SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE: TWITTER

For Douglas Kennedy

INTERACTION

Interaction with other Twitter users creates a community and a shared

space for you and followers.

It allows you to reach out to others online, and to spread your presence

through a network.

To get the attention of/talk to someone else on Twitter (a peer, a follower,

an influencer) use the @ symbol followed by their Twitter “handle”

(name) – See next slide

Step 1: Write your desired message, then “tag” the person you wish to correspond with by putting the @ symbol and begin typing their Twitter “handle” (name).

A list of suggested names will pop up. You can either click on the contact you want or continue typing the name if the handle you want does not appear.

Step 2: After you tag your contact it will turn a different color. Once you tweet it, this will alert the person you tagged that they have a message.

You can also add hashtags (#) at the end of your message to let other like-minded people see what you have tweeted. (More on Hashtags in a bit)

RETWEETSWhen you see a tweet by someone else that you would like to share you can “retweet” it.

Click this button to retweet or repost the message on your own blog for your followers to see.

The symbol will turn green to show that you have successfully retweeted the content

HOW TO REPLYWhen someone posts a comment that you enjoy or thinks merits a response you can reply directly to that tweet, beginning a conversation.

Step 1: To reply, click this first arrow which will open this screen with the person’s handle already there.

Step 2: Type your reply and hit Tweet when you’re finished to send the public reply.

AUTHOR INTERACTION EXAMPLES

AUTHOR INTERACTION EXAMPLES, CONT.

HASHTAGS – HOW & WHEN TO USE THEM

• Hashtags allow your tweets to be seen by a larger audience than just your followers, and doesn’t rely on how often your followers retweet your posts to grow your audience or spread your message.

• Hashtags also give a wider frame of reference to your tweets, and contextualize them within a larger Twitter dialogueTo use a hashtag you can

simply put a pound sign (#) in front of a word already in your tweet

You can also add in a hashtag at the end of your tweet as an addendum.

HASHTAGS – WHICH TO USELITERARY HASHTAGS • #Writing• #AmWriting • #WritersLife• #AuthorTalk• #FridayReads • #BookGiveaway• #Books• #WritingTips• #Romance• #Literature• #GetLostInBooks• #LiteratureLover• #ShortStories• #FlashFiction• #MicroFiction

PHILOSOPHY HASHTAGS• #Philosophy • #PhilosophyOfTheDay• #PhilosophyFriday• #PhilosophyOfLife

OTHER HASHTAGS(These hashtags are generally popular and should be used when possible)• #Food• #Travel• #Kiss• #Free• #Arts• #Giveaway• #TBT –

ThrowBackThursday – any mention of past events or a minor memory. Pictures do well here too

• #selfie – Any picture of you• (any city name: ex, #NYC,

#Paris, #Amsterdam, etc.)

ORIGINAL HASHTAGS(Hashtags that are unique to your account and specific to you and your fans – some possibilities below) • #AskDouglas• #5Days• #TheMoment• #TravelTales• #LiteraryRomance• #AuthorThoughts

GUIDED INTERACTION You may be interested in participating in online Twitter Chats or Q&As. These

are conversations that happen on Twitter by using a hashtag. If you announce via Facebook and a few well timed tweets starting about a

week in advance you can gain a following of people to send you questions or comments using a specific hashtag (#) For Example: #AskDouglas

A notable company which runs these conversations is #litchat—“ We exist to bring readers and writers together for fun and fast 1-hour Twitter chats, M-W-F, 4 pm est. Join us.” We can contact them to set one up for you.

Twitter Q&As are a great way to interact with fans in a controlled manner and let them into your world through their questions. You can answer as many or as few as you like

OTHER TIPS• Pictures, Pictures, PICTURES!

• Images, sound clips, and videos are always popular and are a nice visual break for followers and other twitter users who are scrolling endlessly through hundreds of tweets.

• Pictures of food, exotic places, and people tend to do the best

• Twitter Flash Fiction is also popular – tell a story with only 140 characters or less. If less, Include the hashtag #FlashFiction or #MicroFiction

NOTABLES Authors using twitter well:

Examples taken from: http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/27/10-authors-who-are-brilliant-at-twitter

NOTABLES, Continued

GOOD LUCK!