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5 Strategies For Writing Better Tweets

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5 Strategies For Writing Better Tweets

You know Twitter is important and that you can build an active and engaged audience with simple tweets, but you may not know how to get started.

The blank tweet can be unnerving.  The non-replied to tweet disheartening. I’ve been there. That’s why I’ve decided to share my own personal experiences and strategies for writing better tweets.

These are insights I’ve gleaned over time using Twitter. Insights and strategies based on what I’ve seen work for myself, and work for countless others on Twitter. Write more tweets, increase your impressions, gain followers, and expand your growth using these 5 strategies.

write better tweets
Write Better Tweets

So, Why Listen To Me?

I will start by saying I am not a giant Twitter Account… yet. I consistently grow my Twitter account on my own, when I have the time to do so. That’s one thing I love about my 5 strategies for writing better tweets – you don’t have to dedicate huge blocks of time every day to see substantial growth.

I’ve made a lot of progress on Twitter the past few months.

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Every day, when I get a few minutes free, I simply write a quick tweet , or queue-up pre-written tweets, and make sure to engage with any replies from prior tweets. And I make sure to do this just about every single day. Why everyday? Because it’s all about the “long game” for Twitter growth.

Twitter wants to see consistent and interactive content from its users. The more people see and interactive with your tweets, the more you have the potential to grow. The more unique content, not just re-tweets, the more opportunities you have to engage with other Twitter uses. The more you can grow.

Tweeting everyday may seem like a lot, but once you learn my 5 strategies for writing better tweets, it’ll seem intuitive and an easy goal to accomplish every day. A goal that can pay dividends in the long run.

Writing Better Tweets

The 5 strategies for growing your Twitter account basically boil down to execution. In other words, what you’re actually writing in your tweets. If you know the emotional angle of your tweet, you’ll be able to connect with your audience in meaningful ways. Emotion combined with genuineness goes a long way.

Writing Better Tweets – Educate

One of the best ways to interact with people on Twitter is to share something educational. 

  • Teach From Internal Knowledge – This is something you already know and can expound upon easily.  Keep your tweet and tweet threads short, but you can add value in replies and future re-tweets of your own tweets, as applicable.
  • Link To Outside Knowledge – Similar to above, except someone else is the expert in what you’re talking about.  Or, they can say it better than you. This can be a blog link, a YouTube video, or anything linkable. Writing better tweets can often come down to sharing relevant information, adding a few words of your own as you tweet the link. 
  • Share A Relevant Tweet – One of the most common experiences on Twitter is the Retweet. It can be something you wrote previously, or something someone else tweeted. Retweets can be simple shares of interesting things, or targeted value added to your feed, or in someone else’s thread.
  • Add Value – Always add value, that’s the short and sweet of it. Writing better tweets always comes down to adding value for your followers, or to the people who read other’s tweets if you reply to someone else. When in doubt, add value. 

Writing Better Tweets – Entertain

I have to admit, I am not a natural entertainer. You know the type, that can make a room laugh, cheer, cry.  But I am a people person, and that kind of friendliness comes across in genuine texts.

One way to write better tweets is to entertain your followers.

  •  Be Funny Or Witty – A joke, unique or well-work said with a little irony and wink. A funny reply (make sure you know how the person may react, and use a smiling emoji.) A pun. People love puns. Have fun with your tweets (but always keep in mind your overall purpose on Twitter.) 
  • Reference A Song, Or Movie, Or Something Big In The Culture – Not only are pop-culture references a good way to write better tweets by relating to people, but you can also tap into “trending” topics by discussing what’s hot in the moment, whether in your specific niches, or in general on Twitter. 
  • If You Have A Particular Set of Skills, Share Them – If you can sing or rap, share your talents with others. (Warning: you may or may not come across as corny, if you do, own it! People love a little self-deprecating humor.) Whether you write or paint, are a comedian or woodworker – find a way to talk about your talents and SHOW them off as well, but always in a relatable way. (This can also come across in sharing interests and hobbies, which we’ll talk about below in Encourage.)
  • In Short, Make Your Follower Happy – If you can make them smile, engage with them, make them feel good, they’re more likely to follow you, come back for me, and check out what you’re all about. All good things. 

Writing Better Tweets – Encourage

Twitter is becoming more and more personal for some people as time goes by, and this can be a good thing for your growth.  You don’t need to treat your Twitter feed as a chat room, but it is good to connect with your followers in a way that doesn’t seem disingenuous, corporate-y, or fake. Whether you’re interacting with a long time, active follower, or a complete Twitter stranger, you can always encourage someone to believe in themselves, or share your own experiences as examples , or even a simple encouraging Flame emoji or Bicep Flex emoji when someone you follow shares something personally encouraging.

I definitely love Encouragement. I truly love making a difference in people’s lives, and that’s why I encourage you to encourage others when you write better tweets.

  • Congratulate People On A Job Well Done – Always reply to tweets when you see someone talking about a goal met (or made), any kind of accomplishment, or even any kind of positive story. Hearts (likes) and replies can make someone’s day.
  •  Share A Personal Story Where You Overcame Obstacles – Share what you’ve been through. For instance, I shared my weight loss journey and accomplishments and it got a lot of reaction. People want to see your human side, and they want and need encouragement. If you can do it, so can they.
  • Share Inspirational Quotes, Images, Memes – Whether you have a ton of personal accomplishments to share or feel that you don’t have any, share other’s stories. (If it’s a rather personal story told on Twitter, you may want to tweet or Direct Message the person to ask first.)  You can share any public inspirational stories. You can share encouraging or inspiring images, gifs, memes, links, etc. Share what you find meaningful.
  • In Short, Inspire and Encourage! – We want to inspire people. We want to lift people up. 

Writing Better Tweets – Endorse

Endorsements are powerful. Scroll through Twitter long enough and you’ll see endorsements everywhere. I don’t mean corporate advertisements, I mean people endorsing each other, whether it’s small companies or brands, celebrities, or “blue checkmarks”, or two regular people endorsing friends or acquaintances, it is a powerful thing. 

One rock solid tip for writing better tweets is to endorse someone. Not only is it kind and often reciprocal, but it also tickles the ol’ ego. People love hearing that something they’ve said, done, created has impacted others. An endorsement of someone else and/or their work/action is one of the most impactful things one can do with Twitter.

  • Mention Someone And Share How They Helped – For instance, let’s say you just finished a book that really impacted you. You can tweet (or make a tweet thread) about how the book has truly made a difference for you. It’s up to you whether you tag or hash-tag the author, or just the book title. Be specific with your tweet, mention how when they said X, you reacted with Y, and what it meant to you. They will like hearing specifics, and it increases the likelihood of interactions.

You can apply the same to a creator of any kind of materials, art, business principles, or even just someone who tweeted something really good. Whether endorsing a work, a tweet, or a person, be specific. This will greatly increase a chance of a response, and retweets. Retweets are highly valuable, and can increase your reach and response exponentially. 

  • Share Your Work/Idea And Who Inspired It – This can be a great way to write better tweets. If you have a work, goal, or idea that was inspired by someone else, and they are on twitter, talk about it and tag (and/or hashtag) them in your tweet. For instance, if a John Doe quote inspired you come with Example A, write a tweet about it and tag John. Whether John is a professional, or a random Twitter user, he will likely appreciate the inspiration and interact with you. This benefits both of you as far as growth and interaction is concerned.  
  • Create Tweet Threads With What You Learned – Whether a summary of a book or concept you recently consumed, or a collection of ideas or themes, this can be a great way to grow your Twitter presence and practice writing better tweets.  For example, you may have some favorite quotes by certain authors. Make a Top Ten list of these quotes in a tweet thread, and tag the authors mentioned (you can hashtag the author name if they are not on Twitter). This is a great way to not only interact with those authors, but with fans of those authors as well. It’s a good way to introduce one set of fans of one author to another author, and even get a few new followers yourself as well! (Another example is – Top Ten quotes by the same author, this increases the likelihood of that particular author interacting with you.) 
  • In Short, Let Others Know How They’ve Helped You – Appreciate and celebrate others who have helped or inspired (or even amused) you. Not only does this build relatability and community, but it can give everyone involved street-cred and appreciation, especially the person you are endorsing. 

Writing Better Tweets – Engage

Engagement is the word used to describe how people interact on Twitter. The better your tweet, the better your engagement. Twitter growth is all about the number of impressions your tweet gets based on engagement. 

I believe Engagement to be arguably the best way to write better tweets and grow your Twitter audience. This is how to get real, true, good quality conversations with people who want to interact with you. Be you, and be true to the goals you have for your Twitter account, business, or project. 

  • Ask A Thought Provoking Question – Ask questions people will want to respond to, whether that’s something someone on your Twitter feed said, or something random you’ve thought of, or something tied into your business or project. As something interesting, and ask why people believe it. Ask questions that keep the convo going.
  • Bring Up A Counter-Point To Another Tweet – If someone tweets something interesting, you can always reply with the opposite, or an alternative point. Don’t be negative or the devil’s advocate (unless you have rapport with the person,) but simply say something like, “Have you considered X?” or “Interesting, but what about Y?” Hone in on a counterpoint, and it’s a great way to get the original poster (and others) to reply.
  • Get Involved In An Ongoing Discussion – If there’s an ongoing Twitter discussion happening, jump in and engage. Twitter is all about engagement and impressions.  It’s all about how many times people see your name pop up in niches and hashtags they frequent.
  • In Short, Join The Conversation – When in doubt, Tweet. The best way to grow your Twitter account by writing better tweets is to – write more tweets.  Be a part of the conversation in your niches, amongst your followers, and amongst relevant or hot trending hashtags and topics. Jump in, join, add value, and reply to others. The more you do this, the better you’ll get at it, and the less time it will take. 

Writing Better Tweets BONUS – Enrage

“Don’t Feed The Trolls!”

  • While tweeting “Enrage” type tweets can grow your Twitter following, it may not be the best type of following for growing a business or a project. 
  • “Trolling”, snarkiness, or even “righteous anger” engagements may do well with politics, some social issues, and simply for attention getting, it is best to avoid this with what we’re trying to do here, grow positive engagement and write better tweets.
  • While it is good to be relatable, honest, and to show your passion (and to be funny), the Enrage angle takes full dedication and impacts how people see you. Unless that is your very unique angle, or niche, I recommend using it lightly or not at all. 

Enjoy!

And those are my 5 strategies for writing better tweets. 5 ways for you to get started tweeting today, and set yourself up for solid twitter growth. 

And truly, the most important tip I have for you to write better tweets is to simply ENJOY the process.  Enjoy tweeting. Enjoy interacting. Enjoy reading both what’s going on in your niches, but also what’s going on with your followers. (I also suggest either following back most of those who follow you who seem legit, or selectively and sporadically following some of them. It’s good to see what’s going on in the worlds of those who follow you.)

Please stay tuned to this blog and my twitter 😉 for more insights into building your Twitter following. I will be going into more details behind the nuts and bolts of Twitter growth, and strategies you can take to build your following. Writing better tweets starts with writing your first one using one of these 5 strategies. 

Follow me on Twitter! – http://twitter.com/mikegiannulis

Keep checking my Blog for more updates!

How To Write A Nonfiction Book In 21 Simple Steps

Writing

If you want to know how to write a nonfiction book, you’ve come to the right place.

We are going to focus on 21 simple steps to help you learn how to write a nonfiction book. This post is not meant to have much fluff and it’s going to focus on a 21 step process I have used to write my first nonfiction book which is coming out soon.

The truth is, you can learn how to write a nonfiction book fast IF you have all of your notes ready to go from the start. That’s the real secret to writing nonfiction books in 30 days.

The key is you don’t want to start from scratch. You want, instead, to pull from notes that already exist that you’ve made along the way.

You can check out this video by Ryan Holiday to see the process in action:

How To Write a Nonfiction Book Fast (The 21 Steps)

Table Of Contents

  1. Intention
  2. Destination
  3. Compensation
  4. Collection
  5. Inspection
  6. Rejection
  7. Selection
  8. Injection
  9. Extraction
  10. Education
  11. Reflection
  12. Connection
  13. Question
  14. Consolidation
  15. Formation
  16. Summation
  17. Citation
  18. Fortification
  19. Production
  20. Publication
  21. Distribution

If you like this content I may come back and flesh these sections out into more individual posts. Let me know by leaving a comment or contacting me.

Step 1 – Intention

You have to choose what it is you want to learn or create. So, if your goal is to write a nonfiction book fast then you want to sent the intention. Decide what you want to write about so you can start looking for materials.

Step 2 – Destination

Begin with the end in mind, as Dr. Covey so famously said. Create a specific goal or place you want to end up going with this project. What’s the “end game”? This is a real key to the whole process if you are serious about learning how to write a nonfiction book.

Step 3 – Compensation

Decide what’s in it for you. How will you get paid for this knowledge you are creating? And this doesn’t always mean money either. You can get paid in awareness, attention, brand building, getting leads, getting practice, building your authority, for SEO ranking, and even just as a way to demonstrate your skills.

It’s important to decide on your compensation early because that will affect how much time and effort goes into the project.

Step 4 – Collection

This is a very important step. It’s now time to start looking for materials that you can draw inspiration from. I recommend at least 4-5 books on similar topics, multiple blog posts, twitter feeds, podcasts, and audio books. You want as much material as you can get your hands on.

Step 5 – Inspection

Go crazy. Dig in. Read way more than you should. Most of what you read won’t be directly useful but will indirectly help you by helping you make connections later on. This is the step that really turns you into an expert.

There’s no way around it, you’ve got to inspect a lot of material at this stage. You want to expose yourself to the top-down structure of existing knowledge that already exists.

Step 6 – Rejection

Here’s a fun step! If the material isn’t right, get rid of it. While it’s important to read as much as you can, don’t waste time on material that doesn’t resonate with your or your book topic.

Rejection can be very therapeutic.

Step 7 – Selection

The time has come. You’ve done a lot of research and now you want to pick your dream time of material that you are really gonna dive into for ideas and help. Basically in this step you are just picking out the best material you’ve found so you can do a deep dive on it.

Step 8 – Injection

My favorite step! This is when you READ READ READ or LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN. You will be reviewing the material you chose in step 7 with wild abandon. Go through everything and don’t hold back.

Feel free to add more material as well as you go. You will often find references to other material in the books you are reading. You can never read to much when you are focused on how to write a nonfiction book.

Step 9 – Extraction

This is my favorite step. You want to extract as much knowledge from the material you are reading as you possibly can. Make sure it resonates with you. You want to highlight, bold, and of course takes notes in your own words.

That’s key too, Take notes in your own words and you can’t go wrong. If you want to get better at taking notes, may I suggest my 5 post series on How To Take Good Notes?

Step 10 – Education

This is a step added to make sure you are thinking like an educator. When you are writing a nonfiction book fast especially, it’s very important to keep the mindset of an educator. Everything you read or listen to… do so with a teachers mindset.

Being a teacher means learning with the intent to share the knowledge with others. Always look for how you can better explain a concept or problem.

Step 11 – Reflection

Now that you’ve read a ton of materials, it’s time to take a break. Let your subconscious mind go on a hiatus where it will work hard for you to make sense of all the material you’ve been learning.

Feel free to think about it if you want, but you really don’t have to. Just set intentions before you go to bed at night or ask yourself questions. You’ll be amazed at what your subconscious mind can do.

Step 12 – Connection

Now it’s time to start connecting the dots. Write out or speak out interesting connections from this new material or even from old material. This is where creativity starts to happen.

Your brain should start firing on all cylinders and you should have lots of notes that you made in the “Extraction” stage. As you go through those notes, look for connections that others may have missed.

Step 13 – Question

As you are making connections, one of the most powerful things you can do is start asking questions. Write out the questions that you just don’t know the answer to. Here’s an easy way to come up with questions.

Start explaining your ideas to a child. See what questions they ask. If you can’t explain it to a 10 year old, then you probably don’t really understand.

See this video of a lecture of Richard Feynman to learn the difference between knowing and understanding

Step 14 – Consolidation

Now we’re getting somewhere! You’ve made connections, you asked questions (and hopefully answered them), and you’ve spent a LOT of time reading, listening, and contemplating on what your nonfiction book is going to be about.

Now it’s time to start consolidating all the knowledge in your head and start breaking it down. Focus on breaking down big ideas breaking them down into smaller chunks of information.

You can do this in a simple bullet point format. But the key here is to think in First Principles. This means that instead of reasoning from analogy (this is LIKE that) reason from the fundamental truths.

If X is true, then what does that mean for Y. This is how you get really good at thinking and ultimatley creating more breakthrough ideas.

Here this concept best explained by Elon Musk:

Step 15 – Formation

This is my favorite step. You now take all your discoveries and aha moments and begin to convert this new knowledge into a system that others can easily grasp. This is also an exercise in branding.

Think of many great nonfiction books, they all have a “Big idea” that explains the book in just a few simple words. Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss is a great example. Or 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.

For my own book, my writing partner and I settled on “Scaling The 7 C’s” a play on words and also encapsulates the idea which is the 7 C’s that companies need to focus on in order to scale and grow.

So, think through everything you’ve written and learned so far. Can you turn these principles into a system? Acronyms work great. Big promises work well too. The key is to make something unique that hasn’t been said before in that way.

This is the secret sauce you must learn if you really want to know how to write a nonfiction book.

Step 16 – Summation

You’ve got all your ideas mapped out now. You’ve created your unique system. What’s next? It’s time to sum it all up. For this, I personally like to use Roam Research. I love the bulleted format and I just brain dump everything I possibly can into it.

You also should use this summation to serve as a nonfiction book outline. Try to organize your material into chapters. For most nonfiction books you’ll want around 10 chapters. The first and last chapter are intro and outro.

The in-between chapters are where the meat is. You also want lots of stories. As you layout your chapter ideas, try to jot down a note with a link to a story you read or liked, or better yet if you have one from your own life use that.

Step 17 – Citation

Lest we get accused of plagiarism or making stuff up, make sure you write down and accurately track all your sources of information. You never want to be in a position where your nonfiction book makes a claim you can’t back up.

Citations can be pretty boring, so don’t be afraid to get some help here. You may have a friend who loves this kind of stuff. I do , and I go to him when I need help.

Step 18 – Fortification

You came here cause you wanted to learn how to write a nonfiction book fast, but I want to stress the importance of this step. Don’t skip it. During this step, write down a list of FAQ’s and do your best to answer them.

Think of what questions your darkest meanest critic would say, then answer their questions. This material can then be weaved into your nonfiction book so you come out looking like a champ.

There are always critics who love tearing down creators, don’t give them the chance. Fortify!

See what writing instructor David Perell says about how he does this:

Step 19 – Production

This is it! You have everything now. You have your outline, you’ve become your own worst critic. You have TONS of notes to draw from. You have a unique system that you created and you can explain all the concepts to a 10 year old.

This is where you actually start writing your nonfiction book. If you’ve been wondering how to write a nonfiction book in 30 days, this is how. All you have to do is spend a few months beforehand doing all the prep work!

I hope now you can see that the writing part is the easy part. It’s just taking all your ideas and putting it into words. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. The hardest part is taking the time to sit and write it out everyday.

Your nonfiction book outline is your guide. Your main job is to just type!

Step 20 – Publication

YES! You did it you have your book. As part of the Production process, you will want to have edited the book at least a few times. You also should have a 3rd party editor read it if at all possible.

Once you’ve done that (and gotten your book cover designed) then it’s time to publish your nonfiction book. Obviously, I can’t go into detail on that side in this post, but it’s a very happy day when you see a book that you wrote on Amazon or even better in a book store.

Step 21 – Distribution

Sadly, publication doesn’t mean sales. Now that your book is published you’ve got to find ways to promote it and get it out there. I recommend trying lots of free strategies like Twitter and Facebook groups and talking to your target market.

You can also give away a free chapter of your book (make it the best one) and build an email list up.

If you’re a first time self-published author it will be slow growth, but that’s ok. If you want to really crank it up, you will need to explore paid ads, but that’s another topic all together.

Final Thoughts On How To Write A Nonfiction Book

Well, there you have it. The 21 step process to go from 0 to a completed and selling nonfiction book. You now know what it takes to get a nonfiction book written. You know how to make a nonfiction book outline, and most importantly you know that it’s gonna take some work to get your book done.

And that’s ok! Yes, you can write your nonfiction book in 30 days… after you’ve done all the pre-work required to get there.

If I had to sum up the most important step, it’s coming up with a unique, brandable angle for your book. There are hundreds of thousands of nonfiction books written and you have to stand out.

That’s why gathering and reviewing as much material as you can will give you the brain juice to come up with something creative.

If you’ve found this blog post helpful, please consider giving me a follow on Twitter.