Tips to Build an Author Platform on Twitter

As an author or future author setting up an online identity is crucial to your success. Twitter is a free and powerful tool author can use to build their platform, announce book launches, let your readers know where your latest article or story has published, and a great way to show support to fellow authors or causes you love. Whether you have already published your book or just started writing it you want to work on building Twitter followers as soon as possible. 

---

The key to remember is that social media platforms are just that — social, so be social.  Interacting with readers rather than constant self-promotion will help you build a following. Once you make a connect with people some of them will help you spread your reach even further across the Internet.
Since Twitter is a platform made for engagement interact with others. When people reach out to you be sure to reply. When a reader tags you in a tweet, like or reply to it. People like to share content on Twitter, so write interesting tweets keeping in mind that every tweet is a sample of your writing.
Use hashtags within your tweet. A hashtag is a way of categorizing your tweets so that they are part of a narrowed conversation and they are easier to find in Twitter search. Twitter hashtags are created by putting a “#” in front of a word or phrase, without spaces. The idea behind hashtags is to get people using the same one when talking about a specific topic. For instance, #putthewordinyourmouth could form a discussion around the power of speaking the promises of God’s.  Hashtags can be highly effective in growing your reach and encouraging engagement on Twitter. Do not over hashtag. One to two relevant hashtags per Tweet is good. Tweets are composed of 140 characters or less, so remember character count matters in tweets.
 
Another way to interact with your readers is to ask questions. Ask readers for their opinions whether it is for a book recommendation or feedback, is also a wonderful way to boost engagement and create meaningful interactions with your readers. Post as few promotional tweets like “Buy my book.” 

Don’t have a Twitter account yet? Signing up for Twitter is free. Simply log into the social twitter.com and select a name for your new Twitter feed. This name should be either your author pen name or your website name. It needs to be a name that your readers can recognize and connect with you as an author.

Next, you want to add followers. Start by letting Twitter search your email address book and show you people on Twitter you already know. The best way to build a relevant Twitter follower base is following people that have something in common with you or your book. To do this, you can use Twitter’s search feature and find other authors like you. Go to the profiles of some famous authors in your niche.  Look at the people they are following and follow the people you relate to.

Use the search feature again and this time put in keywords that are relevant to your book. Use a hash tag before the word. Let’s say you wanted to find readers who like books on Christian living. Simply put #Christianbooklovers in the search area. Once the list is generated, scroll down to add those who look like good niche connections.

You can also search for the title of popular books in your field. Make a select list of those who are serious tweeters. These people may not only read your book, but are likely to spread the word. Twitter search can give you an almost endless supply of new people to connect with every day. Building a serious Twitter following does not happen overnight, but if you are consistent in following new people every day, you will be surprised how quickly your list will grow.

Do you have any tips? Share with us.