by Dana Lynn Smith

Twitter is a great way to meet people, develop relationships, and promote yourself and your book or business. But it's important to avoid being seen as someone who just promotes themselves.

Most of your tweets should be about helping others, but you also need to inject some personality, to put the social into social networking and help people get to know you. Here are 21 ideas for tweeting:

1.      Link to helpful or entertaining articles, websites, and blog posts. Add your own comments or ask for feedback.

2.      Re-tweet good posts by other people, but don't go overboard—most of your tweets should be original. Include "re-tweet" or "RT" in your post to indicate that you're re-tweeting someone else's post, or click the "retweet" icon shown beneath each tweet.

3.      Another way to re-tweet is to add a thank you to the previous tweeter at the end of the message. This works well if you have edited the original post.

4.      Comment on someone else's tweet. Be sure to refer to the original message in your post, because your followers will not be able to see it.

5.      Invite people to subscribe to your ezine, blog, or group, and offer an incentive.

6.      Announce your live and virtual events, such as book tours and teleseminars.

7.      Introduce other authors or experts in your field who are also on Twitter.

8.      Teach a mini lesson in 140 characters.

9.      On Fridays, recommend your favorite tweeters by using the #followfriday or #FF hashtag along with their user names. It's best to say why you recommend them.

10.  Send congratulations to others when they share good news.

11.  Link to your own articles and blog posts, but do it sparingly.

12.  Link to photos or videos (yours or others) on Flickr, Twitpic, or YouTube.

13.  Ask for advice or ask questions that encourage responses.

14.  Comment on someone's interesting Twitter background or clever bio.

15.  Offer a free downloadable ebook or sample chapter, with no strings attached.

16.  Thank others for mentioning you on Twitter.

17.  Recommend a book, product, or service, other than your own.

18.  Mention your hobbies, pets, kids, or personal activities. Just don't talk about what you ate for lunch!

19.  Talk about your writing or what you're doing in your business.

20.  Post an inspirational quote or message.

21.  Welcome new followers.

Excerpted from Twitter Guide for Authors by book marketing coach Dana Lynn Smith. For more book marketing tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter and download your free Book Marketing tips on her book marketing blog.

Twitter Guide for Authors:   http://bit.ly/twittertforauthors