After joining Twitter about a year or so ago, I have to say that I
love it. This says a lot coming from someone who was reluctant to join
the social media scene--I was the last person in my book club to join
Facebook and only did so due to peer pressure. I'm on Twitter much more
than Facebook these days because I like the immediate back and forth it
allows between people, and I enjoy the constant stream of information.
NOTE: If you don't yet follow me on Twitter, you can do so here.
All the cool kids are. ;) Here are a few tips I thought I'd pass along,
and please add your own observations/tips in the comments:
DO
1) Share useful information. I love it when people pass along informative links or RT articles on the publishing industry.
2) Engage with others.
Though it's great to share, don't solely rely on RT's and links to
other things. Spend some time engaging with your fellow writers and
industry peers.
3) Be yourself. The people that I enjoy
following the most are those that seem to just be themselves. Whether
you are naturally interesting, witty, or funny--embrace it and do that.
Trying to present as something other than you are comes through.
DON'T
1) Promote your book constantly. One
of the few things that will cause me to immediately unfollow someone is
if they follow me and I follow them back--only to get a "message" a
minute later asking me to buy their book or check out their site. Don't
do this!
2) Follow people just so they'll follow you back, and then unfollow them to jack up your numbers. Rather than making you look popular, you look like a [insert favorite curse word]. NOTE: People reading this post are clearly awesome people who don't do this.
3) Don't exclude.
Even if I can't follow everyone back (because it's only possible to
keep track of so many people in my feed), I always respond to @replies.
Unless you're Neil Gaiman, you are not too cool for school, and will come across as a [insert favorite curse word] when you are only seen interacting with published writers.
What are your Twitter tips? Do you autofollow everyone? Share below.
I don't often get on Twitter, because it moves to fast for my old bones, but I find the best experiences occur when getting involved in #hashtag games and chats.
ReplyDeleteThe #hashtag chats are great, but move so fast that I usually just end up lurking.
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ReplyDeleteMy favorite use of Twitter is conversations with people I've met blogging or through SCBWI, as well as keeping up on industry news or fun tidbits.
ReplyDeleteTricia--I love how much industry news you can find on there. It's sometimes hard to pick and choose what to read!
ReplyDeleteI usually follow people who are talking to someone, or re-tweeting. They don't have to talk to me :) I list my favourite people & follow that stream, but I still like randomly supporting new followers. I can tell if someone is going to be interesting by looking at their photo. I think it takes time to build trust online. If you're sincere, generous & patient you'll be surprised by who talks to you. I've had agents with thousands of followers tweet back to me. Do more for others & don't hard sell & you'll get noticed. Be yourself. The numbers aren't important, but the community you build is. Take the time to say thank you. We all procrastinate, so 30 minutes spent being grateful is easy to schedule.
ReplyDeleteSimon--the "thank you" part you mentioned is huge. Saying thank you for RT's, etc. and being grateful in general is one of the best tips you could give. Thanks for the input!
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