For the first week of our social media conference, I’ve decided to focus on the area where I have the most experience–Twitter. It’s the easiest platform I know of to just dive into and get started.
The final form I’m planning on posting is this: a master page of links, not unlike the one I used for the meet-and-greet. You can contribute a new post, an old post, or someone else’s post. Since it’s only a page of backlinks rather than reblogging, the articles don’t need to be on WordPress and we don’t need permission. We’ll simply work together to find the most relevant info we can and collect it into one place.
You don’t need to have participated in any earlier post, nor do you have to join in with any others. Each section of the conference is completely self-contained.
Nor do you need Twitter experience to participate. In fact, what a complete newbie finds helpful would be extremely valuable info, as would your experiences venturing into tweeting for the first time. And if you’re new and venture into the meet-and-greet, you’ll find built-in contacts who will follow you back.
What should you do if you find two super-helpful links and can’t choose between them? Post them both in the comment section below. 🙂
I’ll close the sign-ups on Wednesday, March 15th, and post the master sheet the following day.
What I’d like here is a quick summary of each article so we don’t duplicate too much. I’ll start.
I’m writing a post on how to use twitter effectively even if you hardly check your feed, as an adjunct to your blogging. We all know that we need to visit other people’s blogs to like and comment. And while you’re there, share their post on Twitter as well. It hardly takes any more time.
What’s the most helpful thing you can contribute about Twitter? Please let us know in the comments.
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Avid writer and reader of Faerie tales and noblebright fantasy.
Cathleen Townsend 
I keep hearing that Twitter is the most effective way to reach readers.
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*makes rocking gesture with hand* In my experience, as long as you connect with them one by one.
One way to look at Twitter is that it’s a giant chat room that you get to customize. Things happen in real time there. I’ve gotten involved in some epic conversations.
I’ve heard over and over that it’s not a great place for book ads–the conversion rate is low. But I don’t know. If you add a book tweet to a personal conversation, it can be very effective. I bought two books by Jo Zebedee (and reviewed them on my blog https://cathleentownsend.com/2015/09/20/abendaus-heir-by-jo-zebedee/), but only after having a conversation with her. I wouldn’t have read her work otherwise.
It’s slow–not mass market. But so are book store signings, and this is considerably more convenient. 🙂
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I enjoy the writing community on Twitter. I wrote a post about some of the fun writing challenges https://experiencewriting.com/2016/09/26/twitter-hashtags-that-motivate-revision/ There are also chats. Wednesday I had fun talking to writers on #writerslifechat and #storysocial. If you like playing around with creative description, I started a game at #pessimisticmoustache and would love some company.
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So excited to have you with us. Great post. 🙂
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My only experience is forwarding posts I like and want to share. Some days I get lots of thank yous and people reblog their own posts. Other times no one sends thank yous of anything. I also have new people follow me and if what they do interests me, I follow them back. Maybe I should be adding some word with a # in front of it to catch more eyes out there?
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My favorite hashtag (other than playing #1linewed) is #amwritingfantasy. You could add that to your posts when you incorporate a fantasy element in your stories. There’s the #amwriting tag, too, but I normally use that for craft posts, like how important it is to read your drafts aloud. Book reviews get the #amreading tag.
Maria’s post, just upthread, lists some possibilities, too. You could either use her post to find some great articles to promote here, and/or try one and write about it for our conference. Or do something completely different, of course. I’m sure whatever you do will be infused with your inimitable style. 🙂
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Oopsie. Thank you. Where do I add the tag? After the person’s name I’m tweeting?
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In tweets, it doesn’t matter where the tag is. I usually put them at the end. The beauty of the tag is that if you put it in the Twitter search box in the upper right, Twitter will send you to a whole different sub-chatroom, the #amwritingfantasy room, for instance. People there don’t have to follow you to see your tweets as long as you’re all using the same hashtag.
About a month ago (after thumping myself for not doing it earlier), I went to #amwritingfantasy and added everyone using that tag. These are my people.
Also, while you’re in that room, you can see how everyone else uses that hashtag, if that will make you feel more comfortable before using it yourself.
Hope that helps, Tess. Feel free to come back and ask me more questions if it doesn’t. 🙂
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Twitter is my favorite place to share my own Tweets and those of my followers and supporters. #Hashtags are a fantastic tool to target a variety of audiences and I find that more of my followers on Twitter support me with RETWEETS and shares from other media sites as well. 🙂
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Bette, you are the queen of retweets. Your good example has inspired me to up my game and get better. Thank you. 🙂
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I haven’t had much luck with selling books on Twitter, but I have “met” amazing and wonderful people, who I now consider friends.
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I think a lot of people have had a similar experience. Twitter is best used to connect. Get them to your blog where they can find out more, and then they might become interested in your published works as well. 🙂
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Sign-up is now closed. 🙂
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