I'm New to Twitter - What Should I Tweet?
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Okay, so you created your Twitter account. Now what? Social media is for sharing information and building relationships. But what should I tweet about?
Tweet about the things you’re doing (e.g. things you’ve seen, movies you’ve watched, or books you’ve read). Include pictures to build interest.
Include appropriate hashtags (#) (e.g. #writingtips, #dogs #writingjourney), so others searching for that hashtag can see your post. Search hashtags of things you’re interested in. When you type a hashtag in your tweet, you’ll see a drop-down list of related ones.
Retweet others’ posts to share with your followers. You can just retweet or you can comment on it. (If you’re sharing news or pop culture information, I’d make sure the source is reliable.)
Share others’ celebrations. Retweet about your friends’ good news.
If you attend a book signing, conference, or workshop, take a picture and tweet it. Many events will have their own hashtag and that will promote your tweet to other attendees.
If you attend events with others, add a short video or a picture and tag them. (Type the @ sign and their Twitter handle e.g. @HeatherWeidner1 to tag someone.) People like to be recognized.
Twitter is a great platform for research, connecting with others, and building relationships. The number of followers you have almost never translates into direct book sales. Use the site to promote your books and events, but don’t make that the only thing you tweet about. Remember the 80/20 rule. Only about 20% of your posts should be “buy my book.”
If you blog, tweet a link to your blog post and add the appropriate hashtags. This will drive Twitter traffic to your blog/website.
Twitter has a direct message (DM) feature. This is a conversation between the two parties, and it’s not a tweet that everyone can see. I would use this feature sparingly with people I need to communicate with. Some people set up an automatic direct message to new followers with an ad or promotional information. This is often annoying if it’s unsolicited.
The goal is to get your tweet noticed (liked, retweeted, or commented on). Each interaction spreads your reach on the site. Look at your past tweets. If they’re not getting attention, I’d change my content. Certain tweets will generate more interaction than others.
You can mute or block others if you need to. Sometimes, there are unpleasant folks or bots that troll others. A block keeps them from contacting you or commenting on your posts. Mute removes them from your feed. You can also report accounts to Twitter.
Have fun with the site. I do a lot of research on Twitter. Sometimes, I’ll have a specific question, and there are so many kind people who will share their knowledge and experiences. For example, I ruptured my Achilles a while back, and so many people where helpful with advice about recovery and physical therapy. I also got an InstantPot recently, and Twitter has been great for sharing recipes.
If you want to start a conversation, ask a question and include hashtags. You’ll be surprised at the responses you’ll get.
Remember the social part. You need to reply to others’ conversations promptly. It looks weird if you comment on something months later.
What else would you add to my list? See you on Twitter!
