From Blog to Book

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Posted on April 17, 2013 by Nicky Kriel

Photograph by Dani Maimone

Some people say writing a book is easy. Some people say you can write a book in a weekend. Having gone through the process, I am not sure I would call it easy.

Yes, I am sure you can produce enough words in a short time when you put your mind to it, but, ultimately, you want to write a book that’s worth reading.

I was lucky that when I started writing “How to Twitter for Business Success” because I wasn’t starting from scratch and I already had a publisher. I had a couple of years of blogging content about Twitter to get me started. I am pleased that I chose to produce a book even with a few labour pains!.

Here are some of the stages of the birthing process that I went through:

Collating all my written material
Editing what I had already written. It is amazing how much information was out of date and how many typos and grammatical errors I found looking at my writing with fresh eyes.
Writing content
Trying to put myself in my reader’s shoes and working out what was missing and still need to be written.
Writing
Structuring the book so that it had a natural flow.
Writing some more.

And then just when you think you are done…

.. there’s editing and proofreading!!

Let alone, the technical side such as formatting, typesetting and the cover design.

At each stage you have to proofread all over again!

This stage is far more mechanical than the creative writing phase. I am very grateful to have a publisher (The Other Publishing Company) so I didn’t have to learn to do the technical side, otherwise, I would still be trying to figure it all out.

Nicky Kriel with publisher Mike Cameron – The Other Publishing Company. Photograph by Dani Maimone

Finally, the book was born.

I was surprised how exciting it was to have a real book to hold. I still find myself stroking the front cover!

Now that I have a physical book and an electronic version in numerous different formats I am entering a new phase.

I didn’t produce the book simply to be able to say that I am a published author, I actually want people to read my book. Okay, I know it sound obvious, but I don’t want people to read the book just because they are my friends. I want people to read this book because it is useful for their business.

I am very aware that my baby needs a lot of support before it will be able to stand on its own feet. So now I am going on yet another learning curve: Marketing the book

Nicky Kriel and Dee Blick at How to Twitter Book Launch. Photograph by Dani Maimone

I am so pleased that Dee Blick (who wrote my foreword and is a best selling author) encouraged me to have a book launch event. It was lovely marking the occasion. I will never have a first book again. It was wonderful being surrounded by supportive friends and I felt like a celebrity signing books.

Here’s a great video of the Book Launch event by London Corporate Media.

It has been very exciting so far. If you are reading this and you are either planning to buy the book or have read it already, please can you do any of the following:

Tweet to me @NickyKriel to tell me about it.
Share a photograph of you with the book (I would love that!)
Let me know a bit about you and your business and whereabouts you live
Write a Review

I’ve already had a phone call from someone in Johannesburg,South Africa who had just bought my book and a offer of photograph of my book in Phoenix, Arizona. I am also waiting for a photograph from Cornwall, England. I would love to hear from you.

How to Twitter for Business Success is available on Amazon throughout the world and Barnes & Noble:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Barnes & Noble

Nicky Kriel

Nicky Kriel is a Social Media Coach & Trainer inspiring, educating and empowering Business Owners to use Social Media more strategically. She is also the author of How to Twitter for Business Success. For more information visit http://www.nickykriel.com or to find out about her courses that she runs in Guildford visit http://www.nickykriel.com/courses

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How to Twitter book is available now!

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Posted on March 22, 2013 by Nicky Kriel

Have you been thinking about using Twitter for your business? Or are you using Twitter but you’re not too sure if you’re making the most of it?

I have eventually written down (in one place) my knowledge gained from:

Using Twitter to grow my own business
Working with business owners face-to-face and online
Running Webinars
Training public and bespoke courses
Blogging about Twitter
Answering countless questions via Social Media and comments left on my posts
Working with a wide range of businesses from solopreneurs to multinational companies

This book will inspire you to get going and show you how to use Twitter confidently.

How to Twitter for Business Success is aimed at both complete newbies and the more experienced Tweeter wanting to take their knowledge a lot further.

How to Twitter for Business Success will help you:

See how Twitter is a very effective and powerful marketing tool for your business
Explain Twitter jargon in plain English
Give you tons of tips to get you started
Show you how it all works
Show you what to tweet
Help you find followers
Help you manage your time on Twitter

How to Twitter for Business Success will be available from the 5th April. I will up date this post when the book goes on sale. Let me know when you get a copy, I would love your comments.

UPDATE

Both the paperback and kindle version are now available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

How to Twitter for Business Success on Amazon.com

How to Twitter for Business Success on Amazon.co.uk

I have had a few lovely reviews so far and I would appreciate an Amazon Review if you have read the book. Thank you.

Nicky Kriel

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Who can see your tweets on Twitter

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Nicky Kriel

Have you wondered who can see your updates on Twitter? If you aren’t getting any response when you tweet it might feel that nobody can see them, but don’t get lulled into a false sense of security and forget that your tweets are public.

Here’s a guide to how visible you are on Twitter.

Assume that whatever you post on Twitter is public and is visible to anyone.

Each Tweet has a separate URL and so in effect acts as mini website and can be found on Google.

There are a few exceptions

Protected Tweets:

If you protect your account only the followers that you have approved of will see your Tweets. As a business, you would be shooting yourself in the foot by protecting your account. Protecting your account does not entitle you to say inflammatory comments. You are still publishing your tweets and a judge can order the publication of your Tweets.

Direct Messages

These are private in the same way as emails are considered private between two parties. Twitter accounts are vulnerable to being hacked if you have a weak password, so make sure that you have a strong password on your account.

@username

A tweet starting with “@” will only be seen in the news feed by the person mentioned and anyone following both parties. The tweet can be found by other people if they are searching for one of the names. It is still public, but not very visible.

If you want a Tweet to be visible, by leaving a single character before the “@” it becomes visible to everyone who is following you.
So if you are praising someone, put their Twitter username in the middle of your Tweet rather than at the start.
If you receive a nice comment and the Tweet starts with “@”, by retweeting it, it will become visible to your followers as that person’s Tweet. Alternatively, if you reply to it, with a RT at the front and a comment at the end it will go out as your Tweet, but your followers will see the original words of the first Tweet.

Blocked People

Tweets are public and even if you have blocked someone they can still search for your Tweets. Blocking them will do the following:

They will be unable to follow you, so your Tweets and your profile picture will not appear in their News Feed.
Their Tweets using your Twitter username will not appear in your @Connect tab, so they will not be able to make contact with you on Twitter.
They cannot add you to one of their lists.

You don’t get notified if you have been blocked, but you can’t follow a particular account it might be because they have blocked you.

Just remember that although most of your Tweets can be seen by everyone, it doesn’t mean they will be seen.

The chances are that only some of your followers will be paying attention to your Tweets some of the time.

If you want some tips to make your Tweets more effective, read this:

Do you want to get noticed on Twitter?

Nicky Kriel

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Do you back up your Social Media accounts?

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Posted on January 20, 2013 by Nicky Kriel

Have you ever thought about what would happen if Facebook shut down to all your photographic memories? Or what you would do if your LinkedIn account was suspended and you couldn’t access your contacts? Or imagine if someone hacked into your Twitter account and they changed the password and username overnight? Could you prove that it was your account? So, have you ever thought of backing up your Social Media accounts?

If you are using Social Media for marketing your business, you need to consider backing up your Social Media data. The benefits are:

You can keep a record of all your updates and Tweets
You have a record of your connections, friends, likes and followers
Makes conversations easier to find
You can review your past activities
Your memories are yours to keep especially your photographs

Now, when I first looked into backing up my Social Media accounts, it sounded incredibly complicated. You had to do a separate thing for each account and it relied on me remembering to manually back up each account from time to time. I tend to be a bit useless at manually backing up anything. [Note to self: Must remember to back up my mobile telephone numbers!] It’s always something that I feel that I should do, but avoid doing because ….

….it’s not that exciting and I can think of thousands of things to do instead.

I have since found a far easier solution. I have been using SocialSafe for a while now and it automatically backs up

my Facebook profile,
my Social Media for Newbies Facebook Page,
my Twitter account,
my LinkedIn account and
my Google+ account

Each day without me doing anything other than switch the computer on.

I love the ease of use, their help desk is very friendly and it is very affordable. If you are considering backing up your Social Media accounts, you can do if for free by manually backing up each site or using a series of tools, but I thought it would be silly not to tell you about SocialSafe if you are like me and don’t want to think about it.

I don’t spend much time referring back to my past but I have found it reassuring knowing that it is all there.

Some things that I have use it for

Checking DMs, Twitter has an annoying habit of only showing the last 20 DMs and I often receive contact information from clients via DM
Checking conversations with a particular person. It will show all the conversations across different Social Media platforms.
Finding testimonials

They have a 60 day free trial so you really have nothing to lose if you want to try it out for yourself.

I would love to hear your thoughts about backing up your Social Media. Have you thought of doing it? Or are you already backing up your accounts?

Nicky Kriel

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Why you lose followers on Twitter

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Posted on January 12, 2013 by Nicky Kriel

Have you been wondering why your number of followers drop? Do you take it personally when people unfollow you? While it may be something you are doing, there is a good chance that you will get a certain number of unfollows every week, no matter what you do. It is time to stop worrying about fluctuations in your follower count. But, first check that you are not being antisocial on Twitter.

Is it something you did?

Swearing
Constantly selling (nobody likes being spammed)
Only tweeting stuff from your website and about your business
automated DMs (I know quite a few people who will unfollow anyone who send them a “Thank you for following me, now….with a call to action”)
Constantly retweeting other people’s tweets and adding none of your own content
Tweeting too often – if someone is only following a few people you might be filling up their Tweet stream
Not Tweeting at all (it is unlikely that Tweeting only a few times a month is going to get you unfollowed, but if you haven’t Tweeted for a few months, your account will be marked as inactive if people are using tools to manage their followers).

These are all things you can change.

Is it something your follower didn’t like?

they find you boring
they find you annoying
they were upset by something you said
they only followed you for a particular reason which has changed
you didn’t follow them back

It is worth having an objective look at your last ten Tweets and seeing how other people might see you. Is there anything you would change? You are not going to appeal to everyone, it is not the end of the world.

Is it automated behaviour?

Some accounts are automated to follow people and then when they get a follow back, they unfollow because they are collecting followers
Some people use a tool which automatically unfollows people who don’t follow back
Some people might be doing some housekeeping on their accounts using a tool and it is nothing personal

It’s not personal.

Is it Twitter?

Twitter will cleanse accounts that are breaking their terms of service such as spammers or bots (programs that automatically follow and unfollow other accounts) and some of those accounts may have been following you.

You didn’t want those followers anyway.

Now it’s your turn: Leave a comment and let us know one thing that makes you unfollow people on Twitter.

Nicky Kriel

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How NOT to get followers on Twitter

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Posted on January 6, 2013 by Nicky Kriel

Are you putting off people from following you?

Do you need to some housekeeping on your Twitter account?

Check that you are not doing any of the following:

Protecting your tweets

If you are using Twitter to promote your business, you do NOT want to protect your Tweets. The benefit of using Twitter is that people who don’t know about you already can find you. If you protect your tweets only the people who you choose will be able to see your Tweets. You have to approve each follow request manually. Protected tweets can’t be Retweeted or found in Twitter or Google search. You can’t also @reply people you haven’t approved because they will not see your Tweets and you can’t share a link to your Tweets.

How to check if you have protected your tweets

Your account will have locked symbol next to your account. If you go to your settings page, check your options for your account to make sure you haven’t ticked the Tweet Privacy box.

Twitter validation

Some people use a Twitter validation service like TrueTwit to verify that their followers are real. It means instead of simply clicking a button to follow someone you get a DM (Direct Message) to say that you need to validate your account.

It may seem like a good idea to ask followers to prove they are human by filling in a Captcha form, but here are some reasons NOT to do it.

Every obstacle you put in front of potential customers stops people from going to the next step
Most people who ask me to validate won’t get followed. I hate Captcha forms, why do I need to waste my time just so that I can see their tweets in my news feed? I am sure that I am not the only one.
It is easy enough for a spammer to set up a TrueTwit account once which means that they don’t have to fill in Captcha forms for any other person they follow.
It confuses people especially people new to Twitter, so they will probably not follow you.

Inactive Account

Many businesses think they have a Twitter account because their web guy set one up for them, they have a link to it from their website and wonder why nobody is following them. Small businesses fall into the trap because they don’t understand that Twitter involves communicating and being active on Twitter. I would suggest that if you have an inactive account for your business that it might be better not to have one. It doesn’t reflect well on your business having a dusty Twitter account and it is unlikely that anyone will follow it.

Incomplete Account or badly filled in bio

Would you follow an Egg with no bio filled in? Thought not. Make sure your bio show a true reflection of who you are and that you are not putting your customers off. Read Twitter tip: Is your Twitter bio attracting customers?

Every tweet has a link

Most people don’t like being sold to and a Twitter account with only links suggests automation and an account that is merely broadcasting rather than willing to communicate with people. If you are inactive on Twitter, but have set up:

your Facebook Business Page to automatically tweet every Facebook post or
your Blog to automatically post or retweet old posts
your YouTube account to broadcast all your activities or
every check in on Foursquare is tweeted or
all your Tweets to be prescheduled

there is a good chance that you are putting potential followers off.

Not following anyone or only following a few people

This behaviour suggests arrogance to a lot of Twitter people, they think that you expect people to find your tweets interesting but you are not willing to find people to follow people. If you are wondering why no one is following you, but you haven’t followed anyone for a while then I suggest you look for people to follow now.

Tip: The quickest way to get followers is to follow interesting people first.

Following too many people

If you’re following a large number of people but not many people are following you back it suggests spammy activity. If you are in this situation, spend some time engaging with people you are already following. It is also useful to use a tool like ManageFlitter to help you unfollow some accounts you might have followed too eagerly when you started out on Twitter.

Generally it is better to have more people following you than people you follow, it suggests that you have more influence, but when you are starting out you will have a higher follow to follower ratio. Twitter allows you to follow 2000 people before it imposes a 10% follow to follower ratio. Read Have you followed 2000 people on Twitter and can’t follow any more? for more details.

If you follow a large number of people and have a large number of followers, there is a chance your potential followers might feel that you won’t be interested in engaging with them.

Not telling people about your Twitter account

Have you added your:

Twitter account to your website or blog?

email signature?

business card?

LinkedIn Account?

Newsletter?

Leaflets?

Have you told your customers that you have a Twitter account?

It is surprising how many people keep their Twitter account a secret!

You can’t make people follow you but you can give people a great reason to follow you by having a friendly picture, interesting bio and engaging Tweets.

Let me know what behaviour stops you from following on Twitter in the comments below, thank you.

Nicky Kriel

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How to make blog posts easy to Retweet

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Posted on January 5, 2013 by Nicky Kriel

Have you gone to the trouble of writing content for your blog and you are active on Twitter, but nobody seems to be retweeting your blog posts on Twitter?

There may be a number of reasons for it, but have you consider this:

You might be unwittingly saboutaging your blog.

Here are simple things to check and tips to make your blog posts easier to Retweet.

1. Make it obvious that you want them to share your content on Twitter

Have a twitter button

or two and….

….have these in prominent position.

It may sound blatantly obvious, but do you know how many blog posts I have been on that don’t have them? Or have tiny ones hidden away? If I have to spend ages searching for a Twitter button to share your content, guess what? Unless you are an exceptional nice person and I really like you, I am just not going to bother! Very few people will go to the bother of copying the URL, going to Twitter, rewriting your headline, pasting your URL and then posting it. Have you missed out because people didn’t know how to share your content? Or that you want them to share it?

Action: Make sure you have a Twitter button on each blog post

Twitter creates buttons for you providing you with the HTML code for your website, you can find them here: Twitter Buttons

If you have a WordPress blog it is very easy to add a plugin such as Sexy Bookmarks and Social Share which allow you to share across a variety of Social Media sites or single buttons like WP Tweet Button

And don’t forget that you can ask people to share your content at the end of your blog post.

2. Have a Headline that attracts the right people

If your headline was your only clue, would you know what your blog post was about? Think of your headline as your sales pitch to get people to read your blog. If your headline doesn’t attract interest, you are not going to get readers popping over, even if your blog post is worthy of the Booker Prize. Your potential readers will see your headline with a link, if they were looking for the content you have written, would they know to click on the link from Twitter?

Are you giving your headline enough thought?

3. Headline length

If you have a very long headline, it doesn’t allow much room for adding a comment or retweeting it. On Twitter you have a 140 characters space, but ideally you should never use more than 120 characters if you want to get retweeted. Your link should take up about 20 characters which leaves you 100 characters. Take off another 20 (depending on the length of your Twitter name to add something like “via @NickyKriel” which leaves your 80 characters and that is without adding your own comment or call to action. Do you see where I’m going with this?

Keep your Headlines long enough to get your message across, but short enough to be shared.

4. Check your Twitter buttons

So many times I have gone to retweet someone’s post and the Twitter box has more than 140 characters, or only includes a link so I have to edit the box for them. Common mistakes seem to be:

The link isn’t shortened
The title is not included
The blog title is included as well as the post title
It adds the name of the plugin into the tweet eg “via Shareaholic” Do you really want precious space used advertising someone else?
There is no Twitter username for the author

Sometimes the setting for the button will have change after you originally set it up because it has been updated with a new version of the plugin or perhaps you didn’t know how to configure it correctly in the first place.

Here how to change it.

If you use WordPress for your blog, the configuration settings for the button could be in three different places depending on the plugin.

Under Plugins
Under Settings
In a category of their own below Settings

Look for the Twitter options for Configuration. Below is an example of my configuration for Shareaholic’s Sexy Bookmarks. Do not panic if you don’t know HTML, they should give you examples of what it should look like.

Make sure that it contains your title and a short link as well as your Twitter name. You want to see if people have retweeted your post so that you can thank them and engage with them. If you don’t have your Twitter name, the only way you would know who has retweeted the post is by doing a search on Twitter by your post title or your blog name.

Try sharing your post using your Twitter button and see how it looks to your readers.

For some reason the URL Shortener that I had chosen wasn’t working on mine so I changed it. It is always worth checking!

5. Make sure your content is worth sharing

There are a lot of poorly written, rambling and egocentric blogs out there. Make sure you are not one of them!

Continuously look at ways of improving your writing skills and find the content that your audience is interested in reading. My blog posts have improved over time through practising, I get more readers each month and I get business from my blog and that has only come with a more focused approach.

My top tip: Write for your reader as though they are in front of you and hearing your words.

For more tips on how to get Retweeted, read Twitter: 5 Ways to get you Retweeted

Do you have any more tips for making blog posts easy to Retweet? It would be lovely if you share them in the comments below. And don’t forget to retweet this blog post if you found it useful

Nicky Kriel

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Twitter Newbie Tip: How to change your notifications on Twitter

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Nicky Kriel

Is your email box getting filled up with messages from Twitter? Are you are getting annoyed about being notified about yet another follower on Twitter? Well, there is a very easy way to change email notifications on Twitter so that you only get the notifications that are useful to you.

1. Choose Settings (from the cog symbol on the bar on the top)

2. Choose Email Notifications

3. Tick the boxes you want

Tips for which notifications you want to receive

If you are brand new to Twitter you will probably want to notified when people start following you. It is exciting at first, but as soon as the novelty wears off, switch off the notification.
If you are using Twitter on a daily basis, you will see who has followed you, favorited your tweet and replied to you from the @Connect section of Twitter. I have these unchecked because my email box is full enough!
If you like responding immediately when people chat to you on Twitter, keep “My Tweets get a reply or I am mentioned” ticked.
Twitter is not very good about indicating when you have a direct message (or private message) so I find it helpful to get email notifications when I receive a message. There is a lot of spam in direct messages, but I have found this function useful. You would be amazed how much business starts with a direct message.
Your life will not fall apart if you don’t get any Twitter news via email. I am in the Social Media business so it is useful for me to know some updates.

Don’t let your Twitter email notifications annoy you, just change them to suit you. Let me know if you found this post useful by leaving a comment, thank you.

Nicky Kriel

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Twitter tip: Is your Twitter Bio attracting customers?

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Nicky Kriel

When you set up your Twitter Profile, how much thought did you put into your bio? Maybe you filled in a few words and thought you would come back to it later? When was the last time you looked at what your Twitter profile says about you and your business?

Here’s why you need to put a bit of thought when you write your Twitter bio:

Your Twitter bio is Searchable

Did you know that your bio appears in Google searches? Search Engines will search for keywords within your bio. How many of your keywords (or keyword phrases) for your business are in your bio at the moment?

People search on Twitter

People use keywords when they are looking for people to follow on Twitter. Twitter will suggest tweets and people that are relevant to the search. Are you likely to found in Twitter for your keywords?

Remember: Use words that people are likely to use when they are searching for your service or product rather than industry jargon.

Twitter suggests people to follow

Twitter recommends people to followed based not only on who you follow and are following, but also by the words used in your bio. How will Twitter know unless you use the right words.

Your bio may be stopping people from following you

Unless you are a celebrity or a household name, people will not follow people without a bio. You need to give people a reason to follow you and what you say in your bio will make the difference whether people follow you back or not.

Here’s some other things that may be stopping people

You don’t give enough information about who you are and what you do:- Don’t make make people guess that you are worth following.
Your bio is a sales pitch:- Most people do not like being sold at. They may think that you are going to spam them.
Your bio is very kittens and rainbows:- Okay, if you are just tweeting for fun, it is alright. But, if you are using Twitter to grow your business, you need to tell people about your business and what you will be tweeting about.
Your bio lacks any personality:- people want to feel that they are talking to a real life person, not a company logo.
Your bio is full of corporate mumbo jumbo:- Have you ever been at a networking meeting and heard someone deliver their sixty second pitch and still been in the dark when they sat down? Avoid language that appears to be generated by a committee. Speak in the language your customer uses.
Spelling mistakes – you may not feel it’s important, but it may be putting off your potential customers.

Your Twitter bio should encourage the right people to follow you and also include your keywords.

What type of bio encourages you to follow someone on Twitter?

Nicky Kriel

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