Below is a fascinating interview with Jeff Bullas, the digital marketing expert, who makes a strong case for social media automation.
What works for one business doesn't necessarily work for another. Bullas came to the conclusion that automation (1 tweet every 15 minutes to be precise) works best for him through testing and re-testing. Your business, through testing, might come to a different conclusion.
It should be clear that automation does not equate mindless spewing of content. Bullas carefully curates the tweets that are automated, drawing on his entire blog archives, reviewing which ones perform best, and which have passed their sell-by date.
The outcome, as always, is to use social media to provide your audience with the right content. Content that ultimately links back to your business. Whether you hand-craft each tweet and venture forth into the conversation, or choose a more automatic system, is down to you.