Promotion using Twitter

Huh? Shouldn't that be X?

Technically I should be talking about 'X' but sorry Elon, it's a silly name. I can think of only one advantage of calling it 'X' and that is it is shorter to type x.com than twitter.com. I've been using Twitter since 2011 and have got used to tweeting and refering to Twitter so I'll continue to use 'Twitter', and 'tweets' while referring to X users as 'tweeps'. (Should the latter two words be 'xeeps' and 'xers'?)

Twitter can be an effective method of book promotion BUT you'll need to have LOTS of followers - I suggest at least 10,000. You'll also need to follow certain rules. You'll need to be selective about who you follow and avoid the Twitter spammers

If Twitter/X is so effective why do I need 10,000 followers and how do I get them?

Twitter – a snapshot in time

Whenever you go to Twitter you’ll see a snapshot of recent tweets. As the number of people you follow grows that snapshot becomes a tiny window through which you look at a huge panorama. When you are following a thousand Tweeps there will be new posts every few seconds. You will not see the vast majority of the tweets people you follow post. Neither will your followers see most of your tweets unless you put their twitter username in the post. My friend Aaron Hatman - @aaronhatman probably won’t see a post like this: ‘New topless Rhianna picture! pic.twitter.com/bAZLbuKL (pic)’ (For those of you who are shocked – it’s not quite what you think). Aaron would see it if it was posted as ‘@aaronhatman - New topless Rhianna picture! pic.twitter.com/bAZLbuKL (pic)’. Even if Aaron is not using Twitter when the post is made he will see it when he clicks on the Twitter toolbar Not only will Aaron see the post but it will also appear on the Twitter feed of anyone who follows Aaron and that’s useful! (Dirty Twitter trick coming up) If you want all your followers to see the tweet start it with '.@'.

Twitter Spamming

Some Twitter users set out to build a huge Twitter following by following everyone they come across, waiting a few days and un-following all those who have not followed them back. If they run out of follow rights then they make space by un-following even those who have followed back. These people just want followers – they are not interested in taking part in conversations. Once they have built up thousands of followers they will usually start posting nothing but adverts – Twitter spamming. If you identify such a person is now following you. Don’t follow them back – respond to their following message with a message such as ‘Thanks for the follow @selfishtweep. Check out my pyramid #technothriller Stones, Stars & Solutions http://amzn.to/16osMxN’ Not only will this appear on their feed but it will also appear on the feeds of all those who have been silly enough to follow @selfishtweep.

Making your tweets work for you

An average Tweep won’t spend long on Twitter each day so the chances of them seeing your post are small but there are several things you can do to increase the odds.

1. Tweet more often. Professional marketers make posts up to six times an hour 24/7. Of course that’s quite impossible to do if you also want to write books, sleep, eat and enjoy life. The answer is to use an automatic tweeting service such as Buffer to tweet on your behalf. Until recently I used a Java application  to tweet from a bank of 5,400 tweets I collected over the years. That no longer works due to changes at Twitter/X. Now I use a service called Bulk Buffer to add 95 pre-prepared tweets at a time from my Twitter post collection to Buffer. 
2. Use hashtags to make your tweets more discoverable. I used the hashtag #technothriller in my post above. Hashtags are keywords used by groups of Tweeps. They can be normal words or a collection of symbols. Try to use two hashtags. That gets you 21% more attention. Using more than three has the opposite effect. If you must use three then put two together and the third as far away from them as possible. Don’t start your tweet with a hashtag.
3. Try to keep your tweets to less than 120 characters. That was the original Twitter character limit. Shorter tweets draw more attention. For most Twitter users the limit is now 280 characters. For verified Twitter/X users (who pay a subscription each month to get a blue tick) the limit is now 25,000 characters but only 280 of those will be visible unless the reader clicks to read the full tweet.
4. The most effective tweets contain a video. The next most effective contain an image.
5. Humour sells. Here's an example
   
6. Re-tweet the posts of other authors. They often respond by re-tweeting your posts. There are Twitter groups which you can join which do this. Find them on Facebook or at Goodreads. One such group is ASMSG – Author’s Social Media Support Group (http://on.fb.me/18KucG0)
7. Don't make more that15% of your tweets promotions for your books. Break that rule and you'll quickly lose followers. Tweet a variety... of news, pictures, comments, quotes, jokes, retweets,  replies to others for the other 85%
8. Avoid being offensive to others, no matter how offensive they are to you. If you feel you MUST respond then do so under a different Twitter account other than your author one. 
9. We are told Twitter works best at the weekend. I’ve found that to be true. Most marketers restrict their tweets to certain times of the day in their area, but if you are an author, writing in English, your market is worldwide so you should tweet throughout all 24 hours.
   
   One thing you should notice on this map, although the US has a minority of English speakers, it has by far the greatest number of readers. This means you should carefully consider the use of US spelling. Should it be 'colour' or 'color'? In my own experience I find US readers will judge 'colour' as a mis-spelling but the rest of the world is perfectly happy to ignore 'color'.

So how do I get ten thousand plus followers on Twitter /X?

It will take time, about half an hour per day for months. Twitter will only let you follow 2,000 people at first. When people start to follow you that limit will slowly increase.

It will help if you know what NOT to do on Twitter/X yourself and which 'Tweeps' you shouldn't follow.

Don't Make These Mistakes

1. Do you have a profile picture other than this default or an egg?    ... No? Then there's no chance unless it's something like ...

2. Have you added a profile description? ...  No? Then you have no chance.


3. Are you trying to sell followers? ... Yes? No chance and an instant block. I don't want my followers to see your posts. Buying fake and useless followers is pointless.

4. Do you send out 'haha' direct messages? ... Yes? I'm not going to follow your link to a malware site and certainly won't follow you. Expect an instant block.

5. Are your tweets full of swearwords? … Yes? There's not much chance unless there's a reason for using them. Try replacing the 'F' word with 'Sandwich'. It makes just as much sense and it's a lot funnier. (Thanks for that suggestion David Icke)

6. Is your profile written in good English? … No? Sorry spelling and grammar are still important and if you make too many mistakes, I'm unlikely to follow you.

7. Do you send out lots of direct messages? … Yes? Then I'm already following you but I won't be for much longer. The occasional one in a private conversation is OK. DMs can be an intrusion though - especially the pointless ones which say  just "Hi". If you send me a link that I haven't asked for then I'm NOT going to click it.

8. Are you trying to be offensive? ... Yes? Then there's no chance. No one likes trolls.

9. Do you post sexually explicit pictures? ... Then you've no chance and will be blocked by me and are likely to blocked by Twitter soon.

10. Are your tweets and profile full of text abbreviations? ... Ys? b4 I fllw U id hv 2 b crzy




12. Does your profile mention your religion? ... Yes? Then there's little chance. Go preach somewhere else. Telling me you are Christian/Muslim/Jewish/etc tells me only that faith (belief based on no evidence) is acceptable to you. You're wrong - Faith is often the cause of the world's greatest evils.
13. Does your profile mention your politics? ... Yes? Then there's little chance and you might not want me to follow you either because I enjoy poking fun at politicians. Here's a blog post about the 2010 UK election.

14. Do you sometimes retweet others?  ... No? Then there's not much chance unless you are really interesting

15. Do you respond to others tweets? ...No? Twitter is all about interaction so I probably won't follow you.


17. Do you ONLY retweet others? ... Yes? Then there's not much chance (unless you are retweeting me). Many Twitter spammers do that. Try at least pinning one of your posts so that it shows at the top for me to retweet in return.

18. Do you retweet the same 20 tweets endlessly? ... Yes? Then there's no chance. Try retweeting from a bank of 1,000+ tweets.

19. Do you use TrueTwit? ... Yes? Then there's no chance of me 'validating.' If you want to find out why - check here.

20. Do you allow auto-tweets about how many people unfollowed/followed you or to thank people for following?  ... Yes? Then that's not good but there's some chance if something else catches my interest. Rather than thanking people - retweet one of their tweets.



23. Are all your tweets quotes? ... Yes?  Then there's not much chance unless you find really interesting quotes I've never heard before.

24. Do most of your tweets start with ' I ' ... Yes? Then there's not much chance unless you are really interesting. That's called being a bore.

25. Are most of your tweets about sport? ... Yes?  Then there's little chance. If you do that expect to cut your followers by at least 50%

26. Are you promoting/tweeting about Apple products? ... Yes? 50% of people are not at all interested and a good percentage of those think Apple users have more money than sense. Because of the latter people who want to sell you things will probably follow you.

27. Are your tweets protected? ... Yes? Then there's no chance. I'm not going to follow anyone I can't see.
28. Are you pretending to be Yoda, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Sherlock Holmes, Einstein etc... Yes? I'm tired of these so there's little chance - do something original. 34. Does your bio have a comment "Follow me and I'll follow back" or use the hashtag #Followback? Whilst I might tolerate you following me, I'm unlikely to follow you back and I'll probably hide posts with your twitter name. You will accumulate hundreds of fake followers with that statement. Spend some time and check those you follow.

35. DO YOU TWEET IN ALL CAPS? This is considered shouting and bad manners on Internet. You'll find the Caps Lock key at the left hand side of your keyboard. Switch it off and I may follow you. Incidentally block capitals are harder to read because they lose the shape of the word. Try enlarging the text if you can't read it at normal size (Ctrl scroll wheel or Ctrl + usually works)

36. Is your Twitter bio a quote or comment? This tells me nothing about you and doesn't give me a reason to follow you. →

I might make an exception for something extremely clever or witty like this: ↓

At least that tells me you have a sense of humor but a bio like this tells me nothing about you other than you watch TV ↓
38. Are you an 'Award winning author'? Unless that 'award' is a Pulitzer prize, Booker prize or a Hugo award, I'm not likely to be impressed. Award Profiteers: How writers can recognise and avoid them

39. Does your Twitter bio start with 'We'? I want to socialize with individuals not corporations and organizations.

40. Does your bio mention your podcast or that you are a 'speaker'? I don't have time to listen to you, especially if your podcast contains that famous phrase 'Without further ado' (which invariably lies,) I can read much faster than you can speak.

41. Does your Twitter bio mention your sexuality? That's none of my business and I simply don't care to know more. As to those posts mentioning 'He/him' or 'She/Her' what is the point of this? Are you the boy called Sue?
42. Have you told me about yourself? If your Twitter bio is simply about your product or service, then I'm not going to follow you and probably won't be interested in your product/service.

43. Is your Twitter full of currently trending hashtags such as #BLM #ANTIFA #Resistance ?
Whilst I might sympathize/agree, filling your bio with them tells me of causes you support but isn't telling me much about you. ALL lives matter,  EVERY political organization has some redeeming features and resisting is fine if you can propose a BETTER alternative.

44. Does your Twitter bio look something like this?

46. Your Twitter biography is no place for a copyright statement. Tell people what you can do for them - not what they can't do.
Do you tweet a variety... of news, pictures, comments, quotes, jokes, retweet others, reply to others, avoid being offensive, ask questions, link to interesting blogs AND have a meaningful profile picture and description? ... Yes? I'll follow you and so will lots of others! I'm @JChapman1729

So again, how do I get 10,000 plus followers on Twitter/X?

Twitter/X made this a lot harder recently when they changed their rules. (That wasn't an improvement Elon.) Here's my suggestions for how to gain a good following today.

Each day aim to follow 100 new people on Twitter [OK, that's enough. I refuse to call the site X and am sick of using Twitter/X so from now on I'll refer to it as its old name - Twitter]
Where to get these Twitter users (Tweeps)

First, before you start adding users create a list on Twitter, Name it ![month][year] e.g. !March2024. As you follow new people add them to this list. Each month create a new list for that month. (Why the ! at the start? '!' is the first visible character of the computer alphabet so in a list it will appear first.)

• Use Twitter's recommendations for who to follow. Click 'Explore' and you'll find this at the right.
• Follow the followers of authors who write in a similar or liked genre but do check each out first. Not every author checks their followers. Here's how to do this
  • Step 1 - Select the Tweep from who you want to 'steal' followers from
    
  • Step 2 - Click their 'followers' link. I then select 'Followers' rather than the default 'Verified followers' - your choice. Selecting 'Verified followers' will get you a list of committed Twitter users but selecting 'followers' will give you more variety. Select a follower by Ctrl clicking them to open them in a new tab. 
    
  • Step 3 - Decide if this Tweep is worth following. I use my list of "Don't do mistakes" above for that. If so, then click the '...' next to the follow button to open the menu. If they don't fit then close this tab and select a different Tweep.
    
  • Step 4 - From the menu select 'Add/remove@... from Lists'.
    
  • Step 5 - Add the Tweep to your current monthly list. Select it to place a blue tick at the right then click the save button. This will close the window. Remember to click the 'Follow' button under it.
    
  • This process can be tedious. I suggest you spend no more than 15 minutes on it at a time and never follow more than 25 Tweeps in each session. You can return several times a day though.
  • Now you wait four months! In July 2024 I will return to my !March2024 list and unfollow those who have not followed me back (Unless they have tweeted things I really like.) Over time you will acquire the 10,000 plus real followers you need.