Whether you’re an author, a blogger, an Etsy seller or maybe a reader who loves to shout your favorite authors’ praises from the four corners, Twitter is an excellent place to get the word out. I have grown my Twitter following from 250 followers, when I first published in February 2014, to over 43,000 by studying Twitter etiquette—what works and what doesn’t—and though I still have so much to learn, there are two key tips I want to share with you on this blog today. If you employ these two simple strategies, they will help to give you a definite boost with your Twitter engagement, as it has with mine.
Rule #1 – Pin that Tweet!!! – Have you ever visited a Twitter page and seen a tweet crowning the all others in an individual’s feed on their profile? Perhaps you’ve seen the words, “Pinned Tweet,” at the top of the box? There is a very good reason for this. A pinned tweet is one you can glue to the top of your Twitter profile. Typically, a pinned tweet is one that contains a message you urgently want to share with followers or visitors to your profile. For the authoring world, most of our tweets will be our pretty book promos, or perhaps we are featuring a giveaway about which we’d like to spread the word. Authors – PIN YOUR BOOK PROMOS. When I go to the page of someone who has retweeted one of my promos, this is the first thing I look for. What do you most want me to share with my followers? Don’t know how to pin a tweet? Check out the picture below. Follow the red-encircled instructions for any tweet:
Rule #2 – OMG do NOT just Tweet Your own Stuff! – Twitter thrives on retweets. That is really what it’s all about. Now, you tell me, which would you rather: go to a page that has a mix of really interesting stuff from ALL OVER Twitter or go to one where a Twitter user tweets only their own stuff repeatedly. Humans thrive on diversity and variety, and your Twitter profile is no different in this respect. I can tell you that when I go to another author’s page and see nothing but his/her own tweets, I can’t help but immediately think, “Hmmm, not much chance of a reciprocal relationship here.” If I know he/she will probably never retweet me, they don’t have much chance of ending up on my list for reciprocal tweeting. Think about it. If you retweet the promo of twenty other authors, they are highly likely to retweet you in return, so you not only get the eyes of your followers but those of all the other twenty other authors, as well. Go look at my Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/Bella623 You will see my PINNED tweet and under that a whole lot of “Claudette Melanson retweeted.” I LOVE helping other authors and other types of Twitter users. I get back so much more in return. My retweeters and supporters are INVALUABLE to me. I love them. I would shout their praises from the highest rooftops (and I’m deathly afraid of heights!). Look at the picture below, and then look at your own Twitter profile. You need to be seeing this, not a whole whack of your own tweets…trust me!
