Google+ – Page 6

Twitter as a Marketing Tool

I’ve been using Twitter for the past few months to connect with other writers, meet new acquaintances, and build a following for my writing. Some successful authors claim that their sales took off after they built a Twitter following, and I believe them. Based on my preliminary efforts, Twitter seems a more effective marketing tool than Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and other social media sites. This, of course, could change over time, as the executives at MySpace can attest. Other social media sites have their own benefits. In my opinion, Facebook is a better forum than Twitter to connect with friends and family who may be the only ones supportive of your writing at the outset of your career.

My quest to figure out what works on Twitter has been one of trial and error learning how to use Twitter effectively. The result has been good, so far, with my number of followers increasing more than 300 percent in December 2011 and already up by a third one week into January 2012 (thank you, followers!). One ebook giveaway I tried received several responses; an offer to purchase my ebook at a discount did not net any new sales. I will continue to offer a mix of incentives to attract readers until I find a strategy that works.

I’m slowly getting the hang of Twitter. I’ve found that unless you want to buy followers, it simply takes time to build a following. Buying followers is ethically suspect and defeats the purpose of building lasting relationships. Simply put, tweeting, or sending messages (tweets), takes time.

When you tweet, it’s important to:

Follow others. The best way to gain new followers is to follow others. Search “Who To Follow” to find others who tweet about your interests and follow them. Twitter will then suggest others you might want to follow. Many will follow you back. Unless you’re a celebrity, you’re probably going have to knock on doors first.
Post relevant content. I like to post links to breaking news articles related to my interests. I like travel, politics, and self-publishing, so many of my tweets focus on these subjects.
Have a brand. Focus on what’s important to you and tweet about it. Those interested in finding you will. If your brand is based on a popular character, such as a protagonist in a book or your pet, and you have the right to represent them, you can set up an account for them and tweet on their behalf.
Be creative. Those who have something interesting to share or assume a creative persona on Twitter tend to do well. Some cats have larger followings than most humans.
Public thank yous. Thank followers publicly for following you by tweeting it. I have a small following and still send individual “thank you” tweets to new followers with a personal note attached. Some with more followers write “thank you” and list new followers in a single tweet.
Retweet. Repost newsworthy items posted by your followers. When they mention you to their followers, thank them publicly.
Direct messages. Send private messages to followers in order to cultivate relationships. Be genuine and sincere, not patronizing. I don’t think it’s a good idea to send a spam ad to new followers as a message, although some do. Product placement is okay as long as what you’re offering is of interest to your followers.
Tweet frequently. Tweet as often as you can. Since none of us can tweet 24 hours a day, use a site such as BufferApp to program tweets to post automatically while you’re away. Keep them relevant. I started posting humorous “Your Friendly Sleeptweeter” tweets while I’m away that play up the fact that I’m still tweeting while I’m sleeping. Here’s an example: “Greetings from your friendly sleeptweeter. I’m just passing through on my way to dreamland to greet you with a hearty zzz.”
Sell, but don’t overdo it. It’s okay to advertise something you’re selling such as a book, but do it sparingly. I’ve read that a 20:1 ratio (one advertisement per 20 tweets) is a good ratio. The more you look like a pusher, the more you will turn off your followers.

Only time will tell if these efforts will pay off for me. They seem to be working so far, and I’m looking forward to seeing whether these efforts bear more fruit in the coming year.

Follow me on Twitter at @m_g_edwards. I’m happy to follow back.

M.G. Edwards is a writer of books and stories in the mystery, thrill and science fiction-fantasy genres. He also writes travel adventures. He recently published a collection of short stories called Real Dreams: Thirty Years of Short Stories available as an ebook and in print on Amazon.com. He lives in Bangkok, Thailand with his wife Jing and son Alex. For books and stories by M.G. Edwards, visit his web site at www.mgedwards.com.

Shanghai Surprise

I received some unexpected but very good news today. I was chosen for a two-week assignment in Shanghai, China. Twice a year, four individuals are sent to other countries to work for two weeks. Because I was involved in the APEC Summit and am now doing a short-term job assignment in my career field, I did not think I would qualify an assignment out of country. It’s akin to winning the Triple Crown–most people only participate in one or two of these activities. I am extremely grateful to have been chosen for the assignment, in spite of prior career opportunities. In this line of work, “fair” is a “four-letter word,” meaning that nothing in this line of work is really fair. Maybe you make more than your colleague. Maybe you’re passed up for a promotion. Maybe you get a better assignment than someone else. Maybe you get more chances to shine. Sometimes things go your way, and sometimes they don’t. For example, we were placed in Seoul after my initial, preferred assignment became unavailable. My stoic response is that everything evens out eventually. When things aren’t going right, just wait for awhile, and the tide should turn. I was fully prepared not to get this assignment, because I’ve already been extremely fortunate, more than I know some of my colleagues have been. I was perfectly happen to defer to them. At the same time, other colleagues have been given more opportunities than I’ve had in Seoul. That’s fine by me. I know that “fair” is a four-letter word and accept this reality. I know that things won’t always be this good. I know that someday I will face some unforeseen adversity.

My wife was ecstatic to find out that we’re heading to Shanghai for two weeks next March or April. Her parents returned to Shanghai from Seattle following her grandmother’s death. Our return to China will hopefully help lift everyone’s spirits and help bring the family closer together. Because my wife works full time, she may only stay for one week. We also talked about having my son stay with me for the full two weeks and have his grandparents take care of him during the day while I work. We’re not sure yet. This trip won’t be a vacation, because I have to work full time. However, evenings and weekends will be free. Perhaps we’ll take a trip to Hangzhou or back to Anhui Province. Maybe we’ll catch a weekend in Xi’an or Guangzhou. We haven’t decided yet. It’s a good dilemma figuring out our travel plans.

With our trip to Shanghai and return to the U.S. in May, I may have to drop out of the choir I mentioned yesterday. I will be away at least four weeks this spring, so I don’t know whether I will have time to commit to it. I’ll talk to my colleague, the music director, and find out whether I should stay. I’d rather drop out now than find out I’m going to miss some performances or sound lousy because I didn’t practice enough. I also decided to forego studying and taking the German exam. There is only one German-speaking assignment I could qualify for, and it’s very unlikely that I would be assigned to that job, because “fair” is a four-letter word in this line of work. I decided to hold off studying and focus on Korean and Spanish or Chinese, whichever is required for my next assignment.

Blog Notes: Tonight’s blog title beat out the other title that crossed my mind: “We Got Shanghai’d.”

From the “Things that Make You Go Hmm…” Department: Why is Google complying with Chinese authorities and offering Google.cn without blogging and E-mail features when it does not feel compelled to cooperate with U.S. authorities? Google’s policy has been to work within the legal framework of countries where it does business. Why is it so quickly cooperating with the Chinese and so willing to go to court with the U.S. Department of Justice?

A New Chapter

My in-laws left yesterday and returned to their home in China. They have lived with us for over two years. Before they arrived in 2002, I mentioned to my wife that it was the start of a new chapter in our lives. Now the page has turned and yet another new chapter has started for us. They lived with us since our son was born–they have always been a part of his life. Now as we prepare to head to Korea, we are again a family of three. Life has been very hectic for us with our impending move, but I can already tell that life feels a bit more settled now that we’re together as a smaller family. My in-laws were a big help to us. They were always around to help take care of our son, and for that I am very grateful. I know that my son already misses them very much because he’s old enough to be aware of their move, but he has been very well behaved the past couple of days. I hope it continues until we finally arrive in Seoul. Living together as an extended family has brought blessing, tension, happiness, and frustration–all the human emotions that rise up with family members living together. I will look back at the last two years fondly and wax nostalgic, but at present I am happy that a new chapter has started. For me this is the start of our transition to Korea. We have been in limbo here in the Washington, D.C. area since we arrived in early 2004, and now within 2 months we will be in Korea, our new home for years. Korea is yet another chapter to be experienced, and this is page one.

The death toll from the tsunamis in southeast Asia and eastern Africa has risen to 77,000+. What a tragedy. I am happy that the U.S. and other nations have pledged millions of dollars and logistical aid to combat the ensuing humanitarian crisis. The tragedy seems so distant to many of us, but it has touched us nevertheless. Out of this tragedy comes the opportunity for the world to come together to show support just as it did when the Twin Towers were attacked in 2001. I’m planning to contact World Vision to see what I can do.

I downloaded and tried the new Mozilla Firefox browser. It’s the new open source browser that is competing with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Over 12 million copies have been downloaded. Most people download it because they either don’t like IE or are concerned about security issues with Microsoft’s browser. Hackers and virus makers have designed nasties around the IE browser because over 90% of Internet users use IE to access the Web (mass audience). I had to check it out for myself. I have tested the Firefox browser, and so far I have not been very impressed. If it will boost my PC’s security I will use it, but I may have to sacrifice some speed and functionality. Pages appear to load more slowly in Firefox, and you have to manually load some add-ins such as Flash that boost the Web’s functionality. Still, I will continue to test Firefox and use it for the time being. I was happy to see that Google is Firefox’ default search engine. Google appears on the Firefox home page and as a built-in browser toolbar. If Firefox takes off in 2005, then the Firefox-Google alliance bodes well for Google. Google impresses more every day.