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The information that follows on this page is from the 2013 edition of the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide, which will remain here for historical purposes only.
Book Marketing Tip #6: How to Build Your Platform with Twitter
If you’re not already a member of Twitter, drop everything and go join right now. Twitter is a micro-blogging site. It’s like blogging, but you’re restricted to posts of only 140 characters. Many people when they first hear about Twitter think it’s the stupidest, most ego-maniacal thing anyone could do with their time (this is what I thought, before I saw the light). But they’re wrong. Give Twitter a chance and you’ll discover it’s a great tool. After you open a free account (twitter.com), Twitter asks you a simple question, “what are you doing?” Answer the question, and you just tweeted. To send messages to other Twitter users, you can post, “@username, message....,” like “@markcoker, I’m telling all my friends they should publish at Smashwords.” Your friends, family and fans can follow all your utterances, which are called “tweets” in Twitter parlance. You can also follow other Twitter users by visiting their profile and clicking “Follow.”
You can follow me at http://twitter.com/markcoker, where I typically tweet about developments at Smashwords and trends in the publishing industry.
Twitter lets you create a short profile, so it’s important you do that so your followers know where to go to learn more about you. It allows you to insert a hyperlink to a web page, so you can either enter your profile page at Smashwords (see tip #2 above on how to find the right link) or you can enter the address for your personal web site or blog. Once you join Twitter, you can promote your Twitter address on your Smashwords profile by clicking to https://www.smashwords.com/profile/edit
After you add your Twitter address to your profile page, you’ll receive additional promotion on Smashwords by gaining an automatic listing in our directory of Smashwords authors on Twitter. You’ll find the directory here: http://smashwords.com/twitterbuzz/smashwords_authors_on_twitter
Whenever you tweet about Smashwords on Twitter, your tweet will also be promoted on Smashwords Twitterbuzz, here: http://smashwords.com/twitterbuzz/smashwords_on_twitter
Like all social media, it’s important to join and participate in the conversation. Make friends. Share ideas. Add value. Follow smart people and learn from them (this is the #1 reason I’m on Twitter). If you’re only there to flog your book, people will tune you out fairly quickly.
There are typically four types of Twitterers at Twitter:
1. Sharers: Sharers find useful information, and then share it with their followers, usually in the form of hyperlinks to interesting articles. Often they will “retweet” other interesting tweets from people they follow. Retweets begin with the acronym “RT” or you can click the “retweet” link in Twitter. Twitterers re-tweet tweets from other Twitterers they think would be of interest to their fellow tweeps (twitterism for peeps, or people who follow them). Make sense?
2. Conversationalists: these are people who spend most of their time in conversation with their followers and friends via @”username” messages. When you add a person’s screenname to your tweet, preceded by @, you’re saying, “this tweet is for you,” or, “at you.”
3. Marketers: People who are trying to promote themselves or their product.
4. Followers: People who use Twitter mainly to follow Sharers. This is actually my favorite use of Twitter. The tweetstream of the people I follow is like an incredible real-time curated news feed of important trends and news in ebook publishing.
Most Twitterers are a blend of varying degrees of all four of the above.
Use Twitter however it best suits your needs and personality. There’s no single one right way to use Twitter. For example, I’m a Sharer, Marketer and Follower.
I try to share Smashwords-specific information and ebook publishing news and trends of interest to Smashwords authors. I “follow” some really smart people who teach me new information about book publishing each and every day. This is my favorite use of Twitter. Even if I never tweeted another tweet ever again, I’d still use Twitter simply to follow some of these smart people. Be selective about whom you follow, because if you follow too many people you’ll soon find yourself drowning in too many tweets. Try to find smart people with common interests. Before you follow them, review their recent tweets and ask yourself if those are the types of tweets you want filling your twitterstream each day.
I rarely engage in conversation on Twitter, mainly because the folks who follow me are mostly interested in Smashwords and ebook publishing-specific tweets, not my private conversations about a friend’s weekend barbeque. I also don’t answer support inquiries over Twitter, because that’s what our “Comments/questions” form is for (and most questions are answered already in our FAQ). Conversations are also difficult to follow for your followers, so in the rare instances when I do participate in a conversation I try to make sure my tweets offer context so my followers can gain some benefit. My Twitter strategy can be summed up as follows: Respect my followers’ time and try to provide them value in every tweet.
As you gain followers (people who have subscribed to receive your tweets by clicking “follow” below your username), you build your platform. Your opportunities for marketing, connecting and learning increase. There are various strategies for gaining followers, and many social marketing consultants do nothing but write articles or sell ebooks about how to increase your following. Read the articles, but maintain a healthy dose of skepticism. Many strategies are underhanded and will turn off people. For example, one strategy is what I call the “bait and switch.” These folks start following thousands of different people, in the hope that some percentage of people follow them back. If the people they’re following don’t follow them back within a few days, they “unfollow” them and then move on to follow more people. Or, even if the person does follow them back, the bait and switcher unfollows them anyway. Don’t play the bait and switch game, and don’t worry if the people you follow don’t follow you back. You’ll earn your followers over time. When I see someone following me who’s also following 20,000 other people, I view their follow as virtually worthless. How could such a person ever even notice my tweets?
I minimize the number of people I follow, because if I follow too many people it creates so much noise. It diminishes the value of Twitter to me. Other people “autofollow” anyone who follows them. I don’t recommend autofollowing.
Twitter etiquette tips:
Begging - NEVER NEVER tweet at people and ask them to follow you. You should earn your follows, not beg for them. Earn your follows by serving the followers you have. If you tweet worthwhile and insightful tweets, your followers will retweet your tweets and word will get out about you.
Spamming - Don’t spam your twitterstream with tweets only about your book. Noone wants to be sold to all the time.
Quality, not quantity - Every time I tweet, I ask myself, “will this tweet inform or entertain my followers, and am I respecting their time?” It doesn’t matter if you have two followers or 2,000, you should respect the time and twitterstreams of your subscribers.
Avoid stream of consciousness tweeting – Some people tweet every few minutes. I avoid them like the plague because they’ll clog my twittersteam. I don’t care what someone ate for breakfast. I don’t want to hear what someone’s making for dinner.
Practice positivity – Some people adopt an attitude of, “I complain, therefore I am.” Remember, if you’re on Twitter or any other social network, you’re platform-building. You’re building a brand, because authors are brands. Don’t be negative. It’ll turn off your readers, partners and friends. People might fear you, but they won’t like you.
I could go on and on about Twitter. If it all sounds confusing, don’t worry. Just jump in, join the conversation, and you’ll get the hang of it in no time. Many authors drive dozens if not hundreds of visitors to their websites and book pages each month via Twitter, so it’s a powerful marketing tool you shouldn’t ignore. But like all tools covered in this guide, you have to invest time over the long term to reap the biggest rewards.
Sign up for Twitter at www.twitter.com
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