Twitter-patted

Aloha from Karen, CAN treasurer

Twittering gave the world a fast way to communicate and also a new tool for marketing. Marketing with only a few words takes planning and focus.

 

I stopped logging onto twitter often because I often read dribble, such as someone telling me they are going to eat (unless it’s connected to a focus-such as how to make healthy choices or making a meal a girlfriend or family time) or hard sells that continue to talk about a specific product. Today logged on and found that since I reduced the people to follow I enjoy the posts more now.

Think about what tweets you enjoy and that can  help you create ones others will follow.

I prefer tweets that sing to me with information, wonderful ideas, tweets that over time compose a tune (because there’s a focus that sings) or piques my interest because they focus on areas that interest me. I write nonfiction so I'm more interested in facts and information. But then I want followers who like nonfiction, so this helps me figure out the type of posts to create.

Some examples of ones with information/facts/ideas to ponder:

Rick Warren tweets on leadership to create a tune, and tozeraw offers wonderful quotes that cause me to think and reflect on my faith. Michael Hyatt focuses on marketing and provides great information that I like since I need to market.

Think about what you like to read on twitter to consider what to write. I am working on a new book that is a nonfiction, historical book. I’d like to attract people interested in history, especially American history. The book targets military families, so I also hope to interest them. As I write I’m working on the twitters I’ll use when the book is released. I can do this by setting up a database of information. One database contains dates relevant to material in the book. Another includes names in the book, and a third keeps track of the Scriptures and themes. I will alternate using the different databases to offer historical information and thoughts regarding the themes. It all focuses on faith and courage of Americans, mostly on the home front, during war time, and the struggles of families as loved ones sacrifice their talent and lives to defend freedom.

So, consider a focus related to your book. Create a spread sheet to compile ideas to write about. If the book is already published you could pull quotes, information in files that helped you write the book (all that research), or links to the topic. If you are still writing the book, create databases of facts from research you are doing, thoughts that don’t fit in the book, thoughts you’d love to discuss later, and information on what God did as you wrote. Some of this material can also inspire blog posts and the tweets can link to such posts.

Before launching a new focus with your twittering be sure you list at least 50 ideas to create lots of upcoming posts (each idea should generate a few posts). That way you test the focus to see if you’ll be able to write enough tweets to gather interest.

Blessings,
Karen

Karen's web site

 

Comments

[Robin Bermel]

Thanks Karen. I appreciate your article. It's useful for me. I have tweeted a wee bit, and this encourages me to do more, but with focus. I also lean to non-fiction, and like the people you have listed--will check them out. Godspeed!

[Kristi Holl]

Karen, that is a brilliant idea--the writing of comments as you work on the book, creating a list of focused Tweets to use later (when you can't remember those brilliant things you wanted to say!) What a smart and time-efficient thing to do!