Twitter is a very powerful social media platform and you may be wondering if it helps to use a bot to make money. We are all “very” busy so who doesn’t want to automate the process of tweeting?
Twitter bots are not illegal, but they are very difficult to use and there are better options for affiliate marketing!
Keep reading and I’ll share the pros and cons to using a bot, the rules regarding them, how I use Twitter for affiliate marketing, and some of the top automation tools available.
Twitter’s Rules on Bots?
The main rule is someone NEEDS to clearly say their account is a bot in their profile. Of course, not everyone is going to follow this rule!
There is a rumor that Twitter is considering labeling bot accounts with an image or icon. Twitter also doesn’t like spam (like many users).
Twitter doesn’t want a bot to spam the shit out of direct messaging (reminds me of robocalls right?).
The rules also mention that you can have multiple accounts for related but non-duplicative use cases.
Twitter doesn’t like it if you are TOO aggressive with following people. I like to follow 30 people a day and anything over and you’re at risk of being forced to change your password. (I know I’ve had it happen to me a few times)
It’s frowned upon to automatically like too many tweets, but it’s ok to re-tweet good stuff!
Of course, hate speech and pornography can all get your account banned.
HERE is a link to the complete Twitter rules policy
Twitter is looking to give its audience a good user experience and as long as you do this, I think you will be fine. The company is VERY strict on who they allow being a bot.
Pros and Cons to a Bot
Not all bots are bad, just like NOT all Twitter users are bad!
Some bots have been helpful, such as @earthquakeSF that tweets every time there is an earthquake. There is even another bot that automatically tweets out whenever there is a free book on Amazon.com @HundredZeros.
HERE is a link to many other helpful bots.
How would a bot be used for affiliate marketing?
There is a story about someone who made a bot that re-tweets tweets from famous people. The account would get traction because the influencer would like the tweets and other people would like them.
Then sometimes the bot would send out some affiliate links and someone “claimed” they made $5,000 dollars a month using this strategy.
Turns out the user asked in another Reddit forum how to make a bot 6 days earlier. In 6 days he went from learning to making a bot to 5k a month? It’s highly unlikely, but not proven!
I think he made money selling the bots and NOT using them.
The first step in using a bot on Twitter is applying for an API with Twitter. You have to prove that you’re not going to annoy this shit out of people (spam, direct message).
It’s “insanely” hard to get this API from Twitter!
Oh, and it’s “very” hard to create a bot unless you know how to code or pay someone to code it!
The problem is even if you create a bot and send out LOTS of helpful Tweets, it’s hard to get followers. There is a video below that shares the story of Wayne trying to make a bot and use it and after 30 days he received 6 followers on 1 account.
Nobody wants to follow a BOT!
Another negative is bots are DUMB. Chatting with someone convincingly is still beyond the scope of advanced bots.
All a bot can do is do what their program tells them! Unfortunately, with a bot, you’re only able to do basic stuff, including retweeting and tweeting.
Automation Tools
Another idea is to use automation tools such as scheduling tweets (There is NO approval process). I know what you’re thinking and that is what about the algorithm?
Does tweeting too much hurt you? Does putting links in your tweets hurt the reach? Do automation tools actually work?
The answer I have found is NO and automation tools DO work. Sure, if someone likes your tweets, retweets them, and comments then that is going to help.
Still, I use a (cheap) Twitter automation tool and I track ALL my clickthrough using a WordPress plugin called Pretty Links, and HERE are my results….
I do Tweet once every 2 hours and have been doing it for a long time. Here is one to an affiliate promo!
The number on the right is unique and the left number are clicks. You don’t think I made some money with this tool?
Again, I use this tool for maybe 30 minutes a day, while I listen to the news or a podcast.
How the tool works is I load up tweets that are helpful and sometimes post links to my blog and Youtube videos.
Every day I follow some people interested in my niche and unfollow people who don’t follow me back. Now, I have thousands of followers and it works.
There are MANY Twitter automation tools available and one of the most popular ones is Hypefury. You can use the tool with 3 Twitter accounts for $20 a month. If you want to use the tool for 6 Twitter accounts it’s $50 a month.
It’s NOT bad, but you can do better.
There are tools that can automate ALL your social media accounts such as Socialbee, but I don’t like them because it too much and confusing.
My rule of thumb, when it comes to the Internet is to ONLY use 1 platform until you see results then move to another tool. It’s VERY easy to overwhelm yourself right?
The tool I use and like is the one right HERE. The price is MUCH less than Hypefury and you can use it with 10 Twitter accounts. Oh, and it’s very simple (which, I like the most).
The one negative is the training videos probably should get updated, but the tool works because I use it almost daily. Oh, there are lots of places to get a free email account the place I use is this one HERE.
I honestly have not found anything better yet.
Conclusion
The best ways to get free internet traffic to affiliate offers are with blogging and Youtube. A blog post or video can bring you visitors years into the future!
Still, it’s nice to wake up half asleep and “do something” productive while you listen to the news.
Another thing, which is SO great about using Twitter is the momentum. Building up 1 or more Twitter accounts can give you the confidence to use other tools because it’s SO easy.
Plus, it can pair nicely if you are a blogger or Youtuber! Oh, and you can put links in posts!
I hope this blog post on using Twitter bots for affiliate marketing was helpful. Bye for now!