Social Media for Authors 101 Intro: this is an introduction to how writers and authors are using social media for branding. It may seem like too much, but with the recent public stock shares causing hysteria, Twitter still is a viable source to get your branding or company news out there.
Twitter: Blue Birds Causing You Nightmares?
Over the last decade, many businesses and professionals have turned to social media websites as a means of communicating with clients, advertising products, and diversifying their global markets. Social media has become an important tool for businesses of all varieties, and it is important to ensure that your business is not left behind! No matter what type of business you own, social media is essential to maintaining a good relationship with current clients and attracting new ones. Many people are intimidated with Twitter simply because they don’t understand it. It’s not difficult, each social media platform has different uses. Writers are using Twitter every day to grow their readership, and create loyal fans.
How Does it Work, or Post vs. Tweet?
Twitter is an excellent resource for spreading the word about your business or work. Twitter allows users to post “tweets”, which are text messages of up to 140 characters. While the 140-character limit may seem restrictive, there is no limit to the number of tweets you can post per day and abbreviations are widely accepted, making these short messages surprisingly versatile. Your business can use Twitter to announce upcoming deals, advertise new products, or inform customers about changes within your company. Tweeting about sales and special promotions is a great way to attract people to your business. As an added bonus, other Twitter users can “re-tweet” your messages and post them to their own Twitter profiles, allowing your content to reach new potential customers. Twitter users also have the option of replying to your tweets, allowing your customers to ask questions or share their opinions about your business. This helps create more open communication between your business and its clients, ultimately forming a stronger relationship and encouraging clients to return to your business again and again.
Using Images With Twitter
You can still upload images with Twitter, which is helpful if you have a new product, or a book that you’re announcing, or pushing. Many authors using Twitter take a picture of the book publishing process; the cover design art, posters, or any visual marketing to help get feedback from their fans. Building momentum during the publishing can create loyal fans–especially when the fans are interactive. Authors are also tweeting with pics of book signings, and upcoming events.
Engaging Content and Retweeting
Writing quick retweets are simple, and should not take long to compose. The character limit makes that easy. However, connecting with people is where the real magic is. Following other authors, friends, or family and commenting, retweeting, makes for good relationships. Announce a fellow author’s work when it comes out. Comment and share your favorite pages that you’d like to share. It’s all about connecting with your fans and the people who you follow.
Using the Hashtag #topic
When tweeting, or engaging with your Twitter followers, you can use a hashtag “#” to help categorize your tweets. The hashtag is also used across many social media platforms, including Facebook and Google Plus, to organize subjects and create trending topics. For instance, I use #flxwine whenever I am giving a review about a Finger Lakes wine, or you can also use the hashtag for branding, adding an author’s name. A famous author author will have many tweets or posts with their #authorname. Every tweet or post with a hashtag becomes trending if there are enough people posting or tweeting.
Direct Messaging @username
Use the direct message “@” in front of a Twitter username to send a message directly to that user, or if you’d like to include that user in your conversation by mentioning. You can also use this when you find interesting tweets that you’d like to share, give proper credit to, or announce other Twitter usernames to the world. Every Friday is called Follow Fridays on Twitter, where users give a list of suggested usernames for people to follow. This is like a shout out and is effective when trying to build your followers. Note: Google Plus does not use direct message “@” but has their own way of including their users in posts. Adding “+” to a someone’s Google Plus account name ensures that the user will see it.
Write engaging tweets to share with the world by giving good advice, commenting, and responding. Retweet as often as you can and some will do the same for you. Build your audience (followers) by following others, and correspond with etiquette. Soon enough, you’ll have Twitter followers to who will share your content (retweet) to the world and help you build your brand.
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You can follow me at http://twitter.com/donstevens
