The Mind of Vatke
Thoughts, Musings and Advice by Andre Vatke

In the next 8 minutes I’m going to save you no less than $100 by exposing the latest lame marketing trick that will soon be a favorite of renegades and hucksters across the Internet.

The newest in black-hat marketing/traffic generation is a software service called TweetTornado (thanks to ThreatChaos for bringing it to our attention).

Here’s how it works...

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The TweetTornado site goes on to claim that their service can easily replace and fully automate the equivalent of $120,000 a month in PPC ads. That’s a tasty morsel that many inexperienced marketers would be tempted to bite at. Once they do they will find little substance other than the hook in their mouth.

The problem with TweetTornado is similar to that of other traffic schemes...

1) Nobody Likes Spammers: This may be a no brainer but it’s important to think about. The popularity of Tivo, XM radio and a lot of Web Media is in part fueled by the users ability to effectively opt-out of ads. When people use Twitter, Facebook or even read a Blog, they are going there to read content or socialize, not ads. Blatant advertising will not gain you follower’s only trouble.

2) Black Hat Never Lasts: Black hat strategies don't seem to ever work for long. After all, it is by definition a way to manipulate the system. And 'the system' doesn't appreciate being manipulated!

Twitter for one is a closed system. It’s owned and operated by Twitter. While you can create a free account, they have complete control. It won’t take Twitter long to create changes that will limit the ability of TweetTornado (or anything similar) to function. Though I’m sure it won’t stop the next wave of traffic schemes.

3) They Hope You Ignore Basic Logic: Let’s cut the crap here. If I really could replace $120,000 of advertising for $99 – I wouldn’t charge $99. That’s the very reason click costs have risen on Google – some people make more money then they spend – hence competition in advertising will drive costs to a point where only the smart earn profit. It’s an environment that favors creative companies and those who can provide the same product/service for less than their competitors.

4) It’s Not Duplicatable: On the surface this might look wrong. After all how easy is it to simply push a button and let the software do its thing? But duplication is deeper then that. Think email for a second. How many spammers does it take before you install a spam filter? How many Twammers (Twitter Spammers) does it take before you stop using it or take action? And even more importantly, how many Twammers can coexist (market endlessly to the same people and each other) before the system collapses? (Let’s not even include the fact that most Tweets go unread each day.)

Those looking for a short cut to sponsoring, finding customers or generating leads are easy prey for an endless stream of black-hat marketing techniques. The problem is that most participants never see success and only spend more money looking for their holy grail.

In the end, the issue is a lack of understanding of what actually makes people want to respond to an ad, make a purchase or join a company. The people who promote and buy into these types of systems also lack a basic understanding of what makes Network Marketing different from traditional business. They believe that they can advertise their way to success, when in reality advertising is only a small part of any long-term success.

If you’re going to give your business the explosive jumps in results that will allow you to achieve your dreams, raise the bar and accomplish your goals, you can’t do it by following the same advice you and everyone else have followed up to now.

Think about it logically. You can’t be a follower and ever expect to become a leader.