Indie Tuesday—The Power of Live-Tweeting

by Jessica Keller @AuthorKeller

To date live-tweeting for fun has proved to be my most effective marketing tool. Even though I never meant for it to be and don’t discuss my book. The power of live-tweeting is that it helps build a following of people who feel connected to you because you enjoy the same things. It’s a logical leap that they’ll enjoy your books as well.

When I joined Twitter I started live-tweeting without knowing that it was a “thing” and watched my following mushroom. Then my book released and my Twitter followers bought Saving Yesterday. They sent me private messages saying they were reading, wrote reviews and tweeted about my book. When I released the link for my newsletter more than half of the people that signed up were Twitter followers.

6 Things Guaranteed to Keep You from getting New Twitter Followers

Twitter doesn't have to be hard!

After an intense few days of learning about copyright issues, I thought we’d tackle something a little easier. Today I want to give you a short list about Twitter—specifically things you’ll want to avoid if you want new Twitter followers.

Number 1—always talk about yourself. With the 140 character limit, Tweets that are always, Me, Me, Me, are guaranteed to not only keep you from new Twitter followers, it will help you lose the ones you have.

Number 2—hyjacking the Twitter feed. This means posting three or more tweets in a row. Again, it’s that nausea inducing litany of Me, Me, Me.

Number 3—loading your Tweets with hashtags. Not sure what a hashtag is? Here’s my post on Twitter 101 to help you decipher the code. Multiple hashtags are sure signs of spammers, bots or newbies. All accounts no one wants to follow.

The Dreaded Twitter Egg

Number 4—the dreaded egg avatar instead of a picture. Again, only spammers, bots or newbies don’t change out the egg for a real picture. You only get the opportunity to communicate who you are in a 140 character bursts. Trust me, no picture does NOT inspire me to follow you.

Number 5—a locked twitter account. Twitter is all about being FOUND. A locked Twitter account is the ultimate oxymoron. Some people restrict who follows them because they mistakenly believe their followers' Tweets will end up in their Twitter stream. Not true. Only the people YOU follow show up in your twitter stream.

Number 6—a description that promises you'll be commenting on the random or inconsequential. Twitter is all about focused bursts of info and interaction. Keywords and hashtags help us follow specific topics. Random nothingness is NOT what I’m looking for on Twitter.

Now it's your turn. What are some of the things you don't like in the Twitter accounts you follow?

Don't forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie