Brief overview of Twitter for writers, presented to the Business of Pet Writing Conference in NYC, February 2012. Assumes some familiarity with Twitter; includes a little bit of strategy and some tactics/how-tos.
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Twitter for Writers | Pet Writing Conference 2/2012
1. Twitter for Writers
The Business Of Pet Writing
Conference
February 11, 2012
Presented by
Stephanie Schwab
flickr: kevin dooley
@socialologist
2. Some Strategy….and Some Tactics
State of the Twitterverse
Why Twitter is important for writers
How to find people on Twitter
Using hashtags
Twitter chats
What to tweet
Using photos and videos
Twitter time management
flickr: cliche
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4. flickr: damien_farrell
Why Writers Need To Tweet
Find sources
Validate story ideas
Chat with other writers
Twitter chats: #poetry, #litchat, #nicheinfo
Chat with others interested in pets
Twitter chats: #furchat, #petchat
Get motivation and info on how to freelance
Hashtag: #freelancewriters
Hone your writing skills
Expand your online visibility
Most importantly: Become the Media
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Become the Media
Create your own audience
Promote your work to people who are receptive
Make yourself more valuable to editors, publications and
publishers
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Some (Maybe Obvious) Basics
Put a Twitter button or your Twitter feed on your website
Be descriptive in your profile and include a link to your website
Give credit where credit is due
Use an @mention for authors/sources for links you tweet
You may gain followers if they notice you tweeting at them
#Don’t #Overuse #Hashtags
Don’t link your Twitter account to Facebook (and vice-versa)
People who follow you in both places will be bored
Format and length is different, take advantage of each
Ditto for LinkedIn
Automation is usually bad
Setting up automatic feeds or automatic “thank you for following”
messages will make you look like a robot
People want to tweet with humans, not bots
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7. Finding People on Twitter
Search twitter bios for people talking about topics of interest
Tools/sites: followerwonk, listorious, tweepsearch, twellow,
wefollow
Use Twitter advanced search to find people
Look at peoples’ Twitter lists to find people in a particular
subject area
Use a hashtag to search for topics of interests
flickr: olibac
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8. Hashtags
Hashtags indicate a topic, event, group or trend within a
Twitter message
Hashtags are created by individuals or companies; they are not
“official” Twitter
Anyone can start and use a hashtag
Search for your desired hashtag first to be sure it’s not in recent
use
flickr: jeffisageek
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9. Using Hashtags
To indicate that you’re taking part in a Twitter meme
Follow Fridays, indicated by #FF
#fail
#fictionfriday
#wrotetoday
To categorize your tweet within a larger conversation that’s happening, as with current
events
#sotu
#MLKday
To indicate that you are at a conference or event
#ces
#evoconf
To participate in a Twitter chat or party
#petchat
#litchat
flickr: londonlooks
To discuss a brand, product or service
#KateSpade
#iPhone
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10. Twitter Chats
Use a hashtag to “group” together conversations
Keep up with the group by searching for that hashtag within
Twitter or a 3rd-party tool
Third party tools: Tweetgrid.com, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck
Public Twitter chat list: http://bit.ly/ChatSched
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What to Tweet
Don’t just tweet your own content
Curate your own “media outlet” by tweeting links and
information in your niche or areas of interest
Broaden your content core to reach people who may not have
ever known about you
Be generous with Retweets (RTs), @mentions
(acknowledgements)
Most people will be generous back
Curate from your own Twitter stream, blogs, email
newsletters, mainstream media
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12. Using Photos & Video
While Twitter is largely a text medium, images are important
Images convey warmth, depth and personality
Importantly, your profile image should be a photo of you
Attach photos directly to your tweets
Use photos of your subjects, travels, writing process
They will appear in your follower’s Twitter stream (on
Twitter.com)
Link to videos in your YouTube or Vimeo channel
flickr: banoootah_qtr
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13. Twitter Time Management
Twitter is “evaporating media”
You have to put a lot of tweets out there to reach even some
of your followers
Many people tweet multiple times a day
Business best practices: tweet 5-10 times a day or more
You do not need to be tied to your desk
Preschedule interesting content you curate
Respond to @mentions and Direct Messages as quickly as
possible, so monitor throughout the day
flickr: decafinata
Useful 3rd-party tools: Timely.is, Bufferapp.com, Hootsuite
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Additional Resources & Reading
Twitter Tips for Journalists Thirty Three Twitter Feeds to
http://stevebuttry.wordpress.com/ Follow (all writers)
2011/08/19/updated-and- http://www.pw.org/content/thirtythre
expanded-twitter-tips-for- e_twitter_feeds_to_follow
journalists/
5 Twitter Tips for Journalists 40 Twitter Hashtags for Writers
http://tweepi.com/blog/2011/10/5- http://www.dailywritingtips.com/40-
twitter-tips-for-journalists/ twitter-hashtags-for-writers/
Twenty Twitter Tips for Writers Twitter for Writers: Powerful Tool
http://www.changetheworldwithwo or Evil Time Sucker?
rds.com/twenty-twitter-tips-for- http://blog.carriemumford.com/2011/
writers/ 05/28/twitter-for-writers-powerful-
tool-or-evil-time-sucker/
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15. Thank You!
Stephanie Schwab
Crackerjack Marketing
www.crackerjackmarketing.com
Social Media School
www.socialmediaschoolny.com
@socialologist/@socialmediaschl
stephanie@crackerjackmarketing.com
flickr: quinet
Notes de l'éditeur
Twitter does not consider itself a social network – in fact, it advocates people using Twitter just to consume (and not engage), as they would any form of media465 million Twitter accounts in total100 million active users per monthRapid growth rate: 65% account growth since May 2011, 11 new accounts per secondYetOnly 1/8 of Facebook: 800 m active users
I’ve included a great list of hashtags for writers in your handout
If you create an active Twitter stream, you will always have somewhere to promote your work to people who will most likely be receptiveYour Twitter presence and followers will be valuable to editors, publications and publishers
olibac
Twitter as a broadcast channel is best used by media outlets and some brands; people are expected to be conversational
If your followers follow more than a few people, they will rarely see your tweets