Let me make a plug here for a terrific book recently
released by Rayne Hall. Rayne writes novels, but she also writes great little
how-to books that are specific and targeted. Her book, Twitter for Writers, is absolutely worth getting. This blog series (Thanks for the title, Rayne!) is Twitter
101. Rayne takes you through the entire undergraduate program and into grad
school for Twitter. Seriously. This is a thorough tome.
Now onto today’s business. I told you to just read tweets
for this past week. You may even have clicked on some links or re-tweeted
others. Great! Now you are going to prepare to start posting. As a caution,
like any of the social media sites, you can get sucked into a huge time drain.
DO NOT LET THAT HAPPEN. I will address time management strategies in another
post. For now, give Twitter a KISS (Keep It Short and Simple).
Caveat: When thinking to
re-tweet something, make sure it is real content and not a link to a promo site
or malware. Always check out the link to be sure it’s a good one you want for
your followers.
Today, I deal with tweet content and the next two weeks will
be how to construct and post tweets that will get re-tweeted or otherwise
passed along by others.
What do I get tweet?
Nobody knows the exact percentages, but everyone says you’ll
get more real followers and better engagement with your followers if you mostly
tweet content related to your account’s focus. You remember. That stuff you put
in your profile letting others know what you are writing.
What is content? I tweet a lot of links to articles I’ve
perused, my relevant blog posts, factoids, quotes, daily holidays to be aware
of, friends’ book releases, and other stuff along those lines. I also re-tweet others’
content on blogs.
I try to stick to 80% content (including links to my blog
posts) and 20% book promotions (buy-my-book links and review links). That
means, if I have 20 tweets on @Good2Tweat, I mostly stick with only 4 tweets
about buying my book spread out across the day.
Here’s my system:
1) I read news
articles on two sites first thing every morning. Some articles catch my
attention because they’ll be of interest to my readers. I click on the article,
“Five Painful Steps for Dating in the New Year”. Hmm. My readers at “Romance
Righter” would like that.
2) I create six
tweets for that article, one for
each of the points and one that is just a link to the site. [That’s your
formula. Points listed + 1.} These tweets write themselves since you are just
using the points listed in the article. The tweets will be distributed across
the number of times you post your tweets.
5
painful steps for dating in the new year: Find the dating site right for you
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/12/31/online-dating-new-years-resolution-love?hpt=hp_bn17
5
painful steps for dating in the new year: Fill out your profile
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/12/31/online-dating-new-years-resolution-love?hpt=hp_bn17
5
painful steps for dating in the new year: Keep filling out your profile
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/12/31/online-dating-new-years-resolution-love?hpt=hp_bn17
5
painful steps for dating in the new year: Stress over your pictures
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/12/31/online-dating-new-years-resolution-love?hpt=hp_bn17
5
painful steps for dating in the new year: Find true love
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/12/31/online-dating-new-years-resolution-love?hpt=hp_bn17
5
painful steps for dating in the new year
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/12/31/online-dating-new-years-resolution-love?hpt=hp_bn17
3) I file these created
tweets in a document labeled “Future RR Tweets” (or for one of my other
Twitter accounts).
4) Repeat steps 1-3
until I have a collection of future tweets. I do several articles a day,
every day, so I never run out of content to tweet. You need to start yours.
5) I create a
document for the 2014 year for Romance Righter (and my other two blogs. I
use this doc all year to collect tweets for daily posting. I work ahead a
couple of days so I am always ready to post the next day.
Here’s part of one day’s collection:
December 15, 2014
Food Holiday: National Lemon
Cupcake Day ‘Tis the season for
citrus. My lemon tree is loaded!
For Lemon Cupcake Day try
Daisy’s Mini-Lemon Cupcakes http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/daisys-mini-lemon-cakes-062800520.html
Here’s another good lemon
cupcake recipe: Lemon-Ricotta with Lemon Frosting http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lemon-ricotta-cupcakes-with-fluffy-lemon-frosting
Pinterest is yet another way
for authors to develop and promote their writing #amwriting #MondayBlogs http://otpblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/pinterest-another-way-to-develop-and.html
No need to struggle with blog
post topics. Try these. #amwriting #MondayBlogs
http://angelicafrench.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-month-of-ideas-for-what-can-i-write.html
Many thanks to Heather Rivera
for including MISSION IMPASTABLE in her book lovers gift-giving guide blog
post! #MondayBlogs http://www.heatherrivera.com/2014-holiday-gift-guide/
A month of ideas for “What
Can I Write on My Blog Today?” #amwriting #MondayBlogs http://angelicafrench.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-month-of-ideas-for-what-can-i-write.html
@PRNancarrow makes the case
for NOT knowing your audience when blogging #MondayBlogs #amwriting
http://paulareednancarrow.com/2014/12/15/4-great-reasons-not-to-know-your-blogs-target-audience/#comment-2265
If you like to write
#mysteries try a PI mystery with these elements #amwriting #MondayBlogs
http://writeonsisters.com/mystery-2/mystery-mysteries-13-elements-private-investigator-mystery/
Elements
to include in your #steampunk #mystery #amwriting #MondayBlogs
http://sharonarthurmoore.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-to-write-steampunk-mysteries-in-11.html
You can see a blend of referrals to my blogs, book promos,
food content, and referrals to others’ sites.
6) I create 2-3 versions
of tweets for each tweet’s content and file them in my year-long document
for specific days. That allows me to post about the blog post more than one
time each day. Twitter won’t let you send the exact message more than once a
day. Here are some versions for the same blog post:
No need to struggle with blog
post topics. Try these. #amwriting
http://angelicafrench.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-month-of-ideas-for-what-can-i-write.html
Trouble
identifying fresh topics for your blog posts? Read this and see if it helps.
#amwriting http://angelicafrench.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-month-of-ideas-for-what-can-i-write.html
A month of ideas for “What
Can I Write on My Blog Today?” #amwriting #MondayBlogs
http://angelicafrench.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-month-of-ideas-for-what-can-i-write.html
When it is time for me to post to Twitter, I open the
appropriate doc, highlight the first entry for the day, copy it, and then paste
into the Twitter message box, and hit “Tweet”. On to the next one until I am
done with that session.
Okay, that was quick and full of detail. This week, try
posting the article points idea and links to your book(s).
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