Top tips for writers starting out on Twitter

Twitter is a great place to connect with others in the writing community. Across the years, I’ve dabbled with it occasionally, but it wasn’t until I was using it as a writer that I started to take it seriously. Over the last six months, I have researched best practices and analyzed my own results and outcomes in order to optimize how I engage and use the platform. Below is a list of key tips for writers new to Twitter, based on my experience and the insights I’ve gleaned so far.

1. Tweet frequently – especially at the start. Getting the most out of social media requires regular use. This is particularly important when you start using Twitter and need to get on the radar of others.
2. Take your time to post quality copy. Remember, what you post reflects your capabilities as a writer. Frequent typos and poor content won’t impress!
3. It’s permanent. Think of it as publishing – don’t share something that you may regret later! Everyone still remembers Covfefe.
4. Don’t just shout – engage! As a social media tool, you’ll benefit more from connecting with others and exchanging views; others will also appreciate your input on their posts and content.
5. Don’t just post about yourself and what you’re up to. Because you’re building your brand and your services as a writer, the 80/20 rule provides a useful guide to content style: try and ensure 80% of your posts provide content that others would find useful or interesting, while the other 20% may be used to talk about what you’re up to or your projects.
6. Make use of threads if you need more than 280 characters. You can actually cover a lot of content if you wish by building a thread. From time to time, this can be an interesting way to share your thoughts, but don’t make a habit of it.
7. Know and use your hashtags. There are many hashtags relevant to the writing community that’ll help you find other writers and effectively find/share useful content. Here are some key ones to keep an eye out for (do note point 8 regarding the last one): #writingcommunity, #writerslife, #amwriting, #writingtip, #shamlesselfpromo, #writinghacks, #writing, #writerslift.
8. Don’t just do the #writerslift! If you’re unfamiliar with this, look up the hashtag. It’s effectively a free means of promoting a Tweet or your profile. You post that you’re hosting a writer’s lift and ask other users to comment with their links or describe their projects, and then you and others like or retweet their posts – it may also lead to you following them or vice versa. It is an efficient means of getting others to interact with your Tweet and potentially follow you as well. I’ve used it periodically, but in my view, many writers overdo it – posting nothing but one writer’s lift after another. They may do well in terms of followers, but Twitter is not just about followers, which brings me to…
9. Don’t worry too much about followers. Don’t get me wrong – you do want followers, but there is a limit to how much attention you’ll receive as a new writer or Twitter user. Focus on getting your content and engagement with others right first. Followers will then, well, follow. Many starting out on Twitter focus on getting followers before anything else. Consider this: would you rather have 100 followers who are really interested in what you have to say or 1000 followers who don’t care about you? Keep in mind your ultimate goal – is it to build an audience for your blog, find an agent, or perhaps raise awareness about your new book? What approach would work best with your destination in mind?
10. Keep a healthy ratio. When starting out, there is also the tendency to follow lots of other individuals in order to get them to follow you. The likely outcome? The amount of users you follow vastly outnumbers the amount of followers you have. This is not a good look in Twitter circles. Better to have a ratio of 1:1 or even – ideally better – more followers than people you follow.
11. Create visual content. Create memes (I have an app for this) or share pictures – they stand out in and amongst the numerous text-based Tweets and make for great retweetable content.
12. Don’t just retweet – retweet with a comment. Retweeting is easy, but adding your own perspective to discussions is a good way of generating content and helping out or engaging with another user.
13. Create surveys. Surveys are a great way of engaging with other users. They are very simple to create, and sometimes the outcomes or results can make for interesting and insightful content!
14. Track your analytics. This is the best way of finding out who engages most with your content, what kind of content your audience prefers, what times they prefer it, and where they are based. You can then use this information to tailor your Tweets accordingly.
15. Make your profile work. Remember that when someone sees your profile, they’ll decide in a matter of seconds whether they want to follow you. Make sure your photo is appropriate and your profile information includes all the information you want them to see. Think about your brand as a writer and how you want to be perceived by the wider world.

There you have it. Good luck with your Twittering. If this helps – or even if it doesn’t – do feel free to connect once you’re up and running. My username is @DrRHWilliams.

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