Twitter, Twitter, before I fall, who's the best seller of them all?

Twitter – friend or foe?

I’ve been using Twitter now for the best part of 4 years, long before I decided to become a copywriter. In that time I’ve been followed, unfollowed, made friends, unmade friends and even met some of them and formed long lasting friendships.

 I get sick of Twitter and threaten to abandon it on a monthly basis. However here I am, still here after all this time.

 It almost sounds like an excuse for a song – but sometimes I wonder, if you’re using Twitter to promote your business, how far should you go? I'm still learning and fearful of putting people off rather than turning them on to my talents.

  The keyboard is mightier than the written word

Have you read my book?.

 From the point of view of someone that follows other users who use Twitter to promote their work, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it can be a tad irritating when all you get is a constant stream of tweets with links and short phrases. Some writers are notorious for it. They never talk about themselves, they never seem to reach out to their audience, other than to try and sell you their latest book. If you send them a message they usually have so many followers they don’t have a clue who you are and your message gets ignored. This doesn’t make me want to buy their books; in fact it puts me right off. I say some, not all.

Another thing that I find particularly irritating is when someone is complimented on their work, regardless of what they do and they feel it’s their solemn duty to share  it with the rest of us, so we can see how wonderful they are and how wonderful their product is. So endless retweets then of how amazing Johnny Smith is and his first foray into science fiction.

I'm selling mirrors

Links, links and then more links

If someone follows me I usually check out their profile quickly, I’ll take a quick look at their bio and then at their tweets, if there’s nothing there other than a constant stream of links and they don’t seem to be saying anything else of interest then it’s unlikely I’ll  follow right away. I’ll leave it for a few days and then maybe I’ll ask them something, if they can’t be bothered to reply and this happens more than a few times, then I definitely won’t be following them – and that’s bad news if they want to sell me something in the future. I especially hate it when someone fills my timeline all at once with endless plugs. That’s why I’m reluctant to over promote myself or my blog - no matter how much I want people to read it, I don’t want to alienate people.

Personality – let it shine

 I did buy one book from someone on Twitter once who actually gave some hint of a personality, giving away little snippets of what she liked and disliked and what she gets up to, not an autobiography mind, in forty characters that’s impossible, but just enough to make her seem interesting, so interesting I wanted to read one of her books. It made her seem human. And she still carried on following me after I bought it. And I say this with good reason; another follower of mine bought a book from someone only to be unfollowed by them after the purchase!

 How much is too much?

 If you want to promote yourself on Twitter – should you try and interact with your followers, or just go for the hard sell? I think a combination of the two with a bit of soft sell, maybe a bit of subliminal selling. You have to be clever to do that and it’s not something I’ve quite mastered yet. It helps if you try to connect with people. I’m not suggesting you have great meaningful conversations on philosophy, far from it, who has the time for that? But if you give the impression you have time for people, that you’re warm blooded, that you give a s**t, it makes all the difference in the world to those that follow you - especially if you want them to buy something from you somewhere down the line.

Striking a balance

But when is talking about yourself too much, how do you really strike a balance between making yourself seem interesting and not over marketing yourself? How you come across as interesting and warm and not vain and self-glorious? It's a difficult balance because all social media platforms are about narcissism to a certain degree, it's all about the self. If you come across as warm, human, giving a little away about yourself and show interest in others then a balance can be achieved.

 You are not a robot.

 Be human, be real and connect with your followers, because they could be your future clients or customers in the future.  If they see you as a real person and you come across as being approachable then they might ask you something, something that may lead to further enquiries about what you do, your services and who knows, perhaps a purchase or a recommendation.

 And no that hasn’t happened to me yet on Twitter, but I’d be interested to know what others experience of self-promotion on Twitter has been, have you had success? Has it led to further clients/customers? Do Americans have it covered; are they better at self-promotion than the Brits? Should we take a lesson from them, or steer well clear?

Tell me what you think.



I love you!

 

Gillian Jones is a copywriter and freelance writer. If you want to make use of her services, contact her on pandora.77@hotmail.co.uk    and find her website here www.taith.net

Tartan terror

Tartan is not for me

William Wallace once said that every  man dies and not every man really lives and this is especially true if he's been forced to wear tartan.

Wikipedia describes tartan as being a "pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours"-  I call it something to avoid. It probably has something to do with the fact that tartan has some pretty traumatic memories for me. Seeing aunties dressed in full length head to toe tartan and lifting out purses from their handbags covered in it, with those simpering little clasps was enough to give me the shakes. Much like Marnie in Hitchcock's thriller when she sees the colour red, I scream with terror when I see any form of tartan.

Tartan trend 2013 - 2014

This is unfortunate, as tartan is the thing to wear this winter. Tartan jumpers, trousers and oversized coats adorned the catwalk. Personally I'd rather be forced to wear a bin liner. The tartan trousers remind me too much of Rupert and the scarves look as if you've been forced to tie your cat's blanket round your neck during a blizzard. The oversized tartan coats look too reminiscent of the 80s and early 90s and are all very well if you're skinny and tall, but they're not for the slightly cuddly and short, unless you want to look like Mrs Pepperpot after being let loose in Edinburgh Woollen Mills for a few hours. 

Fashion cynic

So I'll be staying as far away as possible from the tartan trend. However, I may be cynical, if you've lived through the eighties and nineties then you'll have seen one or two trends come and go. That means that whatever comes around has probably been round once already. Skinnies were once drainpipes, 80s boots come and go, padded shoulders, patterned tights, salmon, orange, oversized blazers. For some of us these have come and gone and we roll our eyes as they enter our line of vision once again.

Oh for a longer skirt

That isn't to say that there aren't a few returning trends I'm happy to see again. Longer lengths skirts is one and that's not because my legs are starting to look more knarled than a 100 year old oak. My legs are perfectly respectable thank you very much. But after 35 you don't go near a mini skirt unless you're very confident and I'm not. I'm also sick of looking for dresses that finish just below thigh level. (Are you listening ASOS???) I'm happy to see the return then of knee length skirts, not so much calf length, which aren't such good news for those of us with short legs.



By 'eck Issey Miyake knows
how to make a fluted skirt


Flutes, leather and glamour

The fluted skirts are a god send, absolutely lovely, loved them first time round. Don't buy any with stiff fabric, it makes the skirt seem cheap and stiff, especially around the fluted part. If I get the opportunity to wear one again I'd wear one with slightly more fluidity in the fabric and looser around the fluted part ,so it feels more feminine. A pencil skirt never goes out of fashion and one in a bright colour matched by a dark top is always a striking look. Flats and knits always look good so that and a knee length pencil skirt is a must for the office. There's talk of sheer panels and leather, but I won't be going there, please indulge if you wish, but I won't. There's also rumours of fifties petticoats and pleats, again, great if you feel confident enough, either that or you're very young, but for me it'll be a more conservative version of the longer length skirt. My motto for the future is: less is more.

 

So finally, fashion always comes full circle, sometimes you embrace it, sometimes you want to run away from it. I say this to you in the name of friendship - run away from tartan, run and don't look back.

                                                                

Oh to be scared.......

I want to be scared

 I’m fascinated by the ability to scare, to be scared. Sometimes my expectations are dashed by whatever it is I’ve seen or heard or read, if it has failed to achieve the desired effects. I fear that perhaps I raise the bar too high. There was another world, where being scared came easier, when the world wasn’t quite so black and white, where things seemed more opaque.

 No God, no afterlife, no consequences

 We believe in nothing, we fear nothing. We have nothing to fear from the dead for we know they can’t come back now. There’s no God so why worry about consequences? There’s no price to pay in the hereafter for we know there isn’t one. There is just the now, just here in the present, with the past firmly behind us and the future straight ahead.

 Are we starring in our own horror?

 Perhaps that’s the best horror film of all, the world we’ve created for ourselves, and we’re acting in our own technicolour screamfest, each one of us playing a starring role. And like the characters in those old horror flicks, we’ve no idea we’re being watched. We don’t know what’s lurking behind us or ahead of us until we hear ourselves scream.

 Life in the 21^st century – horror at its best

 

“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.”   Sigmund Freud

Unedau gwag

Mae tu mewn I fy mhen yn ngwag
mae tu mewn I fy mhen yn ddu
does ddim byd arall yna
dim synadiau
dim meddylion
dim byd ond tywyllwch
tristwch, dagrau,
meddyliwn hyll
meddyliwn ddu

Hedd Wyn

Hedd Wyn was born Ellis Humphrey Evans, a sheep farmer from Meirionnydd whose interest in poetry had led to several competition entries in the Eisteddfodau. He was the eldest of 11 children.  When the Great War came he joined the army along with nearly 300, 000 other Welshmen. He joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and within a month of joining he was killed in the Battle of Pilken Ridge. In the same year his poem Yr Arwr won the coveted chair, but as he'd been killed in battle the chair was simply draped in a black cloth as the audience was given the bad news. Yr Arwr has since been described as one of the best winners of the Eisteddfod in the 20th century. Most of his poems focused on the horrors of war, including Rhyfel (War) and Y Blotyn Du (The Black Spot). The name he chose for himself is Welsh for white peace.

Yr Arwr


WYLO anniddig dwfn fy mlynyddoedd
A'm gwewyr glyw-wyd ar lwm greigleoedd
Canys Merch y Drycinoedd - oeddwn gynt:
Criwn ym mawrwynt ac oerni moroedd.

(There aren't any great translations of this poem that I could find, if anyone knows of any I'd be grateful for a link)




Y Blotyn Du


Nid oes gennym hawl ar y ser,
Na'r lleuad hiraethus chwaith,
Na'r cwmwl o aur a ymylch
Yng nghanol y glesni maith.
Nid oes gennym hawl ar ddim byd,
Ond ar yr hen ddaear wyw;
A honno sy'n anhrefn i gyd
Yng nghanol gogoniant Duw

http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/wyn.htm

The Black Spot
We have no right to the stars,
Nor the homesick moon,
Nor the clouds edged with gold             
In the centre of the long blueness.
We have no right to anything
But the old and withered earth
That is all in chaos
At the centre of God's glory.

Hedd Wyn

Rhyfel

A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt,
 A'u gwaed yn gymysg efo'r glaw

"The shouts of the boys is in the wind
and their blood is mixed with the rain."


Gillian is a freelance writer and copywriter, her contact details are here www.taith.net/

Granny leave? No thanks

I have to say that I'm not at all keen on the idea of the unflatteringly titled "Granny leave," whoever coined that phrase needs to think up a better one. The idea of course is Harriet Harman's, who believes that grandmother's should be given special leave from work so they can look after their grandchildren, when their own children have gone back to work. This is because of course, looking after children isn't the responsibility of parents at all, it's the grandparents, because their lives are over and that's what they should be doing.

Why, may I ask, it is it incumbent upon Grandmothers, and I emphasise the word Grandmothers here seen as the word Grandpa has been left out of the equation, to look after the children when the parents go back to work?  Surprise, surprise but women are left once more holding the baby, never the husband and never the grandfather, but the mother and the grandmother. The grandfather of course will have far more important things to do like play golf and huff and puff while joining endless committees and worthy courses that no one else cares about.

Some things never change do they? It doesn't seem to have crossed Harriet Harman's mind that yet again women are expected to look after the babies in later life with no mention of the grandfathers. I find that ironic seen as she is meant to be "championing older women."

I'm not a grandmother yet, but when I am I'll look after my grandchildren when I'm asked, I'll babysit and more than likely enjoy it, but I won't be made to feel that it's my duty to do it because I don't have anything else going on in my life. When grandparents have spent their entire lives working and striving to pay the mortgage and raise their own children, surely they're allowed to spend some time at the end of it all, reaping the rewards of years of hard work while they still have some degree of health and fitness?

Why is there an automatic assumption that as people get older they're just there to play out what's left of their lives as a footnote in other people's lives with no regard for their own?

I realise that there'll be plenty of grandparents out there who'll welcome the proposals, but there are many out there that won't, (myself included when the time comes) who won't welcome the added pressure that'll be placed on them to take the granny leave and stay home with the grandchildren. Having had to do it once already with their own children, perhaps they have now carved out a career for themselves in later life, have money of their own and are enjoying the fruits of their hard work. However, it'll be pretty short lived once daughter or son pop out a baby and fully expect granny to take the leave, the baby - and get back to the kitchen.

Don't make grandparents feel the pressure, they're already facing the prospect of having to work until they drop without having to take on the responsibilities of young children. Great for those that want to, but for those that don't, it's nice to have the choice.

Swn gwyn

Pobl yn siarad ar y we am hyn ar llall

Am dan eu hun , storiau byr a hir

Straeon grim

Straeon  ddigalon

Ymlaen ac ymlaen

Fel swn gwyn

Byth yn stopio, yr un un peth

drosodd a drosodd

Tynu sylw at eu drama

Tynu sylw at eu hwynebau

Tynu sylw at eu bywydau byr

Ymlaen ac ymlaen  

Fel swn gwyn