Twitter Me Timbers: A Beginner's Guide to Twitter

I'm busy working on my dissertation today. So please welcome guest columnist, Cat Hoort, who rocks at doing publicity well in her job as Marketing and Publicity Manager at Kregel.Twitter is gaining popularity. Morning news shows advertise their Twitter profile and cover the top trending topics of the previous day. Large corporations are moving their customer service programs to Twitter, making the typical 1-800 phone call a thing of the past. The Christian publishing industry has also joined millions of tweeters. But how do you start? Here are a few quick tips to help you plan your Twitter launch.
A good plan has a timeline:The key here is to choose a frequency you can maintain. If you want to post once a week, that’s great. If you want to post once a day, that’s great. Do whatever works for you. It can vary a little, but try not to post several times one week and then disappear for two weeks after—people will come to expect a tweet from you and might be confused or disappointed when they don’t see it. A good plan has a goal:Are you joining Twitter just for entertainment? Or do you plan to use it as a marketing tool? Do you want a certain number of followers? Before you begin, write out some concrete goals you want to achieve through your Twitter profile.
A good plan has content:What you post will vary greatly from person-to-person. I have two Twitter accounts; I tweet for my company through the Twitter profile @KregelBooks and I tweet with my friends and family as @CatHoort. The content is very different between the two.
I use the @KregelBooks account to provide links to new reviews of our books, to thank new followers for following us, to announce where our authors are appearing at conferences or events, to link to press releases for new book announcements, and to announce new blog tour openings. My personal account, on the other hand, tweets quotes from a book I’m reading, re-tweets someone I’m following, or simply shares excitement over a movie I plan to see or a concert I plan to attend.
One way to decide what content is right for you is to think about who you want to follow you. Will it be colleagues? Will it be clients? Will it be industry professionals? Or will it be family and friends? You’ll want to craft tweets that will appeal to your followers.
Think about ways to change the content, too. Vary your posts—retweet other messages, post pictures, link to articles or reviews, or write original posts. It doesn’t always have to be the same; offering some variety will keep your followers interested and add appeal.
A good plan as a method of evaluation:Take some time to look into the many Twitter tracking tools available online, such as HootSuite or TweetDeck. A good tracking system will show you the number of views your tweets get, the number of people who follow or unfollow you each week, and who mentions you in their posts. It will also let you follow a certain hashtag (#), the tool used to create a Twitter trend.
Download an evaluation program before you begin and make a plan to monitor the tracking program often so you can respond to increased (or decreased) activity, new followers, and shout outs.
If your Twitter plan has a timeline, goal, content, and method of evaluation, you’ll be well prepared to join the Twitter ranks. I bid you happy tweeting!