There's a lot to remember when you're first getting started on any social media site, but here to play watchdog for you is Edie Melson. Not only was Edie a pleasure to work for and with, in her book Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers Edie breaks it down in simple and manageable pieces for us.
I confess, I'm learning right along with you! But that's part of the whole purpose of this column, to share experiences with one another. We're all in this together. What's wonderful about being a writer is that we're all so different, that we can all just make a little room for each other.
Today, we're going to talk about all the things we're doing wrong so that we can fix them. There's a double edged sword with social media, but there's also a little bit of grace. So let's get serious, and stop doing the six little faux-pas on Twitter.
- Always talking about ME, ME, ME. This makes you seem narcissistic and it's also a boring read. Doing this can cost you followers.
- Hijacking the Twitter feed. Also called hogging the stream. Try your best to avoid posting more than three posts in a row, spacing them at least 10 minutes apart. I've done this too, but it jams up your followers news-feeds on Twitter, and brings you negative attention that you don't want.
- Don't overload your Tweets with hashtags. Anytime you use more than three it shows everyone that you're a newbie or a spammer. Don't do it. This will cost you followers.
- Make sure you include your picture or image. An egg avatar, or any non-human image will make me not to want to follow you. Not including your picture makes me question your authenticity.
- Never lock your Twitter account. The whole point of Twitter is to be found. Don't shoot yourself in the foot with this behavior.
- Avoid random nothingness. If you've got no hashtags whatsoever, you're missing out on a lot of your audience. Nobody will know how to find you.
Which faux-pas are you guilty of? Please share them with us below, and I'll try to get some solutions working for you.
Connect Activity: Go to your Twitter homepage look for the items we talked about today. To increase your readership, visit your personal profile page and increase your descriptions. If you don't know what to put, look at the pages of other people that you follow and mimic it.
Can't get enough social media? Check out Edie's Social Media Mondays column at:
http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com
Come join me next week, and we'll talk about Finding Relevant Hashtags.
Laurie Epps is a senior at Anderson University
majoring in Creative Writing. Already Laurie is most published as a feature
article writer, essayist, and poet. A seeker of beauty and world traveler,
Laurie hopes to grow into a career in travel writing illuminating the many
stories that make us human despite our differences. Currently, Laurie also has
a Thoughtful Thursday column dedicated to the fine art of poetry.
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