If you doubt the power of social media, the recent phony tweet that sent stocks plunging could change your mind.

Hackers pilfered the Associated Press’ (AP) Twitter handle long enough to send a fake tweet about explosions at the White House.

• Investors dumped stock to the tune of $134 billion
• But, most were not your human variety investors
• Most of the dumpers were computers on autopilot

Apparently, the lack of human brain cells could not stop the computers’ little algorithms from creating automated sales based on the fake tweet.

Good to know there is still a need for human brain cells.

That got me thinking about other automated processes and what it could be doing to your stock.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Not since HAL attempted to commandeer the spacecraft in 2001: A Space Odyssey has the potential risk of too much automation received such a grand stage.

Automation in business has many pluses.

• Repetitive tasks are streamlined
• Businesses become more productive
• Programmed correctly, errors are diminished

We love our shiny, new toys, but this incident demonstrates that automation without controls backfires.

The following are my examples of automation gone wild.

Automated Tweets

Why not start with the star platform of the AP story.

There are multiple tools for automating tweets.

• Hootsuite
• AutoTweeter
• TwitterFeed
• TweetDeck
• FutureTweets

That list barely scratches the surface.

Many of the tools allow you to manage other networking sites as well. You can tweet updates to blog posts, schedule future tweets, send event reminders.

All good uses – when you don’t go wild.

Tweets Gone Wild

Who hasn’t experienced some of the following?

• The same tweets with the same message sent on the hour
• A bombardment of nothing but self-serving tweets

Use some of those human brain cells to find a happy balance.

Email Marketing Responder

We seem to have more newsletter subscriptions or email marketing solicitations than we could ever read.

However, email marketing continues to be a powerful tool.

Well-crafted automated responders customize your message to various readers.

But, what happens when automated responders go wild?

• Readers receive daily (or more) reminders that time is running out on the latest offer
• There is no Unsubscribe link or instructions for removing your name from the sender’s list
• Canned responses are addressed to [NAME]

If you have ever been caught in an endless loop of inane auto responses, think about that the next time you set your auto-responder.

Email Out-of-Office Responder

The cousin of the automated responder for email marketing is one used when you are unable to immediately respond to emails.

I love my automated out-of-office email responder.

• Clients are reminded of extended absences (e.g., vacations)
• Messages set expectations for response
• Emails receive acknowledgment

Email Responder Gone Wild

There are ways automated responses go from informing your customers to infuriating them.

• Response per message instead of per sender –  when settings are selected that send the response for every email sent by the same person in the same day
• Forgetting to turn off the responder – the message says the email recipient will not be back in the office until Monday – and that was three days ago
• Out-of-office overload – do we really need to know you are away from the office for an hour? Or how about when it seems all we receive are out-of-office messages?
• The “I’m busy” response – we all understand there are times you may be working on a deadline, but an automated message that infers you are too busy to respond to your customer could come off as rude – or worse

Keeping customers informed is good business. However, you don’t want to send an unintended message that your customers’ needs are secondary.

Taking Stock

If you are like me, you’ve had more than your fair share of automated annoyances.

• You work hard at your business
• You craft your message carefully
• Remember to check your automation
• It could be destroying your stock

What advice do you have regarding automated tasks?

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