One of the great things about Twitter (and social media in general) is the connections you can make with readers. I always caution people not to spam links to their books constantly but instead, interact, ask questions, provide great content.
But let’s back up for a moment. I’m asked this question daily:
Why bother with Twitter at all if it won’t result in sales?
Well, that remains somewhat debatable and based on my own experience, there’s no question that Twitter contributes to my book sales. The thing is, I’m very aware of not spamming my own stuff all the time. Instead, I approach selling in a much softer way, and Twitter gives you the tools to do the same. Keeping in mind that any author should be using Twitter to build relationships and not for the hard sell, here are some considerations:
BRAND
What is your ‘brand?’ We’ve discussed this before (choose topics and keywords that interest you, your readers, and your subject, and make it consistent across your entire platform), and branding comes into play on Twitter (or any social media) as well. What are your topics? What genre do you write in? What interests you personally? What is your color story (are your book covers and headers consistent in color and style)?
Take all that information and create your 160-character bio.
TWITTER BIO
Is there any way to track actual sales from Twitter to Amazon? No, however, you can easily track clicks from Twitter to Amazon (or any other site). How? Using bitly.com! I like bitly because you can not only track clicks (on the bitly site) but you can also customize the link with your book title (here’s mine for Broken Pieces: bitly.com/BROKENPIECES). In addition, Twitter now allows room for two URLs — one where it says website (click SETTINGS, click PROFILE), and then the second one actually goes in your 160-character bio. That’s why shortening services like bitly are so useful!
Why bother doing this?
1) Track clicks from Twitter to Amazon,
2) Refer people to your ‘link on bio’ instead of constantly tweeting the link. This makes your stream less spammy and you still make it easy for people to find your book(s).
TWITTER BACKGROUND
I hired my graphic designer to create a customized Twitter background on my author account (click here to see it) which shows all of my book covers and a few other pieces of key information. This shouldn’t cost you much money and again, makes it easy for people to find you without you having to be linking all the time. While they’re at it, have them create the same background for your Facebook author page header and Google+.
These are small adjustments you can make to your account that can reap big rewards. Do you have other tips to share? Please comment below!
