Self-promotion on Twitter.
Posted: December 23, 2012 | Author: Cassandra Page | Filed under: On social media | Tags: Facebook, social-media, Twitter, writing |15 CommentsThere are a ton of good blog posts out there about how to promote yourself on Twitter. I read them out of interest—I don’t have anything to promote yet but one day I will: either a traditionally published book (a girl can dream!) or an indie book. So I know how to spot bad advice when I see it.
I tend to follow back on Twitter. For those of you that don’t participate in the twitosphere, that is when if someone follows you, you follow them back. That’s one of the ways people use to build their following. Some of them, the naughty sods, will then go on to unfollow you and hope you don’t notice. (I always notice; I check Just Unfollow a few times a week.)
By the way, Twitter and Facebook have a lot to answer for: the words “unfollow” and “unfriend” are two of them…
Anyway, yesterday a new writer followed me. I quickly checked their tweets to see if they were a real person, and then followed them back. And this morning when I was checking my timeline, I saw somewhere between ten and fifteen tweets by this person, commenting with link after to link to good reviews of their book. Not only that, but they’d put all the hashtags in #ALLCAPS so it was like being stabbed in the eye. I hadn’t even had my coffee yet!
I’m happy that they got good reviews. I am. But pick your favourites and just tweet those! Or maybe use something like Tweetdeck so you can schedule those posts over the space of a day, instead of all at once. I know marketing sites recommend tweeting good reviews, but show a little restraint!
So anyway, I unfollowed this person. First thing in the morning is too early for eye-stabbing.
But the real kicker was that after I did it, I saw that they’d also tweeted this helpful advice: “Writers, don’t be afraid to tweet good news about your book. Your followers want to know all about you!”
Maybe that’s true. But be a little classy about it. Nobody likes spammy, overt self-promotion.
Here endeth the lesson. 😉
Edit: If you don’t want the lesson to end here—if you’re all, no, we need more lesson!—then check out this blog post from Bad Redhead Media.
Cassandra Page 
I am just starting to find my footing in the Twitter field. ‘Tis a foreign place to me, but as a writer trying to build a base it seems necessary. It’s definitely reassuring to see other aspiring writers going through the same learning process– and I do so appreciate the educational blog posts!
Finding the line between self-promotion and annoyance will be another (mis)adventure 🙂
The best social media marketing blog I’ve seen is Bad Redhead Media. I’ve been following her for a month or so and I’ve learned heaps (none of which I am currently using!).
This blog post is particularly useful: http://badredheadmedia.com/2012/08/03/how-to-tweet-without-being-an-annoying-spammer/ 🙂
Oooh! Thanks very much– that’s just the line I was talking about 🙂
People who mass dump a load of tweets with links drive me bananas! Yes, scheduling is a brilliant thing. I use it to space out the handful of marketing tweets, and use the rest of the time to chat. 😉
Exactly! It’s not that difficult. 🙂
You hit a good point. I also unfollow people that tweet nothing but promo. It’s boring and after I’ve seen it once, I decide if I’m interested in the book or not. 100 tweets a day, all promo… no thank you. I think it’s best to do one of two a day only and spread out.
That’s one of the things I first look for when I check out someone that has followed me. Is their tweet feed all posts with links, or are there some @ conversations going on? The former I don’t follow back in the first place. This particular person obviously interspersed both, but didn’t do a good job of breaking it up!
I feel the exact same way. it hurts my brain when someone has tweeted about their book 10 times in a row. There’s something that stops you from being able to care about their book when they mention it so many times at once – makes you press the escape button straight away!
I suppose if I was a more charitable individual I would have told them gently what they were doing wrong. But I chickened out.
Ah, I always chicken out. I even had it typed once but then felt too mean. Maybe we shouldn’t worry so much!
Probably not. 😛
I always remember exactly how many people are following me at any one time – and I hunt those who unfollow 😛
But then, I don’t tweet excessive self-promotion 😉
Or any, really. 😉