Tips for Composing Effective Social Media Updates - Social Media 101 for Authors

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

Tweet This: Tips for Composing Effective #SocialMedia Updates – via @EdieMelson

Twitter, as many of you already know, is my Social Media Sweet Spot—my easy button, if you will. It’s my go-to place to send and receive information. Because of that, I compose all my social media updates from a Twitter mindset. So no matter where I'm sending the update, I compose it with Twitter in mind.

I know that Twitter is NOT the sweet spot for many of you reading this blog.

Part of that is because you’re not really sure what constitutes a good tweet. You’ve heard just enough about hashtags and twitter etiquette to make you cringe at the thought of composing your own tweet. So rather than failing, you either stick to retweeting what others share or just pass on the whole thing.

Today, I’m going to break it down for you and share my tips to composing the (almost) perfect tweet every time.

Twitter Basics

I have four types of updates I share on Twitter (and all social media).

An insightful quote or thought.

A question to get the conversation started or make us think.

Something funny, because let’s face it, we all need to laugh.

A link to information I find valuable and think will enrich your life.

But What IS a Perfect Tweet?

The definition can vary widely, depending on who you ask. But since you’re reading my post, I’m going to give you my definition.

A perfect tweet makes someone’s life a little bit better, and does so in a way that’s easy to share with others.

Components of a Perfect Tweet

There are certain things that good tweets have. Not every tweet will have every one of these, but here are the list of things that make a tweet good.

• An attention grabbing headline—this is the main focus of your tweet and can be a statement or a question. It makes others what to learn more, take action, join the conversation and/or share what they’ve read.

• A clear attribution—I’m a writer, so authorship is important to me. If someone says something brilliant, I really want them to get the credit. So when possible, I include the person’s name and/or twitter handle. (A twitter handle is your Twitter user name. My Twitter handle is @EdieMelson).

• Hashtags—stop groaning! You knew I was going to include this one. A hashtag is a number sign (#) that’s put in front of a group of letters and/or numbers. This makes that particular topic searchable anywhere within the Twitter universe. There is a specific number of hashtags that’s ideal. For the highest number of shares, use two. One is good, two is best, three or more is not so good.

• A link—if you’re referencing something you’ve found online, you’ll want to include the URL. Be sure to shorten the link. Hootsuite will do it for you, but if you don’t use Hootsuite or a scheduling program, I recommend www.bitly.com. If you’re just posting a question or a quote, there’s not always a reason to include a link.

Format Your Tweet

There is a general order in the way you arrange the components of your tweet.

Do NOT start your tweet off with an @ sign (Like @EdieMelson) unless you are replying to something I said. A reply tweet will only be seen by those who follow BOTH you and the person you’re replying to.

Hashtags can be used at the beginning, middle or end or your tweet. But the best way to use them is organically, within the body of the tweet. Second would be toward the end. Lastly, at the beginning.

Finally, we all know Twitter limits tweets to 140 characters. But I do NOT recommend you use all 140 characters. For one, if someone retweets your update, something will get lopped off the end of the tweet because the retweeters info will be added to the beginning of the tweet.

So ideally, keep your tweet to under 120 characters. But remember, this is just a guideline, not a hard and fast rule!

Here's the order I tend to like best:

•    Headline

•    Attribution

•    Link

•    Hashtags

Example and Explanation

Here is a tweet I composed for this post:

Tips for Composing Effective #SocialMedia Updates – via @EdieMelson #writing http://bit.ly/1LZyiMe

Breaking it Down: 

Tips for Composing Effective Social Media Updates—is my headline, my attention grabber.

#SocialMedia and #Writing—are the two hashtags I’ve chosen to use. They reflect the focus of the tweet and are popular hashtags.

@EdieMelson—is my attribution. I used it in this tweet because I’m composing the tweet for ClickToTweet, which means someone else will be sending the tweet out. If I was just sending this out, I would NOT use @EdieMelson because the tweet would originate with my Twitter account and everyone already knows it’s me.

http://bit.ly/1n1vohq—is my shortened URL or Link. This URL will take the person clicking on it directly to this post.

Common Questions

1. What if the blog post I'm referencing is a guest post, which attribution do I use - the author of the post or the owner of the blog? If possible, it's good to use both attributions. Here's how I would handle that:

Is Your Manuscript Written to Death? - via @VaughnRoycroft on @WriterUnboxed owl.li/xHH8x #amwriting 

2. What if the person I'm referencing doesn't have a Twitter handle or I don't have time to research it? People who don't include their social media info is a big pet peeve of mine. If it's not easy to find, or you can't find it, just use the person's name. 

3. What if I don't have room for everything? This happens frequently with Twitter. After all, we only have 140 characters. If I don't have room to include the author of the post and the blog name, I prioritize and use the author's name. If I don't have room to use two hashtags, I only use one. The key is to stay flexible and don't overthink this.

4. Do I have to always use two hashtags? No, use the hashtags that make sense and what you have room for.

Now it's your turn. What questions do you have about composing updates? Do you have format you like to use? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Tweet This: Perfect #SocialMedia updatesadd value in a way that’s easy to share - tips from @EdieMelson 

Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for Southern Writers Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Look for her newest book, While My Soldier Serves (Worthy Inspired), available at bookstores and online.

Is Twitter Worth the Bother for Writers - Social Media 101 for Authors -

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

Today I want to jump into one of the most important social media platforms, Twitter. But first, in case you've missed the previous posts, here are a list of them, with links.

Part I—Social Media 101 for Writers

Part II—When Should a WriterStart Building a Social Media Network

3 Reasons to Master Twitter 
TWEET THIS: Is Twitter Worth the Bother for Writers - @EdieMelson 

I remember the first time I ventured onto twitter. It’s an intimidating site, full of unfamiliar terms and strange rules. Beyond that, the more people I followed, the more confusing the newsfeed became. To my untrained eye, all those 140 character bursts were just disjointed and disconnected chaos.

I really didn’t understand how anyone could get anything good out of this network.

Luckily for me, I didn’t give up. I kept digging for articles to help me understand the value of Twitter. And that’s when I began to unravel the Twitter chaos. As I became more familiar with this alien landscape, I began to appreciate why Twitter and writers are a perfect match.

Twitter is a respecter of time.

• It respects our time. Interacting in 140 character bursts keeps conversations focused and moving quickly.

• It helps us write tight. If you’ve spent any time at all studying writing, you’ve heard the advice to write tight. This means eliminating unnecessary words.

• It’s a networking superconductor. There is no social media platform out there that is better at allowing us to find connections with like-minded people.

Tips to Make Valuable Connections

1. Be sure to follow people back. It’s considered good manners to follow people back who follow you. This doesn’t mean you have to follow people who make you uncomfortable or who are trying to sell you 10,000 followers. Use common sense, but unless there’s a good reason be nice and follow people back.

Don't protect your tweets

2. Don’t PROTECT YOUR TWEETS. On your Twitter profile there’s the option to protect your tweets. This locks your account and doesn’t let people follow you unless you approve them. If you feel the need to protect your tweets, you really shouldn’t be on Twitter. This social media platform is a place to get found, not lurk.

3. Make sure your 160 character ABOUT ME gives a good picture of who you are. You don’t want to over use hashtags here, but you do want to cover all the things you might tweet about and hashtags are a good shortcut for that. Here’s what I have as my description: Writer & Author—passionate for life's stories & God's path. ‪#Militaryfamily blogger Guideposts.org #steampunk #vets #scifi #socialmedia4writers

4. Show your face. Always use a picture of YOURSELF as your Twitter icon. The evidence is overwhelming. People respond to a head shot where you can see the person’s smile. The only exception is if you have a business account. Then you can use your company’s logo.

Have a regular presence on Twitter &be consistent.

5. Have a regular presence on Twitter. I Tweet a lot more now than I did when I started out. More first goal was to Tweet four to six times each day, four or five days a week. I use Hootsuite to schedule my Tweets throughout the day. I’ll be covering Hootsuite next week, so don’t worry if you’re not familiar with a scheduling program. Just remember, Do NOT send out all your tweets at once. This is called hogging the stream and is the height of bad manners!

 6. BE CONSISTENT with the subject of your tweets. I tweet about social media, writing, some books, and issues important to military families. Occasionally, I’ll find something that I just want to share outside of those topics, but that’s an exception, not the norm.

7. Make sure you’re sharing valuable content with your Twitter updates. Don’t make your Tweets all about you. Instead, promote others who have something valuable to say to your followers. I know it’s counter intuitive, but it works every time!

8. Look for strategic people to follow. Here’s what I mean. I’m working on a science fiction manuscript and trying to grow my Twitter followers for that specific market. To find new people to follow, I visit some of my favorite science fiction author’s profiles. Then I click on their followers. This does two things.

1. It gives me people to follow who are interested in following a scifi author.

2. It gives me a good chance of them following me back because they’re already good about following back.

9. Reply to others publically. Twitter is a public medium and people like to be mentioned. If someone says something nice about you, or mentions you, be sure to reply publically to thank them. I also keep a list of people who regularly mention me and try to find something they do that I can mention. Here's a post I wrote on the Ways to Utilize Twitter Lists. 

What NOT to do on Twitter!

Twitter No-Nos

There are several things that may seem tempting for short cuts to Twitter followers. I cannot urge you strongly enough not to try them. This is one of these times when if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Do not use an auto responder. You may think you’re being polite, but what you’re really being is irritating. Auto responders are obvious and no one likes messages from a computer clogging up their timeline.

Do NOT buy Twitter followers. This may look like a good shortcut, but most of the followers you buy are fake or spam accounts. You are not doing yourself or those who follow you, any favors with this short cut. Beyond that, if Twitter catches you, your account can be shut down and you can be banned for life.

Do NOT use ANY automatic programs to increase your followers on Twitter. As with buying Twitter followers, using a program to increase your followers can result in a high percentage of face or spam accounts. And this practice can also get you penalized by Twitter.

Twitter has very strict policies against these practices and I’ve known several people who have had their Twitter accounts suspended because of this. 

These are the basics of why I've found Twitter valuable. What about you? Do you use Twitter, avoid it? Be sure to leave your thoughts and questions in the comments section below.

TWEET This: Get Started or Take Twitter to the next level with @EdieMelson 

Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for Southern Writers Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Look for her newest book, While My Soldier Serves (Worthy Inspired), available at bookstores and online.

When Should a Writer Build a Social Media Presence - Social Media 101 for Authors

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

Over and over, I’ve been asked when a writer should get active on social media. And the answer surprises many.

The truth is, you need to have a solid social media platform BEFORE you ever get published.

TWEET THIS: When should a writer start building a #SocialMedia network? - answers from expert @EdieMelson

If you wait until you get a contract, you're already way behind.

But what's involved in building a social media network? Today I'll lay it all out and give you the basics.

Platform Building Basics

To have a strong online platform, we have to first have a solid foundation. I teach (and used this to grow my own platform) that to have an effective social media presence on the Internet you need to do three things: Facebook, Twitter, and Blogging. The reason you must use Facebook and Twitter is because, no matter what or who you’re promoting, you’ll find almost 100% of your audience on these two networks. There may come a time, especially with Pinterest and Google+, that this changes. But it hasn’t happened yet.

You also need to be blogging someplace regularly. Notice I did NOT say you have to have a blog. I said you have to blogging somewhere, regularly. It could be a group blog or professional blog where you have a regular column. The idea is to have somewhere to send your audience so they can interact with you on a deeper level than social media. Think of it as a place to sit down and have coffee, to get to know each other better.

Another thing that I see again and again is that writers don’t know how to make their separate social media networks work together. Today I’m going to give you some tips for that.

Keep Your Social Media Identity Consistent
As writers in today’s digital world, we all know the importance of having an online presence. The savvy writer works hard to leverage social media to do everything from building a platform to interacting with readers.

Even armed with the knowledge of how important engaging online is, many authors have missed one vital component.

Consistency.

So today I’m sharing 5 simple things you can to do keep your social media identity consistent.

Does it really matter that I seem like one person on Facebook and another on Twitter? To a certain degree, it definitely does. While interaction styles do vary from network to network, our audience will still expect us to be recognizable. Think about it from this perspective. Do you really trust someone who is drastically different from situation to situation? I don’t. The same thing holds true with your social media personality. It needs to ring true, no matter where you audience finds you.

So now we know that we need to have a certain level of consistency, what exactly does that entail. Here’s my list of 5 things that will help you build the trust of your audience, while still interacting normally on a given network.

Keep your profile photo consistent across networks.

1. Keep your profile photo consistent (and a picture of you – NOTHING else). I’m always amazed at writers who want to build an online presence, but don’t have a picture of themselves on their social media sites. People don’t engage with cartoons and other pictures. They are looking for someone to trust. And even though I love kids, it’s you I’m interested in, not your kids or your grandkids.

As far as the picture you use of yourself on social media, it doesn’t have to be the exact same picture, but it better be pretty close. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to find someone on Twitter by looking at their Facebook photo as a reference and missing them entirely. I have several different photos I use for profile pictures. They were all taken around the same time and are a large enough shot of my face, that people can tell who I am.

2. Write your updates like you talk. If you’re trying to be something you’re not, or present yourself in a way that’s not natural, it will show.

Be consistent with how often you post updates.

3. Be consistent with how often you post updates. Today’s audience has a short attention span and even shorter memory. To build a consistent picture of yourself online, you have to be online often enough for people to remember you. What does consistent look like? It varies from person to person, but I would say, at least a couple of updates a day, per network, four or five times a week. This is different from growing your platform, this is just to remain in the short term memory of your audience.

4. Don’t change the basis of your message from network to network. For example, if your online identity is built on being a YA author on Twitter, don’t make narrative nonfiction the basis of your posts on Facebook. Let the independent networks work together to paint a more complete picture of who you are. Don’t be an alligator on one and a fuzzy bunny on another.

5. Keep your online information current. If you update your Facebook bio because you’ve signed a new contract, don’t neglect your Twitter or LinkedIn bio. And don’t neglect the bio section of any social media network. This is valuable real estate and should not be wasted. 

Now it's time for me to stop talking and begin answering your questions. What have you found is working for you and what are the areas where you struggle? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

TWEET THIS: Waiting until you have a contract to build a #SocialMedia network is too late - @EdieMelson

Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for Southern Writers Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Look for her newest book, While My Soldier Serves (Worthy Inspired), available at bookstores and online.

Social Media 101 for Authors, Part 1

By Edie Melson @EdieMelson

Tweet This: Don't Skip the #SocialMedia Basics - @EdieMelson on the Author Roadmap 

Today I’m starting a new series, Social Media 101 for Authors. I’m going to lay out the steps to build your online presence into a solid platform that enhances you as an author. 

Be sure to ask questions as we go along, because I’ll partially base my content on the feedback I get from you.

When I teach social networking, I encourage people to relax and not take on too much at once.

I want to begin by talking about the most common mistake I see in social networking: the approach. Because social media can reach millions, it’s way

too easy to think of it as mass marketing. In reality it’s about one-on-one relationships.

That is the beauty and the dichotomy of the medium. It can be overwhelming—this building relationships with millions—especially when our goal is writing, not advertising. Now the good news: Social networking is not as

difficult as it seems.

In many ways, it’s a return to small town thinking. In times past, people

patronized merchants because the proprietors were their neighbors or friends. In this day and time, we also find neighbors and friends on Facebook, Twitter and in blogging communities. And those communities are where we need to concentrate our efforts.

It's vitally important to realize that, despite the bad rap it's gotten, social networking and writers are a natural match. Social networking is all about connecting with people through our words—not walking into a room full of strangers, standing on a platform and speaking. We can sit at our desks, write and reach the entire world.

That said, it IS all about connecting with others. If you're NOT willing to be found by others, then the writing industry as it stands today is gonna be tough for you.

So how do you go about plotting your social media course? 

There are two things you need: 

• You’ve got to know where you are.
• You’ve got to know where you’re going.

You are Here

To evaluate where you are, you need to know your numbers.

• How many friends/followers do you have on Facebook?
• How many followers do you have on Twitter?
• What other social media networks are you a part of? Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. Add those numbers here.

You also need to know where you rank in search engines.

• Plug your name into Google and see where you are. Do you show up on the first page of a Google search?
• Plug your name into other search engines (bing.com, ask.com, etc) and see where you show up there, too.
• Now search your blog name, if it’s different from your name, and see where you show up.
• Finally, search some of your blog topics. Don’t just search your blog post titles, but the actual topics. For instance, I wrote a post titled, Social Media Monday—How Facebook Changes for 2015 CouldAffect Authors. When plug that title into the search engine, it comes up number one in the search. But when I search Facebook Changes Affect Authors, I still come up number two.

That’s ultimately what we’re shooting for, to be found by topic, not just by someone already knowing our name.

First, we shoot for getting our names high in the search engine rankings. Then when we’re on the Internet map, we increase our visibility by getting known topically.

Plot Your Course

It’s hard to get somewhere unless we know where we’re going. One of the easiest ways to get somewhere is to follow someone. So for this part, you need to think about two or three people who are where you want to be in the social media universe. Don’t just choose random, well-known people. Put some thought in this and look at people who write things similar to you. You’re going to use their path to success to guide you, so choose well.

Check their Social Media Numbers

• Do the same things with their names, as you did with yours.
• Look at their Facebook friends/followers.
• Check how many followers they have on Twitter.
• Look at the other social media networks they’re a part of. To do this, visit their websites to see what networks they find important.

Check their Search Engine Ranking

• Plug their names into Google and look at what you find.
• Now do the same thing with other search engines and make note of where they rank.

In the weeks to come, we’ll incorporate this information into plotting your course so don’t skimp on the time it takes to do this research. I’d love to hear what you found when you followed the suggestions above. I’d also love for you to share your thoughts and questions in the comments section below.

Tweet This: #SocialMedia 101 for Authors - Know Where You Are to Get Where You Want to Go - @EdieMelson

Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for Southern Writers Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Look for her newest book, While My Soldier Serves (Worthy Inspired), available at bookstores and online.