Remember when you were a
twitter newbie? When you thought RT meant saying ‘right there’ at whoever you
were replying to, and you put #randomwords in hashtag format, and your every
tweet was diabolically lame?
Maybe that’s just me, but
I digress.
Back then, if a
published author followed me I’d have had a grin wider than my own face and
immediately follow back, amazed that they found little old me in the vast expanse
of twitter. Sadly though, these days if I even see Amazon in a twitter profile,
I’m wary. If that’s all that’s mentioned, I’m warier still. In fact the only
thing which might tempt me to follow them is if their stream has nothing to do
with their book, but I’m already so jaded I might not even give it the time of
day to check.
This. Sucks. These
authors are doing their best, just as we will when we eventually publish. So
for the benefit of anyone building their author platform I want to see just
how many people are put off like this. As one commenter said, the tweets are always more important than the profile, but can a profile discourage you from looking at the owner's tweets in the first place? Cast your vote here, leave your thoughts on what does/doesn’t encourage you to follow someone on twitter, and I’ll compile
all the results and comments at the end of the month. In the meantime you can grab the code and stick the poll on your own website (so we all get to look like super trendy marketing gurus), and if you’ve got a question for the next monthly
marketing muse, I’d love to hear it. J
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Are you discouraged from following someone whose twitter profile only mentions their books being for sale?
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<a href="http://beyondthehourglassbridge.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/new-enter-your-blog-in-monthly.html" title="Beyond The Hourglass Bridge" target="_blank">Vote now!</a></div>
Are you discouraged from following someone whose twitter profile only mentions their books being for sale?
To add the badge to your blog, go through your blog's design options to add a gadget, select the HTML/Javascript option, and paste in this code:
<div align="center">
<img src=" http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o528/katherineamabel/MonthlyMarketingMuse.jpg" width="200" alt="Beyond The Hourglass Bridge" style="border:none;" /></div>
<div align="center">
Are you discouraged from following someone whose twitter profile only mentions their books being for sale?
</div>
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<a href="http://beyondthehourglassbridge.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/new-enter-your-blog-in-monthly.html" title="Beyond The Hourglass Bridge" target="_blank">Vote now!</a></div>
I didn't vote in the poll cause I swear I'm missing something on Twitter. I just...don't get it. I follow a ton of people, but mostly just through contests and stuff where you had to follow people to enter. OR I'll follow agents. Especially ones who request stuff from me. But I never talk to people on Twitter, cause it feels like i'd just have to sit on Twitter to have a conversation, and who has time for that? I don't have any fascinating tidbits of info. to give in one-forty characters or less. Am I just doing something wrong? How do people actually use Twitter as a tool for connecting with people? I feel like an idiot asking, but I can't seem to figure it out on my own. haha
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's something we should figure out, since I know I don't get the most out of it either. I don't have time to chat all day and I'm in the wrong timezone anyway, so I just treat twitter like an extension of my blog, and try to keep it fun, friendly useful whenever I find something worth sharing.
DeleteI drop in and out of Twitter during the day/week. I tweet out for other authors, and they do the same for me. I try and send out varied tweets, not always connected with writing but as I tend to only follow writers, it is difficult. It is a great marketing tool but some folk overuse it for that purpose and it gets ... well, yawn.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with that too. I guess other writers want to see variety too, so anything even vaguely related to books, genres, the industry, movies based on books etc might be a nice break for them.
DeleteThe content of tweets is far more important than a profile. I do look at the profile before I follow, and I am put off by some things, but on the whole it doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteVery true Donna - in fact i changed the post to incorporate what you say. My main concern is when a profile stops me even looking at the tweets, and I'm wondering what other people's experiences are. :)
ReplyDeleteI tweet links to my blog and I've also met the random tweeter too. The key is to let it happen naturally. Don't just stare at someone's profile, trying to find something to say to them. Just wait until they tweet on a subject that you have something to say about. As far as what I tweet - it's kind of like thinking out loud or talking to yourself. I just post what's on my mind...though editing those thoughts is most useful. Another thing is to keep it positive.
ReplyDeleteAnd last, it would drive me crazy to keep a check on my twitter account constantly. Two or three times a day does the trick.
I do the same - keep a stream of consciousness but only when it's positive and hopefully interesting or amusing. Seeing someone have a big whinge about something or rant about their own silly arguments etc just annoys me as much as over the top promo.
DeleteGreat post Katherine and all very relevant. I've changed my Twitter approach and seen an increase in followers (except for my new book release which I'm just shamelessly plugging). But yeah, it's all about engaging, making conversation and developing up a niche community around your work, which all builds up eventually. Happy Christmas and New Year everyone :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! Glad you liked the post and I'm stoked that it's working for you.:)Happy holidays to you too.
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