Learn Twitter: 10 Beginning Steps

Description

Use Twitter to easily and effectively reach your readers!

Successful writers take responsibility for marketing their own work. Social media, including Twitter, can be amazing tools. But how do you get started and use Twitter productively without wasting valuable writing time?

In Learn Twitter: 10 Beginning Steps, Ruth L. Snyder explains the benefits of Twitter for writers and leads you step by step through the process of setting up an effective account. Using this manual, you’ll learn the lingo, find your way around the Twitter dashboard, and start building relationships with your worldwide audience. You’ll also discover many tips and tricks to engage your audience and build a solid marketing platform in minutes a day.

This is the first book in the Authors’ Social Media Mastery Series on Twitter. Once you master the essentials, you’ll want to move on to the intermediate and advanced steps to enhance your skills, sharing your writing with more readers.

Get started on Twitter today!

Book Review Excerpts
A great, quick read with TONS of resources. Marie Cole http://www.mariecolebooks.com

Well done! I can see how these techie help books may open doors to our ‘heart’ writing later on down the path. Melanie Fischer, Authorpreneur www.hungryforpurpose.com/books

Learn Twitter: 10 Beginning Steps is an excellent how-to guide for Twitter newbies, or those who use Twitter but don’t quite “get” it. The book is to the point (like Twitter!), very practical and helpful. Beth Jones, International Speaker/Author of The Cinderella Story: The Power of Shoes http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VN77IXQ/

Great stuff! Many people will benefit from this resource. Kimberley Payne http://www.kimberleypayne.com

Learn Twitter: 10 Beginning Steps is written in clear, concise language. Although it’s very basic, I discovered new concepts throughout the book. I recommend this helpful book. Elma Schemenauer, Author of many books including Consider the Sunflowers. http://elmams.wix.com/sflwrs

Thanks for making the overwhelming world of Twitter understandable and very doable. I can’t wait to read more books in your series and learn how to tweet with the best of them. Michaelann Smith

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: Get to know Twitter
Chapter 2: Your user name (Handle) and Bio
Chapter 3: Prepare a Profile Picture and Header Picture
Chapter 4: Set up your Twitter Account
Chapter 5: Updating your profile
Chapter 6: Your first tweet
Chapter 7: Following Tweeps (People on Twitter)
Chapter 8: Be Careful!
Chapter 9: Crafting Great Tweets
Chapter 10: Building Relationships on Twitter
Conclusion
About the Author
Endorsements
Twitter Glossary
More Resources and information
End Notes

First Chapter 
Step 1: Get to know twitter

Twitter began in 2006 as a text message service that allowed members to communicate with a small group of contacts. Today, Twitter is one of many social media platforms available, with 233 million active users in 2013. [End Note 1] On Twitter you are able to post short (140 characters maximum) updates to share what you’re doing or learning, link to interesting information, or ask questions. Twitter describes their service as:

“ . . . a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations . . . (Twitter is) like being delivered a newspaper whose headlines you’ll always find interesting. Discover news as it’s happening, learn more about topics that are important to you, and get the inside scoop . . .”

Benefits of Twitter

Writers are often scrambling to fit writing, education, and building a platform into their limited time. Why should writers use Twitter?

Tweets happen in real time.

Twitter allows you to both keep up with what’s happening around you as well as share information immediately. If your book is released you can announce it immediately on Twitter. You don’t have to wait until you have time to write a blog post or wait for the local newspaper to feature your book. You can provide a link to your book and post it on Twitter whenever you want.

Tweets encourage casual conversation.

Some marketers refer to Twitter as the “lounge” of marketing – a place where you can interact with people on an informal basis and develop relationships with them. It’s a great place to network, find people with similar interests, and share information. Twitter also allows users to “retweet” or share something with their followers and reply to tweets others have posted. All of these features encourage conversations.

Twitter can be a great source of information for writers.

You can pose a question and ask people to RT (retweet). This gives you access to the opinions and knowledge of millions of people you may never meet in person. (In 2014, 115 million people used Twitter every month!) [End Note 2.]

Twitter enables you to build relationships with people all over the world.

This is true of other social media as well. As you build your list of followers, the people who follow your followers will also be exposed to the information you share. If you use hashtags (eg. #writers) effectively, you will be able to read and share information with people anywhere in the world who are interested in the same topics in which you are interested. (Hashtags are covered in more detail in Learn Twitter: 10 Intermediate Steps. For now, get used to adding them to your tweets so that people will be able to find your information more easily.)

Twitter can help you build your platform.

Gary Mclaren says, “A platform is a foundation or base that someone has built that provides an opportunity for them to air their views publicly.” [End Note 3] Not only can you get to know people, but you can also share information about books, share links to promotional items like coupons, and drive people to your website. I would caution you that Twitter works best when you see it as building a relationship — a two-way street: giving and receiving information. We all know what it’s like when one person dominates the conversation at a party. After a while we get bored and move on. It’s perfectly acceptable to use Twitter as a part of your marketing platform, but share what other people are saying too. A good rule of thumb is only use one tweet out of ten to promote yourself and your work. The other nine tweets should be replying to people, sharing information, and carrying on conversations. Michael Hyatt (@MichaelHyatt) says, “To be successful with Twitter, it can’t be about you. It must be about your followers.” [End Note 4]

Twitter can help generate sales.

This cannot be the only reason you use Twitter. However, if you develop a following of people who are interested in you and your products, Twitter can help generate sales. Minda Zetlin (@MindaZetlin) has some great tips in her post, “Launch a New Product on Twitter.”

Step 1 Assignment

Go to www.Twitter.com/wwjdr and look around. Think about why and how you want to use Twitter. Use the search bar and type in a word or phrase to see what people are sharing about your favorite topic (Writing? Marketing? Fiction? Kindle? Etc.) Remember: Twitter is about building relationships, not about marketing per se.