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Tweet Your Way Marketing Plan

Believe it or not, most writers aren't on Twitter. They find it a little to fast or just plain confusing. Admittedly, they are right.

Twitter can be a tad bit confusing. When you tweet, there can be 25 more tweets from other people before you even finish typing in your tweet. PLUS who can write their thoughts in 140 characters?

If you are anything like me. . . I have a lot to say and 140 characters don't cut it.

But I have found so many helpful authors that were willing to help me learn the in's and out's of tweeting and I've got my own twideas (my made up word for tweet ideas. Hey, I'm a fiction writer in my own world!) up my sleeve.

Twitter is a powerful tool for you to use to reach readers, writers, and other industry professionals.
Using the proper hashtag (#) is the way to reach your target audience.

Before we talk about hashtags, we need to talk about etiquette and how to use Twitter effectively. There are so many times I get tweets from authors that are "buy my book," "check me out," and this is a turn off to me. That in your face marketing really doesn't work for me and my personality, and most people don't like that type of marketing. Think about it this way~ you know those unwanted sales people that show up at your door selling knives, carpet cleaner, magazines? I just saw you roll your eyes! YES! If you get on Twitter and YELL "BUY MY BOOK" "HERE IS THE LINK TO MY BOOK," they will slammed the door in your face or click unfollow.

People want to get to know you, and like you. Trust me, if you establish a likable relationship with your readers or tweet followers, they are more than likely to buy your book because they like YOU! The best advice I can give is to make yourself likable by paying it forward to others.

How do you do this?

Simply by retweeting other's tweets, or even commenting on tweets that you find interesting. It only takes a few minutes a day to get on twitter and tweet back. Reply to simple things that make you personable. Someone might tweet, "what's for dinner" and it only takes a second to reply to that tweet. But be careful not to get sucked into tweeting for hours. It can happen!

I insert hashtags in my tweet to reach the target audience. An example of one of my tweets: I have two kinds of days, happy and happier #inspiration #payitforward

Hashtags help those who seek similar content to discover your tweet.

Another tweet I will have is RT @tonyakappes11 How bad do you want success http://bit.ly/Aod6nh #inspiration #amwriting #indieauthor

Okay...so this is about my blog, I'm not saying don't promote yourself, just don't be in your face. I want to help others with my blog, so I write things here to help do that.

Let's break down the tweet. RT (Retweet abbreviation because we only have 140 characters! UGH!) is a way for me to gently tell people that I would appreciate them to retweet my tweet. @tonyakappes11 is my twitter handle and this is how I can track who is retweeting me, and what tweets get the most tweets. The http link is a link to the blog I'm tweeting using the bitly.com website, and since we can only use 140 characters, I highly recommend using this site. Bitly.com will also tell you how many people have clicked on your link from your tweet. Lastily, I have the hashtags of the target audience.

How often do you tweet?

This is another big thing. Statistics shows that someone has to see something between seven to ten times before they recognize "hey, I think I've seen that before." Ten to fifteen times to remember the name. This is why scheduling tweets can be a good thing. There are a lot of people who say scheduling tweets are not personable and I agree, but that is why you jump on twitter a couple times a day and quickly respond to a few tweets.

I use Twaitter.com to schedule tweets. I schedule hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly. And the tweets that I schedule are upcoming events, blog posts, promotions for others, and a few quotes. This allows me to keep a presences on twitter when I am at the day job, sporting events for my kids, or even out to dinner with my husband. But I also jump on a few times a day and make live tweets.

Ghostwriterdad.com has some other great site besides Twaitter that you can use.

Top writer hashtags (taken from Novelpublicity.com):

1. #amwriting – This is the reigning champ of Twitter hashtags for writers, and should be used early and often while writing…
2. #amediting – …and this is for when you’re editing your work.
3. #askagent – Some agents will answer questions that are tagged with this. You are following agents, right?
4. #fridayreads – So you can tell people what you’re reading. Happens every Friday. This is a great place to get your name out if you can get friends and fans to tweet your book as a Friday read.
5. #WW – This can mean a couple of things, but for the literary types, it means “Writer Wednesday.” This is sort of like Follow Friday. Name some of the writers you follow and tag them up. Some will even return the favor.
6. #pubtip – Agents and authors will often throw out some useful tips with this hashtag, for querying and for publishing in general.
7. #yalit or yalitchat
8. #wordcount – Writers love to commiserate, especially over word counts. Share yours because it might inspire you – or something else – to keep at it.
9. #writetip – This is another great opportunity to find, or share, some inspiration.
10. #FridayFlash or FictionFriday – This is a good way to stay loose. Write some quick fiction on your blog and share it through these hashtags on Fridays.


My top writer hashtags


#inspiration - I love quotes and want to make people feel good about their daily life.
#payitforward - Again, I want to help anyone I can. I believe in it!
#indieauthor -I'm also self published and want to help my fellow authors.
#beading - I write cozy mysteries with beading elements, so I want to reach that target audience.
#cozymystery - This is a target audience for me.
#promotion - Another target audience.
#marketing - Target audience
#sharethelove - Another pay it forward audience.

I'm adding to the list! What are some of your favorite hashtags or twideas? Do you have an twitter questions?

BTW. . .if you would like to have some tweets tweeted for you for free, check out WoMen's Literary Cafe! Sign up! IT'S FREE! Great promo and it's easy!!

25 comments:

  1. Wonderful! This is a great blog. Printed it out. Thanks, Tonya.

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  2. Thanks, Duffy!! I'm more than happy to give you a lot more tips! There is just so much that can help you market that new consignment cozy series of yours! Just email me and I'll give you more tips. AND the promo quote you gave me a year ago is going to be featured in The Tricked Out Toolbox, my non-fiction book, that will be out late this month!! There is a ton of tips in that! I'll have to gift you a copy!!

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  3. Great blog, Tonya! I think twitter is a great choice for authors who want to stay connected but can't blog in depth. I once had a Twitter expert tell me that there are two types of high-value tweeters: the "engagers" (who actually are ON Twitter building a community) and the "experts" (who push items of value to their community). Most authors fall somewhere between the two versions, but as long as you're not a sheer "promoter" (flooding Twitter with the equivalent of promo spam/non-value information), you are adding to the Twitterverse! :)

    Great post!

    ~J

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  4. Hi Tonya! I hope you are well! Here are mine. I keep an ongoing list, so mine have yours. I have excluded the WLC ones.

    #ebooks
    #indieauthor
    #indieauthors
    #indiepublishing
    #selfpub
    #epub
    #bookmarketing
    #epubchat Time: Every other Friday, 3pm-5pm PST.
    #amediting
    #kindlechat
    #WriterWednesday
    #ww
    #writingprompts
    #writetip
    #fridayreads
    #bookgiveaway
    #askpub
    #askagent
    #askeditor
    #bookreviewers
    #reviewers
    #BookReview
    #kindlefree
    #amwriting
    #authors
    #author
    #writing
    #nook
    #selfpub
    #litchat
    #scifichat
    #yalitchat
    #NaNoWriMo
    #CampNaNoWriMo
    #followreader
    #scriptchat
    #writepub
    #pubwrite
    #WriteTip
    #mywana
    #novel
    #pubtip
    #bookmarket
    #IAN1
    #AuthorSpotlight
    #FreeEbookFriday
    #selfpublish
    #publish
    #ThrillerThursday

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  5. Fantastic tips, Tonya! I love Twitter - I've met loads of great people on there who have since become real-life friends.

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  6. Well, considering I'm a historical romance author, some of my hashtags are #Viking #IrishRomance #historical etc.

    And sometimes it's just fun to make some hashtags up for humor sake. For instance, here's a comical tweet:

    I can't believe I forgot to write my blog post! #WheresMyHead

    Now while this may not actually target a specific audience, it's gives a little personality to the tweeter and hopefully a smile or laugh to those reading it. Thus, you may actually get some responses back, and those replies can quite possibly become your targeted audience.

    Great post Tonya!

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  7. Great post, Tonya! Didn't know how to schedule tweets and didn't know exactly what the hashtags were for! Thanks for sharing! :-))

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  8. Hi Tonya!
    Very helpful post. I knew you could schedule tweets but had no idea how to go about it. And I'm all about making up my own hashtags but I rarely use the biggies. I'm printing this post out. Thanks!

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  9. Very informative post Tonya...I've printed it out as well because in general I find Twitter overwhelming LOL

    Do you have any hashtag advice on how to best promote my reading/book review blog?

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  10. Great advice. THANK YOU!!

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  11. I agree, Jennifer. You want to promote your books, but not as in your face. If you make your precious 140 characters interesting, you will gain more followers and they will like you. That is where you will gain more readers. Through your nice tweets and good to the tweeterverse!

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  12. Those are some GREAT hashtags! Thanks for sharing, Michelle!!

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  13. Talli, it's great to connect on a personal level. I love purses and connect with purse lovers on there and I don't even think they know I'm an author:))

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  14. Great advice, Renee! I'm so glad you stopped by.

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  15. Hi, Jan! I hope you begin to use hashtags and reach your target audience. Twitter seems really hard at first, but if you take these small steps, it really is easy to use. Good luck!!

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  16. Hi, Wendy. I think it's great you use your own hashtags, but I would suggest adding a few of the biggies in with them. This way, tweeps will see your hashtags and begin looking for them.

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  17. Melissa, I would suggest using the genre hashtag in your tweet, a hashtag for what the book is about. So if you were to do one of my women's ficiton #womensfiction #amreading #beads #kindle #nook #interview etc....anything that has to do with that blog post.

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  18. Thank you for stopping by, PJ! I expect to see you tweeting;)

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  19. Fabulous blog post! I agree about not doing TOO much self-promo with links, but I do think there is a place for it. I always post a link to my current blogpost (and get lots of folks who come and check it out) and a few times if I'm giving a class. I think the trick is to spend about 90% of your time tweeting RT's of other folks' stuff, or having actual conversations, so that when you do promo, people don't run away screaming, "Oh, not HER again!" Thanks for sharing all your great info :-)

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  20. Thanks, Tonya, for taking the time to explain tweeting to those of us who don't do it--yet--and are afraid of it.
    Catherine Hershberger, writing as C.D. Hersh and Catherine Castle

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  21. #4everoptimist
    Hi, AR!! Thanks so much for stopping by. I just added the above hashtag! LOVE IT!

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  22. #4everoptimist
    Hi AR! Thanks for stopping by.

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  23. Hi,Catherine! It does take baby steps with Twitter. I have to admit I was on twitter for a few months until I stepped up my tweets.

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