Explosive Growth on Twitter happens! I’m living proof that minuscule platforms can be transformed with just a few consistent steps of action and purpose. That’s right, being intentional with growing a platform will pay off big dividends in the long run. In less than two year’s time, I moved the needle from 53 followers to passing 6,000 today! Guess what that’s a 11220.75% increase! CRAZY right? I call that explosive growth!
Here are my top 3 tips!
#1 Post consistently
Do this. Please. Just be consistent. My numbers drop across all my platforms when I am not actively posting content. I get it. When there aren’t a lot of likes, comments, hearts, etc. it can feel like it doesn’t matter, but the reality is it absolutely does matter.
People see you, and what you post whether they comment or not. Post your own unique content, post other’s content that you like, re-post prior content.
I use a scheduling app to help me not spend too much time on socials, and I regularly go back to repost content. Especially when numbers are growing so quickly, you have to remember that you have new eyes that are not digging back through your timeline to see everything you have ever posted before. Reposting is a great opportunity to deliver great content to new eyes without any additional time spent creating.
#2 Learn to use hashtags effectively
Twitter is all about the hashtags. All hashtags are NOT created equal. Hashtags that work on other social sites will not always translate over to twitter very well and vice versa. Instagram hashtags are a different ballgame and it is not effective to use your letter count with hashtags that are better suited for a different platform.
Use the days of the week with your tags – #Mondaymotivation and #motivationmonday, #tuesdaythoughts, #Wednesdaywisdom for example.
Use what’s trending for hashtags – on any given day or any given time you’ll see that certain tags are trending. See if you can ride the wave because you have something to post that’s related to that hashtag!
Just recently I posted on #worldreadaloudday with a meme on reading. That tweet was retweeted 12 times to an audience of 187,000! You know it’s a great tweet when your scheduling app sends you an email congratulating you!
See what other hashtags people are using that post content similar to yours and then use those as well to promote your tweets.
#3 Track your results
Inspect what you Expect. The old adage is true! Accountability is important in goal setting. You can never demonstrate growth without tracking your results. I set goals monthly and yearly and I check my progress daily, making adjustments as necessary if I’m off the mark on any given week. Because I track my numbers diligently I sometimes find a strategy that is working for me and I then can capitalize on that success.
Just like the example above from #worldreadaloudday if I wasn’t constantly checking numbers but just posting, I wouldn’t know this and couldn’t use this information to help me in the marketing section of my proposal. I track daily because I’m a bit OCD and a perfectionist, but I love to look back at the way the numbers grow and then I really love it when I reach a goal before the deadline. It makes me work harder for the next one.
If you thought this content was helpful, please check out not only the Writers Chat recording where we discussed Twitter with other authors during the show but also my course on Serious Writer Academy for only $10 called Explode Your Growth on Twitter. It not only reviews these top 3 but gives you a top 5 and a BONUS because I just can’t stop talking!
I hope you’ll enjoy it. Let me know how your growth improves – I love to hear your stories. Message me at my website www.victoriaduerstock.com.
A MidSouth transplant from sunny Florida, Victoria Duerstock is living out her “one day” dreams. An avid reader from way back, she has a voracious appetite for all things bookish. She reads fiction and non-fiction alike but well-written fiction that makes her solve a mystery or an ending she didn’t anticipate really grabs her attention. She’s even been known to read a manual or two. Ok really, she reads all the manuals.
Victoria enjoys speaking and teaching and of course writing! She is excited to pursue publication of her novel Fractured, the first of three books in her clean read crime/suspense trilogy. She’s also busy exercising her non-fiction muscles as well and has been published in the following devotional anthologies
Let All Nature Sing, Worthy Publishing, 2016
Just Breathe, Worthy Publishing, 2017
Words to Cheer Your Heart, Worthy Publishing, publishing March, 2018
It’s a new year, and as writers, we have all set goals when it comes to writing. If you’re like me, you get very excited and proclaim to the world that you’re going to write one millllllion words in 2018 (said in your best Oprah voice)! We picture ourselves in some quaint rustic cabin overlooking a glistening landscape of snow, and there we are sitting by the fire eagerly typing away at a vintage typewriter. It’s a scene straight out of a movie and we look beautiful as the kind of writer everyone else longs to be.
Then we wake up.
Oh, we want to write like that but the reality of our life is instead of a cabin we have a messy house. The snow is actually a mirage for the mountains of laundry we still need to get done. And there’s absolutely no time to sit by a fire because the kids are screaming, our “real job” is asking for overtime, and our computer keeps crashing and causing us to say words that Jesus wouldn’t like.
The life of a writer is usually not at all what people think it is. With a new year already in full force, we have to carve out time to write or it simply won’t get done. It is very easy to keep putting off the blog post, the article, or that novel we know we need to write, but I want to remind you of something that is so easy to forget.
People need your words.
As writers, we have something to say and no one else can share our message or our story like we can. We have a voice and the beautiful thing about our craft is that we share that voice through the written word. As you are contemplating whether or not to start or to finish, there are people out in the world waiting to read your words. They don’t even know they need them yet but the world has a way of connecting readers with writers and making a real difference.
Writing helps us express a part of our life that needs to be fulfilled. It deepens our understanding of how our gifts work together to connect us all as humans. So yes, writing is about us but it’s also about them. Without your words, they might miss out on a chance to laugh which diffuses the stress of their day.
Your story might give someone the chance to escape from the day-to-day and immerse themselves in another world. Your words might change the way someone thinks about a particular issue or they might give someone the strength to believe that their life matters too.
Yes, your words have power and meaning and can make an eternal difference.
So if you need a little motivation to start, I’m here to give you the green light! If you’re overwhelmed and not sure if you should keep going, I’m here to cheer you on! I am standing up and screaming YES, write! You’re a writer and we need your words! Give yourself permission to get up early, to stay up late, or retreat to your room for a few minutes and write. Let 2018 be the year that you use this amazing gift that you have been given. There’s a world out there that needs it and we can’t wait to hear what you have to say.
Kevin Buchanan is a motivational writer and speaker and loves calling Nashville home. He is the author of The World Needs Your Hustle and encourages others to embrace the truth that their life matters and to believe in what is possible for their life. He is a lover of Target, Chick Fil A, and all things buffalo plaid. You can learn more about Kevin’s work and upcoming projects at kevinbuchanan.me
Time is the most precious commodity we have, mainly because we don’t have any idea how much of it we have.
There are many things I want to say about time-hacking, but we should start with one of the biggest time sucks ever.
The email inbox.
It pains me to share the numbers, but even after deleting almost 200 this morning, I stand at 14,575 emails in my mail program across seven email addresses with a shameful 5,610 of them unread.
To avoid missing emails from clients, friends, or important organizations, I’ve begun using the VIP feature in Mail. However, now almost everyone I know is in the VIP area and that list is getting longer and longer.
The quickest way I know to delete emails is to start at the top of my Mac Mail program and take the time to 1. Unsubscribe. 2. Search for all emails from that sender. 3. Delete. This time, I’m starting with my Gmail account and unsubscribing within the Gmail framework. While I listen to Frasier and work through today’s tasks.
However, in an effort to finally get this inbox under control (a goal I’ve had for many years), I’m on the search for tips and methods to master email once and for all.
How can you meet your favorite athletes and do what you love? Del Duduit has the best of both worlds as he pursues his passion for sports writing.
https://youtu.be/mE8ecR2TK6s
Del Duduit is a life-long resident of the Southern Ohio area and an award-winning writer with two Associated Press awards and the Ohio Prep Sports Writers Association. As a broadcaster and news director, he won an award from the Ohio News Network.
Del is a contributing writer for OneChristianVoice.com, Sohiovoice.com, and also a guest blogger for Almost an Author, and is published in The Sports Column as well as ToddStarnes.com.
In addition, Del writes for PM Magazine, a quarterly publication that highlights the positive aspects of Southern Ohio, where he lives with his wife Angie. They have raised two godly men who are both preachers, and Angie sings and plays piano at Rubyville Community Church.
Writing nonfiction carries a promise to the reader that not only extends to the book as a whole, but also within chapters, and to be nitty gritty, the sub-headings as well.
If you pick up a book called “Get Out of Debt in Six Months or Less,” you expect the author to share tips and strategies to do just that. Inside of Chapter One, titled “Sell Everything You Own and Live in a Van Down By the River,” the author is promising to share not only how to significantly reduce your possessions, but how to relocate to a waterside location.
If the author talks about reducing credit card debt in this chapter, a promise has been broken and subconsciously, the trust factor wanes.
Introducing the Boomerang Method
After you’ve written your first draft (remember, Stephen King says that first one is just for you) you get to play with the content. Move it around. Delete it. Add subheadings. Fill in gaps. And make sure that everything you’re talking about in the chapter relates back to the promise of the chapter.
It must boomerang.
The chapter title, subtitle, and opening lines throw out the promise…and the rest of the content strengthens and explains that promise by always relating it back. Boomerang!
As the author, you set the tone and parameters for your topic and your audience reads in good faith that you’re going to provide them value. One of the biggest mistakes we make as authors is trying to cram too much information into our articles, posts, or chapters. When we overdo, we aren’t digging deeper into the content, instead, we’re only scraping the surface like a rake across a zen garden.
This is easily understood when it comes to chapter content with clear boundaries. In my dating guide, the chapters on Red Flags, Kissing, and Modesty may have had a little bit of crossover, but not much. It was easy to know which stories went in each chapter and which tips and dating rules to include in each.
The trickier part was making sure that the subheadings were always appropriate within each chapter. Guidelines on how to navigate the engagement months didn’t boomerang to the promise given in the chapter called Confidence, and so on.
Self-Editing
This may seem like we’re focusing on extremely nit-picky details, but I believe this is one of the marks of great writing. The next time you’re editing your work, look at sections inside your chapters. Are you relating everything back to the specific topic at hand? Are you giving information without explaining to your reader why it needed to be in this specific chapter?
I’ll admit this is one of the hardest parts of self-editing for my own work, and it’s often the feedback I’m looking for with my first readers.
Every story matters.
Every word matters.
Grab your coffee, your water bottle, or whatever drink is closest to you and raise it with me. Here’s to great writing and high standards. Cheers.
Bethany Jett is the Co-Owner of Serious Writer, Inc., and Vice President of Platinum Literary Services where she specializes in marketing, nonfiction proposal creation, ghostwriting, and developmental editing. Her love for email funnels and social media led to her pursuing her Master of Fine Arts degree in Communication with an emphasis in marketing and public relations.
Bethany is a military spouse, momma-of-boys, suspense-novel junkie who describes herself as “mid-maintenance” and loves cute shoes and all things girly. She blogs at BethanyJett.com on living a brilliant life. Take the free 30-Day #LiveBrilliant Challenge and check out her “21 Trade Secrets and Best Practices” course over at SeriousWriterAcademy.com.
A MidSouth transplant from sunny Florida, Victoria Duerstock is living out her “one day” dreams. An avid reader from way back, she has a voracious appetite for all things bookish. She reads fiction and non-fiction alike but well-written fiction that makes her solve a mystery or an ending she didn’t anticipate really grabs her attention. She’s even been known to read a manual or two. Ok really, she reads all the manuals. 
