There are literally millions of messages vying for our eyes, ears, and overall brain space daily. How are you supposed to make a dent in this information glut of about 200 million users on Twitter? Besides branding, which we talked about already, there’s a term that more and more people are realizing isn’t just a cool buzz phrase: social networking.

Hate it or love it, you should be doing it. In a nutshell, online social networking drives traffic to your site, which means potential sales. Potential sales could turn into actual sales, and that’s the bottom line. For the most part we will be sticking with the big two of the social realm which most people either are or should be familiar with: Twitter and Facebook. These two social networks are the most popular, and therefore likely to be the most effective when it comes to a social media campaign.

I’m going to give you the bare essentials for Twitter and Facebook as I understand them to work. I’m sure you’ve heard the term ‘shooting fish in a barrel’ and, while social networking isn’t quite that easy, it is pretty simple. The problem is that once you begin developing your site/blog and researching different aspects social networking can quickly turn into a social nightmare. If you want to go past the basics feel free to do so and should you learn something please share.

Getting Started

Open a Twitter and a Facebook account if you haven’t already. When you create your profile, do not use an icon or an image of yourself as a child for your avatar. If people meet you in real life they want to know what you look like. This is especially true if you plan on attending events such as workshops, writing club meetings, etc.

Dos and Don’ts of Networking Online

• Do join the conversation whether you agree or not. Let yourself be heard.
• Be respectful when commenting. If you disagree, back up your disagreement with reasons.
• A good rule of thumb touted by social media guru Chris Brogan: Promote others more than yourself.
• Don’t promote the same way on all the networks. This means that you change the wording of the promotion for the different networks the links are going to be the same.
• Don’t use apps to build an audience. Build through the organic measures I mentioned above and you will encounter fewer bots and spammers.
• Don’t get caught up in the numbers game of followers/likes..
• Participation is the key element in the social networking scheme of life online but don’t spend all your time networking and not writing.

Do you have techniques that you use that weren’t mentioned above? Share with us. We’d love to grow with you.

Twitter 101

The most basic of all social networks and, in my opinion, one of the top three to use to build your audience, is Twitter. Twitter keeps you on your toes when it comes to generating traffic to your site because you have only 140 characters to tell someone in the ether of the Internet why they should be following you and why your site is important.

Build your audience

Following is what Twitter calls it when you begin to receive Tweets or updates from someone on Twitter. There are several schools of thought on the follow/friend front and they all have their own merits and demerits. I have tried several and found the following to work fairly well:

• Use Twitter Search to find people of similar interest.
• Use the advanced feature to narrow your search.
• Follow those who share similar interests.
• Follow leaders within your specific market and allow them to follow you.
• If, in a weeks time, they don’t follow you back, unfollow them.

The hardest part of Twitter is figuring out who to follow. Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

• Unless you’re J. D. Salinger, you know someone in your specific genre or someone who has made a name for themselves in the industry.
• Your friends or family could be using it as well. Ask around or search for their names, and follow them. You’d be hard pressed to not know of at least one person using Twitter.
• If you’re reading this, then follow me.

Okay, so now you’re following a few people on Twitter. Wait a week and see who follows you back and who begins following you. For those you are following check out who’s following them. If any of the people they follow sound interesting, then start following them. This is a great way to grow your network organically.

There are various theories on the follow/unfollow status.  Some would say that you should follow everyone who follows you as this will increase your network. The other school of thought says that you should only follow those that interest you and those you have something to share with. With this last school of thought each week you go through those you follow and if they are not following you back you drop them off your list. To add to this if their last tweet was a month ago I would consider dropping them as well.

With that being said here comes the classic monkey wrench: Don’t get caught up in chasing numbers. Yes, you want to increase followers but that shouldn’t be your driving force. Sharing of quality bona fide information that’s useful will grow your numbers organically. I also recommend against using products and or applications that promise you more followers. Twitter search is a good tool for searching keywords that others might use to find you as well as find topics that you might share an interest in. Another task that will gain you followers is to only share or retweet things that might be of interest to people who follow you.

Another aspect of Twitter I use to streamline the flow of traffic is lists.  This part of Twitter allows you to put people in a named list so that you can check that specific list without seeing the entire Twitterverse and being distracted by fluff. For more on Twitter and its use check out Chris Brogan’s Get More Twitter Followers Today. This is an in-depth post that covers the details.

Check back on Monday for Facebook 101 in my next post, Social Netoworking for Writers, Part II.

3 Responses to “Social Networking for Writers, Part I”

1. Janel
   April 10th, 2011 @ 9:53 am

   I always try to remember to have fun. It is, in the end, social networking. Be social and make some friends. Friends will provide better publicity than enemies!

2. Social Networking for Writers, Part II : Inky Fresh Press
   April 11th, 2011 @ 8:08 am

   [...] Check out Social Networking for Writers, Part I. [...]

3. Blogging basics for writers : Inky Fresh Press
   April 26th, 2011 @ 11:45 am

   [...] With what I have described above, your blog will ‘run itself’ but then you put out a release date of your next work, maybe with a countdown timer. Now while you’re promoting your blog via the branding and social networking we discussed which builds your audience, you’re also writing that next piece that your audience is waiting for. Tease them with quotes from it or maybe a scene. Prior to release get some reviews from fellow authors in the genre (again, social networking). [...]

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