Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This!

November 8, 2012 by 62 Comments

Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This!   

 

As someone who has done this social media thingy for a while, I’m asked frequently:

 

How do I find people on Twitter to follow?

 

You can find any number of articles on who, what, when, where and why’s to follow. What follows is what I’ve found effective as an author.

 

 

1) Use Search to find common interests. If you look at the top of any screen, you’ll find the Search window. If you’re interested in red kites, type in red kites. If you’re interested in psychological thrillers, type in that.

 

This sounds so obvious, but many people (new or not), don’t seem to be able to find the Search window.

 

2) Advanced Search. This is way cool and almost nobody knows about it. Click on Advanced Search and put in any number of criteria: keywords, hashtags, retweets, mentions, etc. It’s awesome!

 

3) Manage Flitter. I LOVE this app. I use the pro version simply because I’m managing many client accounts, but the basic service is still awesome for unfollowing eggs, nevertweeteds, inactives, and fakes. They also have a terrific Search function, either by account or tweet. I do this a few times a week.

 

I typically follow about 100 people every day. If they don’t follow back within a week, I dump em. It’s hard to be this brutal at first, but remember the 10% ratio: if you follow more than is following you by 10%, Twitter freezes your ability to follow more. This is how to get around that.

 

4) Keywords. This is your first assignment: What topics interest you the most? Who do you find fascinating? What is your business, service, or book?

 

Write a list. Don’t make it one hundred different things. I typically suggest six main keywords, six backups. For my author account, mine are: men, women, social media, relationships, sex, love, and loss. My backups are coffee, Nutella, vodka, blogging, writing, books, and publishing.

 

Why do this? This is the foundation of your branding. Find like-minded people with similar interests and you’re off! Tip: choose personal interests. Nobody wants to interact with a one-dimensional robot.

 

5) Celebs: Many people like to follow their favorite celebs on Twitter, for many reasons. Fine, whatever. Once you’ve followed 2,000 tweeps, Twitter imposes following limits as mentioned above. The point of creating an interactive following is not so people won’t follow you back and share your stuff. It’s so they will. Right? So unfollow The Jersey Shore gang as soon as you’re done here. Please, I beg of you.

 

6) Lists. When you follow someone interesting, see what lists they’ve created or that others have put them on. If those people seem relevant to you, follow them. I love lists because the work is already done for you.

 

Also: you can create your own lists, up to 20, with up to 500 people per list. That’s 10,000 tweeps. Even if you only follow a few hundred, you can still list many more people without following them! This is also another way to get around the Twitter imposed 10% limit.

 

7) Customers. Every tweep is a potential reader or client. Authors frequently ask: where do I find readers? Use every search engine possible – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Goodreads, and of course, Google – to look for potential readers. By genre, name, author, book club, etc. Also look for your genre. See what comes up.

 

The mistake I see many authors make is reaching out only to other writers (I did the same thing initially). And while writers do read A LOT, and we’re generally a supportive lot, we’re also not your target audience. You want to search for enthusiasts of your genre, right?  Try synonyms. Know your demographic.

 

8) Amazon. Not sure what your branding is but you know what genre your book is? Check out Amazon’s Tag Cloud (the most popular tags used by readers on Amazon). If you’re currently writing a book or already have one out, see which tags are BIGGER and darker. If your book fits into those tags, be sure you’re using them on your own Amazon page.

 

Even if you’re not a published author, I’ve found using the tag cloud helpful as a guide for blog topics. It’s really a microcosm of a macrocosm, if you will.

 

Finally, remember this: Twitter will not sell your book. It does however, increase your visibility and exposure. And that’s awesome.

 

 

 

That’s it for today. I hope you find this information useful and start implementing some of these changes right away. What did I miss? 

 

Got questions? Hit me here or email: BadRedheadMedia at gmail dot com. Want more of an author perspective? Check out RachelintheOC.com.

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Social Media, Twitter tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
About Rachel Thompson

Rachel Thompson aka RachelintheOC is a published author and social media consultant. Her two books, A Walk In The Snark and The Mancode: Exposed are both #1 Kindle bestsellers! When not writing, she helps authors and other professionals with branding and social media for her company, BadRedhead Media. She hates walks in the rain, running out of coffee, and coconut.

Buy Now : A Walk in the Snark * Mancode: Exposed

Comments

  1. @Meetmyhusband says:
    November 8, 2012 at 7:19 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/hGVR64Zr via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  2. Rachel Thompson (@RachelintheOC) says:
    November 8, 2012 at 8:30 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/GILpyrzV via @BadRedheadMedia #TwitterTips

    Reply
  3. RachelintheOC (@indiebookpromos) says:
    November 8, 2012 at 9:30 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/ghvD6rlj via @BadRedheadMedia #TwitterTips

    Reply
  4. @GreatTwitTips says:
    November 8, 2012 at 9:47 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/vGEfBfGS via @BadRedheadMedia #TwitterTips: Before… http://t.co/q0S5kext

    Reply
  5. Laura-Lee Walker (@LauraLeeWalker) says:
    November 8, 2012 at 11:39 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/KEum7uNZ via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  6. Sunithi Selvaraj (@ssunithi) says:
    November 8, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/6f2EcoYH via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  7. Melissa Stewart (@MelissaOnline) says:
    November 8, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/0yZWzGr3 via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  8. Greta van der Rol says:
    November 8, 2012 at 3:20 pm

    Excellent article. Thanks. There are some great ideas here.

    Reply
    • Rachel Thompson says:
      November 8, 2012 at 5:03 pm

      Thank you, Greta! My main goal is to help demystify Twitter and help people really use it as a the free marketing tool that it is.

      Reply
  9. Bri Clark (@Bri_Clark) says:
    November 8, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/iXqJeWzZ via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  10. Sandy Sandmeyer (@SandySandmeyer) says:
    November 8, 2012 at 4:04 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/SMao1Czh via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  11. @arthos3 says:
    November 8, 2012 at 5:23 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/1BZ6gKOB

    Reply
  12. Rachel Thompson (@RachelintheOC) says:
    November 8, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/eZaJi7nx // holy moly — 250 views today. Thx guys!

    Reply
  13. Becky Gaylord (@BeckyGaylord) says:
    November 8, 2012 at 8:27 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/6QoGcF7l via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  14. @AmberNorrgard says:
    November 8, 2012 at 8:55 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/kWheU4aQ via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  15. @dehelen says:
    November 8, 2012 at 10:25 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/GA4Yxa7a via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  16. Melissa Cleaver (@MommyLTLORiley) says:
    November 9, 2012 at 12:01 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/1hZN4rcL via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  17. @moulaybk says:
    November 9, 2012 at 7:37 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/0mdAelJY via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  18. Rachel Thompson (@RachelintheOC) says:
    November 9, 2012 at 9:30 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/ooIY35ot via @BadRedheadMedia // 500 hits! #TwitterTips

    Reply
  19. Rachel Thompson (@BadRedheadMedia) says:
    November 9, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/sSxl1zMD // holy moly — 250 views today. Thx guys!

    Reply
  20. Lorca Damon (@LorcaDamon) says:
    November 9, 2012 at 4:32 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/VP8dZ9Qz via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  21. Amit Verma (@AmitV_Tweets) says:
    November 9, 2012 at 4:45 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/LXDpZnuM via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  22. RachelintheOC (@indiebookpromos) says:
    November 9, 2012 at 7:20 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/NX0Bg7CQ #TwitterTips #socialmedia

    Reply
  23. @segubs says:
    November 10, 2012 at 1:22 am

    “@mmangen: Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/PcjFRTVv via @RachelintheOC” WOW

    Reply
  24. Kelly Groovy Gamble (@KellySGamble) says:
    November 10, 2012 at 7:11 am

    Excellent info as always. I’m so lazy with lists, but I’m trying to get better. :)

    Reply
  25. Michelle Mangen (@mmangen) says:
    November 10, 2012 at 8:27 am

    @SarasotaPlants @RachelintheOC think there must have been a Twitter glitch. It’s def working now – check again? http://t.co/oBtEDENv

    Reply
  26. Beth Garland says:
    November 10, 2012 at 9:15 am

    I’m doing it all wrong! Outstanding information, Rachel. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Rachel Thompson says:
      November 11, 2012 at 2:42 pm

      Thx Beth! There’s definitely a learning curve, but this isn’t meant to tell you you’re doing it wrong; more to help you improve. thx for the feedback!

      Reply
  27. Rachel Thompson (@BadRedheadMedia) says:
    November 10, 2012 at 12:40 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/UwJ5RuV9 #TwitterTips #socialmedia

    Reply
  28. Rachel Thompson (@RachelintheOC) says:
    November 11, 2012 at 6:30 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/by70shS4 #TwitterTips #socialmedia

    Reply
  29. Dianne Solberg (@Wxmouse) says:
    November 19, 2012 at 9:36 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/h3ccNxrp via @RachelintheOC

    Reply
  30. RachelintheOC (@indiebookpromos) says:
    November 25, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    One of my top 3 most popular posts ever: Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/qeb6aQzd via @BadRedMedia

    Reply
  31. Rachel Thompson (@RachelintheOC) says:
    November 26, 2012 at 4:20 am

    One of my most popular posts ever: Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/A0X097tc #MondayBlogs

    Reply
  32. @intheAMDay says:
    November 26, 2012 at 4:36 am

    #MondayBlogs RT @RachelintheOC Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/XTWWGv0t

    Reply
  33. Marie Walker Riddle (@livinlime) says:
    November 27, 2012 at 7:31 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! via @badredheadmedia http://t.co/i1ywKFUc

    Reply
  34. RachelintheOC (@RomPromoCentral) says:
    December 10, 2012 at 6:35 am

    #MondayBlogs Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/GER46eQz via @BadRedheadMedia #TwitterTips

    Reply
  35. Rachel Thompson (@RachelintheOC) says:
    December 10, 2012 at 10:05 am

    #MondayBlogs Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/gfAnUjBL via @BadRedheadMedia #TwitterTips

    Reply
  36. Joe Brewer says:
    December 10, 2012 at 10:17 am

    You have the best advice. Thanks!

    Reply
  37. RachelintheOC (@BkPromoCentral) says:
    December 10, 2012 at 11:50 am

    #MondayBlogs Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/SdYVcbT4 via @BadRedheadMedia #TwitterTips

    Reply
  38. Rachel Thompson (@BadRedheadMedia) says:
    December 10, 2012 at 3:50 pm

    #MondayBlogs Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/8f88NxK7 via @BadRedheadMedia #TwitterTips

    Reply
  39. RachelintheOC (@RomPromoCentral) says:
    December 18, 2012 at 8:05 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/CNpEASif #TwitterTips

    Reply
  40. RachelintheOC (@indiebookpromos) says:
    December 18, 2012 at 8:35 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/4IuHbZWJ #TwitterTips

    Reply
  41. RachelintheOC (@BkPromoCentral) says:
    December 19, 2012 at 9:40 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/jxJb1WA1 #TwitterTips

    Reply
  42. Rachel Thompson (@BadRedheadMedia) says:
    December 19, 2012 at 11:31 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/2FTpSZag #TwitterTips

    Reply
  43. Rachel Thompson (@RachelintheOC) says:
    December 19, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/6TxJd0Um #TwitterTips

    Reply
  44. @RedPlaidMonkey says:
    December 20, 2012 at 6:55 am

    Thx to @RachelintheOC for great tips! Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/2TBqC7T3 #writers #blogging

    Reply
  45. @LibrarianSpecs says:
    January 5, 2013 at 1:05 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This! http://t.co/4HaDivba When Twitter blocks you from following: Manage Flitter app @JulieeJohnsonn

    Reply
  46. @LibrarianSpecs says:
    January 5, 2013 at 1:07 pm

    @BadRedheadMedia Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This http://t.co/4HaDivba … Manage Flitter app:When Twitter blocks you from following

    Reply
  47. BestSellingReads (@BestSellingRead) says:
    January 15, 2013 at 9:30 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/afbnpPon Find the people w/ the same interests as you!

    Reply
  48. RachelintheOC (@BkPromoCentral) says:
    January 15, 2013 at 10:15 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/KNO19DT0 Find the people w/ the same interests as you!

    Reply
  49. RachelintheOC (@RomPromoCentral) says:
    January 15, 2013 at 10:45 am

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/A7DjGb7I Find the people w/ the same interests as you!

    Reply
  50. Rachel Thompson (@BadRedheadMedia) says:
    January 15, 2013 at 3:30 pm

    Before You Follow Another Tweep, Read This First! http://t.co/AouL2iFs Find the people w/ the same interests as you!

    Reply
  51. Cassandra Page (@CassandraPage01) says:
    February 26, 2013 at 7:18 pm

    @staceynash @virgboecker Here’s a blog post on it: http://t.co/lKJ7UHKTIF

    Reply

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