You’re sitting at a table in a restaurant with a friend. You’re talking about cars and you mention the new BMW you just leased. A car salesman happens to walk past as you mention the word BMW. He grabs a chair and joins your table.

The two of you continue your conversation and after a while, the car salesman leaves the table.

That was a stupid scenario and would—hopefully—never happen in real life, but on Twitter, it happens all the fucking time. Car dealerships, affiliate marketers, online shops, those pesky “gurus”… They start following you after you’ve mentioned a keyword they’re targeting and they unfollow you once they realize you can’t be arsed to follow them back. The fact that the process is often automated makes it look completely stupid. After I reviewed the Audi A1 last year, an Audi dealership from Florida started following me on Twitter.

It’s good to monitor conversations that are related to your brand, your market or your niche, but please include a human being and human interaction in the process so you won’t look like a complete idiot.