Community 2.0
How can publishers use Twitter?
J. S. McDougall of the Huffington Post recently wrote a list of how book publishers can best use Twitter. The tips are publishing specific, but how can you twist them to best fit your industry?
1. [Tweet this tip!] Sign up for Twitter then cruise through WeFollow.com,TwitDir.com and the new Twitter Lists to find and follow folks in your niche.2. [Tweet this tip!] Create several Twitter accounts based on the niches in which you publish.3. [Tweet this tip!] Avoid the temptation to automate. It is important that you are on Twitter to respond to the community.4. [Tweet this tip!] Sell books by adding substantive information from your books and authors to the conversation. No hard sales pitches, please.5. [Tweet this tip!] Have fun. Invent new ... ways to engage your Twitter community--contests, polls, jokes, raffles, giveaways, etc.6. [Tweet this tip!] Twitter accounts dedicated to a single book are hard to build and sustain. Stick with the larger niche.7. [Tweet this tip!] If you are one of a few people running a single Twitter account, be open about it by signing your name ala: -Jesse8. [Tweet this tip!] Create and use hashtags to start and follow conversations in your niche.9. [Tweet this tip!] Join appropriate Twitter groups (twittgroups.com) and have honest interactions with the folks there.10. [Tweet this tip!] Use tools to track your Twitter success: ChartBeat,HootSuite, Google Analytics.
Social Media Strategies and Community 2.0 has a panel called How Can I Unlock the Business Value of Twitter to Innovate, Interact, Inform?" which pulls from businesses currently using Twitter such as Sega, Planet Hollywood, Southwest, The Travel Channel and Whole Foods. For more on this panel, and the conference, download the brochure here.