Twitter Tuesday #3

Welcome to the third installment of Twitter Tuesday. In the spirit of Twitter, this blog will be short and sweet and to the point. The tips offered here are all based off my best-selling book We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media. If our goal is to build an author platform in the thousands to tens of thousands, then we will have to approach Twitter differently than a faceless corporation or even the regular person who does not possess a goal of becoming a brand. This blog will help you rule the Twitterverse without devolving into a spam bot.

This Week’s Fail Whale–The Self-Centered Twit

Twitter, when we pare it down to its core, is basically a global cocktail party. There are millions of conversations happening simultaneously. Twitter can only serve us well if we become good conversationalists. This is one of the major reasons auto-tweets offer very little benefit.

People are gravitating to social media to engage with others. Understand this core need, and you will rule the Twitterverse. Yet, I see people who rarely tweet, and, when they do, it is because they suddenly want the rest of us to stop what we are doing to check out their blog or book.

Recently, I received an automatically generated DM (direct message) from an author who has never so much as said, “Hello,” to me, but he wanted me to get the word out about his book. Yeah…I am right on that.

What this author doesn’t seem to understand is that it actually takes very little interaction to give others the sort of urgency he desires. If I would have recognized him as one of the people who regularly reposted my blogs, I probably would have dropped everything to help…and I would have mobilized members of MY platform to join in, too. As it stood? I had too many other people who made an effort at relationship, and they took priority over a spam message.

This Week’s Twitter Tip

We are all in danger of being seen as a Self-Centered Twit, but here is a tactic that can help.

Make sure you get an application like TweetDeck. Applications like TweetDeck are essential for anyone trying to build a platform, as you guys might have noticed by now.

It is easy to be perceived as a Self-Centered Twit if we use regular Twitter. Why? We can’t properly “SEE” what is happening around us, and when we don’t properly engage, people generally will assume the worst. It’s just human nature. If you stare at us too long, we assume it’s because you are noticing our fat thighs, not our fabulous outfit. We can be very negative. So put your best self forward by being actively vested in others.

When you can get a little time, watch the video below–The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us–and I hope it helps you understand social media better and make you far more effective.

Tweet ya later!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc]

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  1. As advised in your fab book, Kristen, I downloaded Tweetdeck and it is a wonderful tool. I would recommend it to anyone! DO AS KRISTEN TELLS YOU, SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE’S TALKING ABOUT! 😉

  2. Great post as usual! I have a question though. As much as I would love to interact on Twitter more, I work a 9 to 5 where it blocks all types of social applications. I have Seesmic on my phone but working in cubicle land it can be hard to be discreet! So how do you go about being more engaging if it’s difficult to keep up with what’s going on in Twitter land most of the day?

    1. Respond, just respond when you get home. Just because I cannot chat real-time doesn’t mean I don’t value responses or RTs. In fact, think of it this way. I work from home. I am on Twitter during the day. In the evenings, I am busy with family. If you logged on in the evening and RTed my stuff, you would be helping me reach groups otherwise unavailable for me. Similarly, I would feel the inclination to reciprocate, so I would repost for you…during the day, reaching a group that before was inaccessible to YOU. Also, there are a lot of writers who work day jobs and who are on in the evening to chat and decompress. You will just chat real-time with a different group of people. Also, you will chat with people in other time zones (Twitter is global).

      This is one of the reasons I champion TweetDeck. It permits me to put certain people in a column that i will pay particular attention to. This is how I help out my UK peeps. I scroll down the column to see what they had to tweet when it was 3 in the morning here. Can I repost a blog? Make a comment? It’s a little extra effort, but nothing that takes more than ten seconds 😀

  3. Gotcha!! Thanks a lot!

  4. Great information. The video was super interesting. Thanks.

    • writerwellness on February 1, 2011 at 4:22 pm
    • Reply

    I guess I’m a copyright nerd. It never occured to me to repost someone else’s blog on my blog. What’s the protocol for that? Ask permission I assume. Link or copy/paste the whole blog? I’ve just accepted that there is so much about the Internet I can never know how to manipulate. Love your helpful posts, Kristen.
    Joy

    1. When you RT, you are sending their tweet/ link to your network. For instance, Joy, once you get on Twitter, you will be new, so your network might be 10 people. So when you post, only the 10 people in your network will see your blog. If I am one of those ten people, and I retweet for you, then your link will go to my 2000+. If I add #s, then it can go out to thousands more.
      It might look like this. You tweet: “Ways writers can protect their hands from repetitive work injuries (link goes here).” This tweet will go out to your network. But, if I am following you, I make it a goal to help you out, so it looks like this.

      RT@Joy_Held Ways writers can protect their hands from repetitive work injuries (link is here) –GREAT blog! #writegoal

      Now I have shared your blog with my huge network and the #writegoal conversation column. So a tweet that initially passed the eyes of 10 people just mul.tiplied a 1000 fold, especially because I have people in MY nework who will RT what I RT. Make sense?

      As far as reposting someone else’s blog, that is a good way to have content and to help bloggers spread their reach. The best way (my opinion) is to post a section of the blog and if people want the rest, they follow the link to the original post. As long as we aren’t taking credit for things we haven’t written, it’s okay, and most bloggers will appreciate it. Just give us a heads up, first.

  5. Great info, in the comments as well. Sometimes I feel bad. When I log into (yes I use it) tweetdeck, my first few tweets are retweets. Makes me feel like I’m spamming. Then there’s the times I click all the links I want to read and keep scrolling so I don’t retweet a single link. Gah! I’m like bipolar on twitter! Up and down, up and down. I feel like I’m ranting, now. Am I ranting?

  6. Thans for the valuable insight, Kristen! Just downloaded your book to my Kindle! Have a blessed week.

  7. Tweetdeck has seriously saved my brain, and these Twitter Tuesdays help a whole lot… but why can I not tweet this post? **facebooking it instead**

    1. AHA! right after I post, the Tweet button popped up! Your blog is magical!

      1. I am guessing this means you have Internet again? Hmmmmm?

  8. I know I certainly hate it when the only time I hear from someone is when they want something from me, and self-centered tweets want something. It’s true I would love people to check out my blog, though. I try to balance out my blog tweets by asking questions and promoting others around ten times more than I tweet about myself. That way, I avoid that icky infomercial feeling. Thanks for your post. 🙂

  9. Gosh! Those DM’s I just ignore. I mean, it’s a waste of time to look at something from someone I don’t know. Now, if he or she is my friend, I would definitely check it out. Otherwise, I don’t think it’s worth it.

    • Paula's Paradise on February 1, 2011 at 7:11 pm
    • Reply

    Love the post and always wondered about TweetDeck … your post gave me the impetus to stop and check it out! And the video is fabulous – thanks! (Also realized I wasn’t following you on Twitter when I went to RT; fixed that! 🙂

    • PeterKoevari on February 1, 2011 at 9:01 pm
    • Reply

    Wow you really weren’t kidding about short and sweet 🙂

    Excellent tip that everyone on twitter should take on board.

    Looking forward to more

  10. Thanks for your post. This is an auto comment to say hi, I value you, and please give me money.

    Haha, I jest. I did watch the video you carefully selected. I knew since you picked the thing I would enjoy it, and I did. Have a great Tuesday.

  11. Does Twitter Deck allow you o update from your Hotmail? Because I have so little time now I dn’t really have the time to go from account to account on some days

  12. Sorry for double posting but how do you get tweetDeck. I went to the site but it doesn’t work.

  13. Great advice! I don’t follow lots of people on twitter because I want to interact with everyone. I also recommend using Instapaper for marking blogs you want to read later. I even stay logged into Instapaper at work and sneak in quick blog reads during the day so I have more time in the evenings to tweet with my followers.

    • Patti Mallett on February 2, 2011 at 6:28 pm
    • Reply

    Great video, Kristen! There is always something (usually plural) both interesting & helpful on here, thus, this one of a small group of Blogs I keep regular tabs on. (And why I have purchased your book, to read before ever thinking of starting my own Blog.) Kudos!!

    • joannaaslinn on February 3, 2011 at 3:39 am
    • Reply

    Confused, but learning–don’t feel badly, Joy. I’m trying to make sense of this deal myself. Then there’s keeping up with it all…

    Joanna Aislinn
    Dream. Believe. Strive. Achieve!
    NO MATTER WHY
    The Wild Rose Press
    http://www.joannaaislinn.com
    http://www.joannaaislinn.wordpress.com

  14. Great post as usual! That video was the best, providing us all with many great insights.
    Thank you
    Cliff

    1. Thanks, Cliff. I am happy you enjoyed :D.

  1. […] was going to blog about something else today, but this blog by Kristen Lamb caught my eye, especially the YouTube video on what motivates us, and I changed my […]

  2. […] Lamb’s new Twitter Tuesday  series, teaching people Twitter Etiquette with humor and finesse. She has a great book about […]

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