Engage in Social Networking the Twitter Way
By Donna McDine
To be an effective social networker/marketer setting up your
profile is the first step, but it goes far beyond the setup. The saying from
the Field of Dreams movie… “Build it and they will come” will not work in this
instance. You must continually develop online relationships and share relevant
information from your expertise. Like your website and blog, social networking
is a constant work-in-progress. Don’t let your shoulders sag, engagement does
not need to take you endless hours every day.
Today I will focus on….
How to strengthen
your Twitter participation:
To be an effective member of the Twitter community you need
to tweet on a consistent basis. Note tweets are limited to 140 characters including
spaces and the URL you are directing the reader to. Your tweets can be just
about anything. Such as, your latest book, your newsletter, book reviews,
author interviews, and information you find interesting to the freelance
writing career, etc. My rule of thumb is to tweet at least 4-5 times per day,
Monday thru Friday. I give myself off the weekends for good behavior.
Use www.tinyurl.com to
shorten the length of the URL you are providing in your tweet, so you save
valuable characters for your message.
Don’t just tweet about yourself. Avoid the “it’s all about
me attitude”, become a master communicator with tweeting a combination of your
own tweets with those of colleagues.
Take out ten to fifteen minutes per day and visit Twitter
and retweet (RT) posts of interest for those you are following. You’ll be
amazed how appreciative tweeters are for RT. It is a terrific way to broaden
the contact base for all those participating.
Scheduling Your Tweets Ahead of
Time: Save
valuable time and plan your tweets ahead of time (at least weekly). Create your
tweets in Word and double check the character length by highlighting your
tweet, clicking Review in the toolbar and to the right of Translate on the far
left click the ABC/123 symbol. A pop-up screen will appear providing full
statistics and make note of the Characters (with spaces) number. To set-up and
schedule your tweets, I recommend www.dynamictweets.com.
Once you register an account you will be able to schedule a one-time tweet or
tweets you’d like to repeat throughout a specific timeframe. The template/site
is simple to use.
Tweeting Lingo and
What It Means for Your Tweeting Experience:
# - hashtag – by
searching for a keyword with the # (hashtag) before it will pull you up a list
of the latest tweets regarding the topic. This is a great way to get in
specific conversations and tweeter parties.
@ - symbol before
username – by searching for a particular
username the results provides their tweets and mentions by fellow tweeters.
Direct Messages –
by clicking on the “head” image the pull down menu will appear. Click on direct
messages, here you will find a listing of all messages sent to you by fellow
tweeters.
For more lingo details visit: https://support.twitter.com/articles/166337-the-twitter-glossary
Remember, tackle your social networking campaign with baby
steps every day for each step will develop into a quantum leap.
If you require further guidance or have additional
questions, please free to contact me at donna@donnamcdine.com.
As a PR Publicist I offer an array of services and FREE articles to help you FREE up your
valuable writing time, visit www.authorprservices.com
for details.
Thank you for joining me today, it’s been a pleasure.
Bio: I am an award-winning children's author, Honorable Mention in the 77th
and two Honorable Mentions in the 78th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competitions, Literary
Classics Silver Award & Seal of Approval Recipient Picture Book Early Reader, Global eBook Awards
Finalist Children’s
Picture Book Fiction, and Preditors & Editors Readers Poll
2010 Top Ten Children’s Books ~ The Golden Pathway.
I have three more books
under contract with Guardian Angel Publishing, Hockey Agony, Powder Monkey, and A Sandy Grave. I write, moms and am the Editor-in-Chief
for Guardian Angel Kids, Publicist for the Working Writer’s Club, and owner of
Author PR Services from my home in the
historical hamlet Tappan, NY.
