Thread by @SallyAlbright

Should I do a Twitter Tips thread and go over how these tools work? There's nothing nefarious, but there's some cool free stuff we use for professional accounts that anyone can use.

Also I have a "Twitter for Writers" piece if anyone wants to take a look.

Ok let's start with things that make Berners' heads explode.

We tell everyone, leave your own tweets at the top when you log off. Not just your pinned tweet, your current stuff. I usually hit the top two in my mentions. This is free advertising. In weird twitter it's currency
1/

Buffer is a great tool for scheduling tweets. There are a ton of apps that let you post to multiple platforms but with Buffer the posts don't go out at the same time. You can also schedule tweets at optimum times based on your when your followers are online
2/

Tweepi is really useful for new accounts. You identify accounts similar to yours and follow who follows them. So you're following people with the same interests, and they are likely to follow back. It's kind of tedious so it doesn't happen that fast, but it's helpful.
3/

Tweepi also does a lot of useful analytics - it shows you what dormant accounts you follow so you can unfollow them. It's great for adding people to lists - one of the few tools out there to manage lists that actually works.
4/

Roundteam- this is how you keep accounts from going dormant or keep a presence if you aren't on Twitter much. You can set it to RT tweets with keywords or tweets from people on a list- that's what I usually do- it will RT at intervals through out the day or whatever you set up
5/

WriteRack is essential for threads. I've been winging it a lot lately but with this you copy and paste your essay and it will format your text into a thread of tweets that you can then clean up so they fit. Then you set them to go out on a timer
6/

I use Twitter Moments to preserve threads. I used to use Tweetdeck but this is a lot easier. Sometimes I don't even publish them because I can grab the top tweet straight from the draft.
7/

Favstar shows you your most popular tweets. IFTTT (If This Then That, rhymes with gift) does a lot of automation but not that much for twitter beyond putting people on lists and emailing you digests but it's worth checking out.
8/

There's no need to thank people for RTs, Likes & Following. You can, but there's no need

Thanking people for their CONTENT is encouraged.

Don't use an auto DMs for your new followers. No judgement, I don't know who does and who doesn't and I know everyone does it, but don't.
9/

The exception to the no auto-DM policy: Events

I've seen it work for campaigns, festivals, etc getting details & updates to your followers about your event.

I've seen bars say "Thanks for following -text this number for a free beer"

I approve.

10/

Don't buy followers. They don't interact with you and it's obvious they're fake.

Bernie's Women's Conference had to buy followers to cover the fact that they lost so many real ones. Not a TERRIBLE idea, PR wise, but it was easy to spot.
11/

Never ever ever automate anything, especially follows. They will know, they always know and it's the fastest way to lose your account forever. It's okay to schedule your own stuff but automation will get you banned. If I did half the stuff they say I did, I'd be long gone
12/

I had a client once, in 2010 when things were still kinda new. He bought a service called Tweetattacks that would follow people for you. I told him not to use it, he did it anyway, called like 2 days later, he'd been banned. Here's where the story gets good.
13/

So I go into the account and file a report, there's some back and forth for a few days, and finally Twitter says, Fine, type this sentence and send it to us.

So I typed "I [person's name] confess that I used automation on and I understand it is against Twitter's TOS"
14/

So the response from Twitter was basically "Automation is against the TOS and since you have admitted you used automation this account is permanently closed."

And that was that. It was his company name.
15/

The best way to get your content shared is through reciprocity. Retweet people who Retweet you. I'm in about 19 DM groups where we all RT each other's content. Think about forming a few of those.

Usually if you want someone to RT something specific all you have to do is ask.
16/

If you want to see an entire thread, or see which tweet or which user someone is replying to, click the time stamp. This works in FB too.
17/

OK they make fun of me for this, I guess it's "out of style" but so what. Chrome extension Klout puts a little number next to someone's handle to show what kind of engagement & authority their account has. Anything under 40 is probably a bot or brand new acct. It's great.
18/

A lot of people don't know Twitter has a robust advanced search feature. It's annoying because it only searches the exact spelling, but it searches a lot of different ways.

This is how the Berners are so good at finding our old tweets.
19/

twitter.com/search-advanced

So there you go. Nothing black hat or automated or "fake" - just some old accounts I don't want to let go of but don't want to think about. If you have any questions or know a good tool I didn't mention, please let me know.
20/x

I might post this again tomorrow and actually tag everyone

Here's my outline for "Twitter for Writers"

Still in draft form so I'd love any feedback you have.

1) Brainstorming - Scan your TL or better yet, search a hashtag or keyword and see if anything inspires you. Other people's lists are good too. And you can use your TL or list as a prompt ("Write something about the 14th tweet down")
#twitter4writers

2) Research - I'm always asking questions on Twitter and Facebook. There's always someone out there who knows, who has been there, or done that. You can also reach out to specific accounts of people who know your topic.
#twitter4writers

3) Focus Group - a variation of Research, you can use polls or ask questions and present scenarios to your readers and see how they respond.
#twitter4writers

4) Editing - I mentioned above about formatting your text into tweets. It's usually an improvement. Twitter forces you into tighter writing. Like Sudoku but instead of numbers it’s your own words and thoughts

Ed: This was more relevant with 140 - might omit this one - thoughts?

5) #amwriting This is an online community of writers who have a work in progress or want to commiserate with those who do. It's a great resource and support network.
#twitter4writers

6) Networking - Everyone is on twitter, and it's a very non-invasive way to reach out to people you don't know. Run searches and make lists of people in the publishing industry or anything else useful and monitor them for opportunities to interact.
#twitter4writers

7) Fangirling - Like networking except it's just for you. Most authors and recent publications have twitter accounts. As I said, @ing someone in twitter is non-threatening and sometimes you'll get a response. I've tweeted with some of my favorite authors.
#twitter4writers

8) Dry run - Sort of like I'm doing now. Sometimes I'll tweet all or part of essay before I publish it just to see how it goes over. Right now I'm drafting on the fly, but it's 9:45pm. If something's wrong, I can delete it
#twitter4writers

9) Give your “darlings” new life - If I delete a passage I love bc it doesn’t work (killing your darlings) sometimes I tweet it to see if it works on its own, so I can maybe use it somewhere else. Tweets don’t have to make sense.
#twitter4writers

10) Instant Gratification - Isn't this why we're all on Twitter rn instead of writing like we should be? Likes & RTs boost your confidence and keep you motivated. But limit yourself. Instead of monitoring your mentions, click the tweet and read the replies.
#twitter4writers

11) Improvement - Practice makes perfect. Twitter trains you to be a more concise writer. No really, this isn't like "video games increase your cognitive ability" it really does make your writing tighter and forces you to think about syntax
#twitter4writers

12) Lists - I've referred to these before. Run searches and make lists of publications, publishers, authors, useful topics - anything you might find useful, I'm sure someone is tweeting about it.
#twitter4writers

13) DM Groups - Reciprocity is the currency of Twitter. I'm in a ton of DM groups where we all RT each other's content. Reach out to people you interact with and see if they are interested. Expand your group as appropriate. Make a habit of RTing people who RT you
#twitter4writers

14) Marketing - Publications are always looking for people with a good mailing list or Twitter following to write for them. It gives them an instant audience, and their laziness is your opportunity.
#twitter4writers

15) Mailing List - A good TL will bring people to you, and Twitter is a great way to build your mailing list. It will make you attractive to publishers, and help you market your book or other work when the time comes.
#twitter4writers

16) Branding yourself - Whether professional or personal, you want an interesting, engaging TL that reflects your personality and your best efforts. Mix up your subject matter, tweet a variety of things you think will interest your followers.
#twitter4writers

17) #Storytime and #micropoetry hashtags - You've seen @owillis tweeting his novel. With this hashtag you'll find haiku, free verse, short stories and novels tweeted one at a time. I'm sure there are other tags too.
#twitter4writers

18) Patreon - I just signed up for this, and as the Berners gleefully point out, I haven't done anything with my own page, but I do like the idea of supporting other writers and I've enjoyed finding new people to follow
#twitter4writers

19) This is part of research and brainstorming - you can use Twitter to find character names, locations and settings, names of streets, names of business, towns, pretty much anything specific you need.
#twitter4writers