking the same approach to social media with automated Twitter and Facebook updates. Sure, social media can be time consuming. And yes, everyone’s already plenty busy without adding extra time to tweet. But if you really want to achieve social media success for your brand, automatic tweets of company press releases are not going to cut it.

Let me explain why automating social media doesn’t work…

Have you ever been watching an interesting TV show when suddenly you’re interrupted by Billy Mays screaming about Mighty Putty? At that moment you knew there was only one objective to Billy’s message — BUY BUY BUY! Don’t ask questions — just BUY THIS THING!

That’s exactly how automated  tweets and Facebook updates sound. Your message comes along and interrupts a perfectly good conversation with promotional information that wasn’t even written for a social medium. It looks like your only objective is to sell something and you don’t care who knows it. Sure, sometimes people will respond or “like” your post — if you’re selling something good — but even if that happens, this type of approach will never generate the kind of buzz you’re looking for. It will never build relationships with your followers.

A true social media strategy means talking with people instead of just broadcasting at them. Automated posts can’t answer questions or respond when spoken to. And what are you really getting out of it anyway? Even if you’re lucky enough to attract a few thousand people who will follow your auto-tweets, does it really provide any benefit? What if those people are already sold on your brand and just “like” you to show their support? Automated news tweets won’t do anything to engage your most passionate followers. They certainly won’t invite their feedback or fresh ideas. Then there’s the greater number of people who will never follow you because you haven’t offered them any value — no useful or actionable information, no calls to action, and not even a response to a question. Imagine the missed opportunities there.

Automated updates from your PR office might seem like a time-saving miracle — like an As-Seen-on-TV gadget without shipping and handling — but automation is just not social. It won’t work, I promise.

When you decide to do social media, be sure you have the right people to drive it. Invest the resources to be social. If you can’t do that, I’d recommend avoiding social media until you can. After all, if you don’t have time to cut the brownies, you probably shouldn’t waste the effort baking them.

- @rotolo