Why Twitter Still Matters to Authors

These days, Twitter still represents one of the most powerful opportunities for building community and growing influence.

When put to good use, Twitter can enhance your status as an expert, give you access to influencers, foster connections for new business ventures, and constantly expose you to fresh ideas from people all over the world. (And expose them to your ideas as well!)

Why should Twitter still matter to you?

  • For starters, if you’re not on Twitter, people are wondering where you are. If people are having a conversation about your book online, you should be an active participant as well.
  • Your readers are your greatest assets! Leverage your existing followers by communicating with them directly. Giving them personal access to you is what can transform a casual fan into a superfan.
  • The sky is the limit in terms of who and how many people you can connect with, including your current fans, potential fans,fellow authors, business people, and endless amounts of media including bloggers, journalists, reviewers, etc.

If you have yet to get going on Twitter or just need some inspiration, here are a few tips:

  • Follow and engage with like-minded authors, business people, and others, commenting on their tweets and retweeting interesting subject matter. Follow their fans as well.
  • Post your own original content, including blog posts, articles, media coverage, videos, and photos.
  • Be authentic. Resist the urge to identify yourself as just an author, pushing only your book and book-related topics. People relate more to an approachable person who shows his or her true identity.
  • Follow people back as you continue to grow your followers. Down the road you can be more selective.
  • Engage your audience and use them as a sounding board. Consider polling your followers if you’re stuck on a decision, or experiment with crowdsourcing. Your followers might surprise you their creativity.
  • Start with what you know and go from there. Focus on your niche first.
  • Get on board with trending topics. If you can tie together some content of value with a trending hashtag, even better.
  • Set some goals. Decide what you want to get out of the time you put into Twitter, and make sure everything you do supports those goals, whether it’s selling books or growing your network or gaining access to specific people.

Twitter is here to stay, so embrace it, give it a little bit of your time, and see how much it can give back to you!