by Sherrie Wilkolaski
Day 2: Send out a Tweet on Twitter.
Yesterday we introduced you to Twitter and if that was your first visit, you set-up your account and followed us @InfinityBooks. Bravo for joining us in the social media challenge!
Today we’re going to send out what is called a “Tweet” on Twitter. A Tweet is a short message that is limited to140 characters. When you send out a Tweet it goes out to all of the people that are following you on Twitter and it will be posted on your Twitter page. To see the history of your tweets you can click the word tweets at the top of your Twitter page.
How do you send out a tweet?
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Log into your Twitter account. www.twitter.com
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Write your Tweet. Once you’re logged into your account you’ll see a box at the top of the page that says “Compose new Tweet”. Type in what you want to say. You are limited to 140 characters. There is a counter in the lower right hand corner of the box and that will be visible once you start typing. It will count the characters for you. If you go over the 140 limit, it will give you a negative number. You will need to revise your tweet to fit into that limit. You can also add an image to your Tweet, click on the camera image just under the box where you write in your Tweet.
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Send out your Tweet. When you’re happy with your Tweet, hit send and your Tweet will be sent out to your list of followers and be posted on your main Twitter page.
What should you tweet about?
Twitter is a great tool for building a network in your genre and for self-promotion and it takes about 30 seconds to make it happen. Use Twitter to send out messages about what you’re doing as a writer. Example tweet: “Working on my next book Midnight Rain, check out a free chapter on my site. Let me know what you think of Detective Smith.” http://www.yourwebsite.com
Be sure to include a link back to your website, this will help drive traffic back to your site and this is what you want. Keep your Tweets fun and use them to drive interest.
The Retweet.
A great way to send out a Tweet in less than 5 seconds is to do what is called a retweet. 
You won’t have to write a thing. If you like what someone else is Tweeting you can resend that message out to your followers. You can do this directly from your Twitter account or go to another Twitter users account and find a Tweet you like. Another way to find content to retweet is while you’re surfing the web. You’ll notice that there are social media buttons virtually everywhere. If you see a Twitter button on a blog for example, you should click on it and a box will pop-up and it will automatically create the Tweet for you, so that you can send out a link to an article or that webpage, directly to your followers. It is that simple.
Why is Twitter such a valuable tool for authors?
It’s a quick way to send out reach other writers in your genre, connect with publishing professionals and readers. It’s a wonderful tool to drive visitors to your blog, website, articles that you’ve written on other websites or to other content that you think is interesting.
Let’s say you’ve written a blog and want to send out a tweet to announce it events, send out short blurbs about a book you’re working on, an article that you’re writing
Keep your tweets professional.
How often should you Tweet?
Tweet twice daily and if you don’t have anything to say, then sent out a retweet. Early morning and around 4pm in the afternoons are good times of the day, but Tweet at times that work for you.
Today’s social media challenge task of the day.
1. Write up a tweet to send it out to your followers. You must promote your book. Example tweet: Midnight Rain is a real page turner, check it out at my website www.yourwebsite.com.
2. Once you’ve sent out your Tweet, copy and paste your Tweet in the comments section of this blog post and be sure to list your Twitter name or a link to your Twitter page, it is up to you.
Infinity Publishing’s gift to you. We’ll retweet your message to our followers and you’ll have the added exposure on the site.
Click here for challenge #3 Facebook!
