Building An Audience… The Dos and Don’ts of Twitter #buildingaudience #amwriting
Hello everyone, and welcome back to part four of Building An Audience For The Unpublished Author!
Today, I’m going to talk about twitter. It is important to note that the dos and don’ts to follow can apply to both published and unpublished author. Though, for published authors, there are even longer lists.
The Dos of Twitter
DO choose a twitter handle that is short and represents you. Your author name, or a shortened version works best.
DO follow others who have the same interests as you. This can include your favorite authors, television shows and their stars, favorite music, and anything else of interest to you.
DO retweet things you find interesting, or things your friends post about their books, etc. They’re more likely to do the same for you when you do have a published book.
DO follow those who follow you. Though, you don’t have to follow everyone. There are bots out there. Basically, if they share the same interests as you (reading, writing, whatever else), it’s a good idea to follow them back. And view their past tweets. If they tweet something that makes you uncomfortable, don’t feel obligated to follow them.
DO engage with others. Reply to people you follow if you have a comment on their post. And reply to those who reply to you. But, please be courteous in your replies. And watch out for creepy people. You’ll know who they are, and you can block them.
DO be exact in what you’re trying to say. You only have 140 characters, including spaces, links, and punctuation.
DO shorten your links if possible. It helps when people retweet you and gives you more characters to play with. I’ve used bit.ly and the shortener on Hootesuite.
DO use twitter for research. There are over 1 million active users on twitter. Send tweets out with the appropriate hashtags to find the information you’re looking for. ie. #military #amwriting #history … I actually met a pilot through twitter, and she helped me in writing the flight simulator scene in Made For Her.
DO have fun and make friends!
The DON’TS of Twitter
DO NOT just post quotes or just retweet others. People want to get to know you.DO NOT tweet links at people, or even worse, do this and ask for a retweet. This is an example of one I received earlier this week – @jsubject pls RT free romance erotica available on amazon (link removed) #erotic #kindle #romance #ebooks #NewAdult #author – You will likely be unfollowed, blocked, and reported as a spammer. The only time you should include someone’s twitter handle in a tweet is if you are conversing with them, or if the blog post is about them or their books, as in a book review or author interview.
DO NOT DM people when they follow you. Never ever. Just don’t do it. Here’s one I recently received – Hi, you can read (book title removed) for free (link removed)
anche in italiano (link removed)! – This is another quick way to be blocked or reported as a spammer.DO NOT tweet about politics and religion. Understand that not everyone is going to be of the same opinion as you. Accept it and move on. You’re trying to build an audience, not lose them.
DO NOT click on links that people DM you. Usually, they are included with a statement like “Guess what people are saying about you” or “Is this you?” These are accounts that have been hacked by clicking on the link. And if you click it, your twitter account will be hacked, too. If you are unsure, mention it to the person who sent it, and ask them if they sent you the DM.
I hope these help all of you build a huge audience on twitter. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comment section below.
Building An Audience Schedule:
August 9 - Intro & Knowing Your Audience
August 16 - Blogging
August 23 - Using Yahoo & Facebook Groups with author Liz Crowe
August 30 - Twitter
September 6 - Facebook with Tawania from Wicked Readings by Tawania
September 13 - Pinterest with author Desiree Holt
September 20 - Google + with author Fierce Dolan
September 27 - Goodreads with author Cassandra Carr
