Twitter is now an important part of how people share their thoughts. The micro blogging format might be a bit confusing for authors, but once they get the hang of it they can use it to great effect. Apart from spreading the word about books, an author can also use Twitter to make connections with other authors.

Authors should think of Twitter as a magazine full of catchy headlines that people like to read. It is also a great place to tell people about things as they happen. Twitter can help authors improve their ability to tell compelling stories to their readers. The following are some tips for authors to make their social media presence mean something.

Follow other authors and book fans

Authors should make sure that they follow people who have the same interests as them. These include fellow authors and book fans. By following other authors and engaging them in discussions, an author can improve his credibility and following in social networks. He can also learn a thing or two from authors who have been using Twitter for a long time.

Longer tweets are better

Internet marketers say that it is good to keep things short. This is true when you are talking about things like blogs and press releases. However, Twitter is a different story. You are only given 140 characters to say what’s on your mind. Surprisingly, many people don’t use even half of this space. Authors should use all this space to get people to pause and seriously read their tweets.

Tweet during peak hours

One of the things that happens in Twitter after 2 pm is that the number of tweets increases dramatically. At this time, people might be thinking that they have done enough work so they can now tweet without their conscience holding them back. Authors should therefore tweet during the afternoons and evenings when people are on Twitter. Also, when the week is coming to an end, the number of people on Twitter soars.

Ask people to retweet your posts

Retweets create ripples in social media where your posts get the attention of way more than your followers. However, people usually don’t retweet posts unless they are nudged. An author should ask people to retweet his posts to maximize potential from this ingenious feature. One great way to increase the effectiveness of a retweeted post is to get reputable people to retweet. An author must create great attention grabbing posts and ask followers to retweet.

Separate tweets by at least one hour

When tweeting, you want as many people as possible to see your tweets. However, people go on Twitter at different times. Therefore if you tweet relentlessly for an hour and come back hours later, there is a big chance that you only reached a fraction of the people you would have. You should therefore spread your activity on Twitter by at least 1 hour to make sure that people will see your posts as they go on Twitter at different times.

Links should be towards the beginning of a tweet

Tweets should have links to photos, blogs, videos, etc. However, links are more likely to be clicked on if they are towards the beginning.