10 Basic Tips For Writers Using Twitter

Being a writer, I find Twitter extremely useful. Truthfully, I enjoy being on Twitter more than any other social media networking site out there. Twitter is a powerful tool that writers should be taking advantage of. So, if you are struggling with why you ever signed up for Twitter, here are a 10 tips, to get you going in the right direction again.

1. If you are a writer, you need to tell everyone that little tidbit within your Bio. Spend some quality time on creating your Bio. People like to connect with writers, so tell them you are a writer. If you are a circus clown, and you feel that is important, because you would like to connect with other circus clowns, then by all means, add that too.
2. Add a complimentary photo of you, NOT your dog or a beach chair, unless you want other dog lovers and beach lovers to follow you. You should look professional, and keep the drunken stupor or party pictures buried within your closet. Also, try to pick one where you are smiling and enjoying life. People love connecting with happy people.
3. Add your web page link, so people can find out more about you. If you don't have a web page yet, why don't you? They are free. Take the time to develop something for people to look at when they are googling you (and yes, people actually google you, especially future agents). If you don't have a web site, and don't feel like going through the hassle of making one right now, link to your LinkedIn profile or Facebook Page... or something. Anything.
4. Use a unique background, preferably a picture that you took yourself. Therefore, everyone who stops by to see your profile will be looking at something they have never seen before. It keeps them interested. Also, make sure your bio can be read through the image.
5. Search for influential people within your niche. If you are a writer, you may want to follow other writers. These people can keep you up to date with writing conference registrations, writing workshops, author appearances, writing tips, etc. Keep your focus narrowed to only a few different topics.
6. Don't follow EVERYBODY that follows you. Not everyone is worth following. Some may just want to push their one and only book on you, twenty-seven times per day. That gets annoying and you WILL become angry. Don't be one of those people. Tweet about random things, not the title of your book every half hour. If you keep an eye on your Follower-Following ratio, try to have more followers than people you are following, as it tells people you might be more interesting than you really are.
7. Make friends by promoting people. You can do it many different ways. The most popular, is to retweet someone else's tweet. Or comment on their question and make it a discussion. Basically, I'm saying you should interact with people, so they will remember who you are. I've met many great writing friends through Twitter and we have met in person at various writing conferences throughout Ontario.
8. Use hashtags of importance to writers. Hashtags are hyperlink keywords that can be searched throughout Twitter. Example: #FF (Follow Friday), #writing, #amwriting, #writer, #writingtips and #writingbuddies. If you are a writer and a reader, add #FridayReads, #amreading, #ReadingIsTheNewCool, #Reading and #TodaysRead. Readers are best friends to writers, because someday, you will write a book, have it published and NEED readers to read it. Make friends now and it will be easier for you later. Also, you can filter your writing more by using specific hashtags, such as #YA (for Young Adult), #YALit (Young Adult Literature), #MG (Middle Grade), or #SciFi (Science Fiction), or #Fantasy, #Erotica, #Fiction or #NonFiction. You get the idea.
9. My personal favourite tip: Use Lists. You can add people to lists without having to follow them. Example: I have a NEWS List that I use for current local news that includes radio stations, newspapers and TV Stations. It has Police Road Closures and weather reports. I look at the list daily at least three times... morning, noon and night. Example of other Lists that would be helpful for writers: Writing groups, writing friends in the USA, writing friends from your Summer Marathon. You can help your friends easier by seeing all their posts for the day and electing the appropriate tweet to retweet, promoting their book launch or their blog tour.
10. Automatic posting of the same 140 character tweet to Facebook, Instagram and other social media networking apps... DON'T DO IT! Each networking site is for a different group of people. If you want to tell everyone the same information, it is more professional to copy and paste it, than to automatic tweet it. People will start blocking you or hiding your information, because they have already read it on their other website feed. It's duplicate information. Facebook is more for family and friends, where Twitter is more for your network of people who you NEED to talk to every day... they like what you like... they want to talk about what you want to talk about... and if it's writing, and you are PASSIONATE about writing, then, TWITTER is the place to be. WELCOME.

BONUS: Tweet every day, something of interest to the World. We don't need to know you are having a shower, or eating tofu, but if you just submitted an awesome short story or you landed your first agent, then definitely tweet that info. Be more interesting than a dead spider and they will love you! :)