Who cares if Tanya ate a chocolate éclair four minutes ago? So what if Peter ducked out to pick up the kids from school? I am a busy person and I use my computer for productive work, thank you very much, and certainly not for frivolous socializing, twittering away the time.
For years that was my attitude towards Twitter. I'm only now beginning to realize how misguided I was.
For those of you not familiar with Twitter here is a quick overview of Twitter. It is a web site that provides a social networking and microblogging service. It basically enables users to send and read small messages called "tweets". A tweet is a small text message of up to 140 characters. In your "What's Happening?" timeline on Twitter you can easily see the latest tweets of the people you have chosen to follow. And of course if they have followed you then they will be able to see your tweets in their timeline.
That's the mechanics of it but the power of Twitter as a business tool lies in how you use it. You see, when I finally looked into what was happening inside Twitter, I received a huge shock. I discovered other people there that I knew - and not just anyone, but well-known and respected experts from the world of writing. Some of the writers I saw there have incredible rates of output and productivity. I found plenty of best-selling authors were there too. So what the heck were these people doing there? I decided I had to find out.
You can imagine my surprise when I found that there was a world of writing activity and communication going on that I had been totally missing out on.
Granted, some people tweet about stuff I am not really interested, such as what they are cooking for dinner or the movie they watched last night. But here's the crux of the matter if you decide to use Twitter... YOU are the one who decides who you "follow" and whose tweets you are going to spend time reading. If you decide to use Twitter as a business tool and use Twitter for business-related
communication then you will have a fairly powerful resource at your fingertips.
Writers are tweeting about their latest projects and discussing their manuscripts. Authors are using Twitter to interact with their fans regarding their favourite characters and the next book in the
series. Freelancers are hunting for assignments and new markets. Editors are discussing their pet peeves and what they would really like to see from writers.
One of the most valuable things I have found - especially considering the typical solitude of working in a freelance capacity - is that writers are giving and receiving feedback, encouraging one another, and sparking new friendships with other writers. They are interacting with other people online, people who are facing similar issues every day.
For certain, Twitter will not suit everyone. And surely, you shouldn't stay on Twitter all day. But the very nature of this resource makes it easy to pop in, read and write a few tweets, and pop out again. Now that's easier said than done, and that's where the self-discipline needs to kick in.
Here is a quick list of ten ways that writers can use Twitter.
1. Write a Professional Profile. Your profile on Twitter should contain a brief description of who you are and what you do. You should also provide a link to your business blog or site. Use a
professional photo of yourself or your company logo. You may be surprised at how many people visit your site after clicking the link in your profile on Twitter.
2. Join the Conversation. Search for tweets about the topic you are currently working on. Find out what people are saying. Join the conversation. Tip: you should choose a short Twitter ID,
because you want to make it as easy as possible for people to "retweet" your messages and your Twitter ID will eat into the 140 characters allowed for the retweeted message.
3. Research a Topic. See what questions people frequently ask about your topic and the answers provided. Ask some questions of your own. Discover some related resources that others are
recommending.
4. Build Your Reputation. Start tweeting about your niche or industry and start to build up your reputation as an expert.
5. Use HashTags. When you tweet about a topic add relevant "hashtags". Hashtags are keywords starting with the # character, placed in tweets, which make it easy to find and follow threads on
particular topics. This will help people searching on those topics to find your tweets, e.g. #gardening or #sportswriting or #bookreviews
6. Find Experts. Use Twitter to find subject-matter experts who are regularly tweeting on your topic. Contact them privately for an interview or for a quotation you could use in your next article.
7. Job Hunting. Search at Twitter for relevant phrases such as "writing jobs" or "writer needed". Another good technique is to search for hashtags, for example #writingjob or #writingjobs. If
you find a Twitter account that regularly posts writing opportunities remember to "follow" them.
8. Interact with Other Writers. Search for tweets with writing-related hashtags such as #writing, #writetip and #amwriting. You will quickly find yourself in the middle of an active community of writers, with tons of good advice and writing tips.
9. Tweet Quality. If you are decide to use Twitter for business then make certain your tweets contain valuable and useful information. It is okay to tweet about your dinner or the movies occasionally - and in fact it can be beneficial to reveal glimpses of your life - however I recommend keeping these tweets to a low percentage.
10. Follow Potential Clients. Is there a particular client you would like to work for? Are they on Twitter? Find them and follow them. It is not a good idea to use Twitter to publicly ask someone
to hire you. But it is ok to follow them. Try to get to know them and to discover what they are looking for. Get involved in the conversation. If you then pitch to them outside of Twitter later they will probably remember you or know who you are already.
There you go. That was a quick list and I admit some of those points would require an article in themselves to cover them properly.
However I hope that this has given you some new ideas. There are some smart writers out there who are making use of Twitter to grow their businesses. Perhaps you can too.
P.S. You can follow us on Twitter if you would like to see our tweets with freelance writing news and writing markets. We only post several tweets a day so you won't be overwhelmed, I promise. You'll find us at www.Twitter.com/
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Very useful information. Thank you so much.
You make great points here! I signed up for Twitter in 2009, but it wasn’t until this year that I began to truly use it. Before, I didn’t really have a good handle on how to use it or even how it was useful. As you mentioned here, I thought it was just a place to hear about what somebody had for dinner.
Now that I’ve been using it, I absolutely love it! It’s a wonderful way to share useful information and to build relationships. As a writer who is always interested in sharing my work with others, I find Twitter to be a wonderful opportunity.