650ish followers since day one a month ago. It’s a small number. A tiny drop in the bucket compared to the wonderful people who retweet my tweets to their thousands, and even hundreds of thousands, of followers. The beauty of twitter is that it’s a community. A fun, helpful, zany community.
Twitter is like a fabulous party that just keeps going, and going, and going! You drop in when you can, leave when you have to, and drop back in again. It’s a busy place and the party will go on without you.
Most of all, Twitter is a community. The two MOST important things you can do on Twitter is RT (retweet) and SO (shoutout ‘for someone else’). These are both easy to do. As a newbie I just read the stream of post, then things caught my eye so I retweeted. Soon I started posting for friends books and then I was on my way. Extra bonus, reading tweets is a great way to see what pops in a short blurb and what doesn’t.
The next most important thing to do on Twitter is say something personal once in a while. It can be as simple as “We’ve had sun for three days and we’re walking around with silly smiles on our faces.” Here, in the PNW, three days of sun in March is unusual in a way that might make the rest of the world laugh. It can be what you’re reading, that you need a Starbucks run, etc. So, don’t panic about this one, just be yourself.
The least important thing you need to do is tweet about your book, movie, album etc. EASY for me to say, I don’t have a book out yet, but if you do the first two and a smattering of the third, the fourth one will fall into place. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but Twitter isn’t about selling your stuff, it’s about being you.
How do I know? After all I’m a newbie with a small number of followers. All true, but I’ve spent this past month learning Twitter by actually posting and RTing and tweeting about other people’s books, movies, albums. I immersed myself in Twitter and what I found was a generous community that wants to help, but it’s easier for them to help if they can connect with you the person instead of just you the author, filmmaker, musician. See how that works? Spend an hour a day for several weeks and you’ll get it.
Do I Twitter all day? No way. I write and have a day job and a family that expects dinner on the table and clean laundry etc. One of the things I like about Twitter is that you can join the party when it’s convenient for you. So come join the party and get your tweet on!
Love much, laugh often, live well,
Swan Mama aka Debbie Swanson signing off
You are a natural on Twitter–of course, you’re such a friendly person, you’re a natural in any socia media. Thanks for your guidenace on Twitter and the retweets!
Thanks so much Jane!!! It’s easy on Twitter because being yourself is soooo simple. And you’re a natural too, just look at how many tweets you’ve put in!
Very COOL BLOG, Debbie! I’m loving it! A breath of FRESH air from the Mamas ƸӜƷ
Thanks so much! I get to post on Fridays so it’s lots of fun and just a tiny bit of work. Thanks for dropping by!