Brief overview of Twitter for writers, presented to the Business of Pet Writing Conference in NYC, February 2012. Assumes some familiarity with Twitter; includes a little bit of strategy and some tactics/how-tos.

1. Twitter for Writers
The Business Of Pet Writing
Conference
February 11, 2012
Presented by
Stephanie Schwab
flickr: kevin dooley
@socialologist

2. Some Strategy….and Some Tactics
 State of the Twitterverse
 Why Twitter is important for writers
 How to find people on Twitter
 Using hashtags
 Twitter chats
 What to tweet
 Using photos and videos
 Twitter time management
flickr: cliche
1

3. 2
source: Twitter
flickr: bullfrogphoto

4. flickr: damien_farrell
Why Writers Need To Tweet
 Find sources
 Validate story ideas
 Chat with other writers
 Twitter chats: #poetry, #litchat, #nicheinfo
 Chat with others interested in pets
 Twitter chats: #furchat, #petchat
 Get motivation and info on how to freelance
 Hashtag: #freelancewriters
 Hone your writing skills
 Expand your online visibility
Most importantly: Become the Media
3

5. flickr: 62693815@N03
Become the Media
 Create your own audience
 Promote your work to people who are receptive
 Make yourself more valuable to editors, publications and
publishers
4

6. flickr: captainmcdan
Some (Maybe Obvious) Basics
 Put a Twitter button or your Twitter feed on your website
 Be descriptive in your profile and include a link to your website
 Give credit where credit is due
 Use an @mention for authors/sources for links you tweet
 You may gain followers if they notice you tweeting at them
 #Don’t #Overuse #Hashtags
 Don’t link your Twitter account to Facebook (and vice-versa)
 People who follow you in both places will be bored
 Format and length is different, take advantage of each
 Ditto for LinkedIn
 Automation is usually bad
 Setting up automatic feeds or automatic “thank you for following”
messages will make you look like a robot
 People want to tweet with humans, not bots
5

7. Finding People on Twitter
 Search twitter bios for people talking about topics of interest
 Tools/sites: followerwonk, listorious, tweepsearch, twellow,
wefollow
 Use Twitter advanced search to find people
 Look at peoples’ Twitter lists to find people in a particular
subject area
 Use a hashtag to search for topics of interests
flickr: olibac
6

8. Hashtags
 Hashtags indicate a topic, event, group or trend within a
Twitter message
 Hashtags are created by individuals or companies; they are not
“official” Twitter
 Anyone can start and use a hashtag
 Search for your desired hashtag first to be sure it’s not in recent
use
flickr: jeffisageek
7

9. Using Hashtags
 To indicate that you’re taking part in a Twitter meme
 Follow Fridays, indicated by #FF
 #fail
 #fictionfriday
 #wrotetoday
 To categorize your tweet within a larger conversation that’s happening, as with current
events
 #sotu
 #MLKday
 To indicate that you are at a conference or event
 #ces
 #evoconf
 To participate in a Twitter chat or party
 #petchat
 #litchat
flickr: londonlooks
 To discuss a brand, product or service
 #KateSpade
 #iPhone
8

10. Twitter Chats
 Use a hashtag to “group” together conversations
 Keep up with the group by searching for that hashtag within
Twitter or a 3rd-party tool
 Third party tools: Tweetgrid.com, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck
 Public Twitter chat list: http://bit.ly/ChatSched
9

11. flickr: be.futureproof
What to Tweet
 Don’t just tweet your own content
 Curate your own “media outlet” by tweeting links and
information in your niche or areas of interest
 Broaden your content core to reach people who may not have
ever known about you
 Be generous with Retweets (RTs), @mentions
(acknowledgements)
 Most people will be generous back
 Curate from your own Twitter stream, blogs, email
newsletters, mainstream media
10

12. Using Photos & Video
 While Twitter is largely a text medium, images are important
 Images convey warmth, depth and personality
 Importantly, your profile image should be a photo of you
 Attach photos directly to your tweets
 Use photos of your subjects, travels, writing process
 They will appear in your follower’s Twitter stream (on
Twitter.com)
 Link to videos in your YouTube or Vimeo channel
flickr: banoootah_qtr
11

13. Twitter Time Management
 Twitter is “evaporating media”
 You have to put a lot of tweets out there to reach even some
of your followers
 Many people tweet multiple times a day
 Business best practices: tweet 5-10 times a day or more
 You do not need to be tied to your desk
 Preschedule interesting content you curate
 Respond to @mentions and Direct Messages as quickly as
possible, so monitor throughout the day
flickr: decafinata
 Useful 3rd-party tools: Timely.is, Bufferapp.com, Hootsuite
12

14. 13
Additional Resources & Reading
Twitter Tips for Journalists Thirty Three Twitter Feeds to
http://stevebuttry.wordpress.com/ Follow (all writers)
2011/08/19/updated-and- http://www.pw.org/content/thirtythre
expanded-twitter-tips-for- e_twitter_feeds_to_follow
journalists/
5 Twitter Tips for Journalists 40 Twitter Hashtags for Writers
http://tweepi.com/blog/2011/10/5- http://www.dailywritingtips.com/40-
twitter-tips-for-journalists/ twitter-hashtags-for-writers/
Twenty Twitter Tips for Writers Twitter for Writers: Powerful Tool
http://www.changetheworldwithwo or Evil Time Sucker?
rds.com/twenty-twitter-tips-for- http://blog.carriemumford.com/2011/
writers/ 05/28/twitter-for-writers-powerful-
tool-or-evil-time-sucker/
13

15. Thank You!
Stephanie Schwab
Crackerjack Marketing
www.crackerjackmarketing.com
Social Media School
www.socialmediaschoolny.com
@socialologist/@socialmediaschl
stephanie@crackerjackmarketing.com
flickr: quinet