How do I use Twitter with comics?

[Quinineer]

I am a really clueless person when it comes to social media. My account was fixed, and now I have nooo idea what to do. Fingers crossed I'm not swept into an automated bot detector again.

Anyways, I followed #WebComicChat, and a few artists I know from Tapastic. But other than that, how do I participate in stuff? How do I work with 140 characters? What do I "tweet" in the first place? WIPS/sketches? Finished artwork? Stuff about what I'm doing?

Yeah, I know next to nothing about social media. Tapastic is easy, because all I have to do is throw comic pages into the figurative internet void. Sometimes, the void cheers you on and appreciates what you do. So yeah. Any answers are very much appreciated. I hope I'm not spamming up the forums.

[zetina]

i've always sucked at keeping a diary so that's kinda what twitter is for me first-and-foremost. maybe i should actually have a separate account for comic-related stuff...
you use it for whatever you want to use it. i haven't been successful in participating in the webcomic community there - i was following the webcomic chat events but i never ended up actually participating #rip
i see people post WIPs, announcements and update notifications there.

[Pandastrophic]

WIPS/sketches? Finished artwork? Stuff about what I'm doing?

This is exactly what I do, I usually tweet some work in progress shots of pages and sneak peaks, I post more art of my characters on twitter than other sites since it's more comic related, I post finished works as well and generally tweet about what I'm doing/comic related stuff and updates/ etc. Just use it however you'd like really. I found it a bit confusing at the start but got used to using twitter quickly.

[shaneoid77]

There are a few Twitter comic pages I've found that will help reblog your news, but it means putting their account names in your tweet. Sooo what I do is make a picture with all the info on it, and use the tweet to get it about as much as possible. Example below...

Follow the pages with the "@" signs and they should reblog you all being well, and the hashtags will put you in the searches.
I'm still pretty new to Twitter and being dyslexic it's a nightmare to read lol, but if you need any more help just shout

[Shanny8]

Just get out there and do it! If you feel like talking about some of the "behind the scenes" stuff on your comic and showing WIP(work in progress) pics, do that. If you want to post fan art on your Twitter page, do that. The possibilities are endless for how you can use your Twitter account to raise awareness to your comic here on Tapastic. I've been spending the past months posting to get viewers to take a look at my comic through Twitter almost everyday and it has helped.

The only drawback is you have to "shrink your thoughts" to fit within 140 characters. If you have a lot to say, you can tweet how many messages you want, but they all have to be 140 characters or less. The good part is that you can also post pics/links and they dont eat up much of the 140 character allotment you have- so if you wanted to tweet "Read my comic Cows In Space!" and post the link, you'd still have character space left to type something else.

[Chopythes]

Webcomicchat is mostly about answering questions that they provide if you follow https://twitter.com/webcomicchat: @WebcomicChat, the account (usually easier to keep track of the provided questions, the same with @ComicBookHour.

I'd recommend you to use the tweetdeck.com or the chat! It's the easiest way of keeping track of what's going on in the tags and you'll be able to customize it to how you want it to be. Like, home dash board, the #-dashboard and notifications (that's the set up I've got during the hour).

But it's easy! They'll ask everyone who they are and what they create/reading.
And since Twitter's now going to ditch the 140 character rule, or at least bend it a little (links and pictures were counted in to the 140 limit, but pictures are now not part of that).

So basically, you tweet about who you are, what you create and where to find it! Like:
"Hi #comicbookhour! I'm Nelly, creator of [link] about a girl new in town!"
And then perhaps a picture of the cover of the series and/or a comic page.

Don't be afraid of participate, everyone's really kind!

Edit: On how to use the social media that is twitter:
Post updates of your comic, you can use the hashtags of both, for everyone else to see.
You can tweet thoughts of the day and such. It's basically a micro blog :D

[shazzbaa]

What do I "tweet" in the first place? WIPS/sketches? Finished artwork? Stuff about what I'm doing?

My advice is usually to learn from the people you follow; see the kinds of things they tweet to get a feel for how the medium works. I don't really think it's helpful to be like "here are the things you should be tweeting" because different people use it differently! If you lurk for a little bit and get a sense of how it's used, it's much easier to find what'll feel most natural for you.

But yeah all of those things work! I follow a lot of people who post sketches, or a little daily doodle type thing, and I definitely put art on there! For my comic updates, I usually make a little preview picture like this instead of just posting a link.

If you're not sure how to do the #webcomicchat stuff, this thread has a bunch of stuff explaining it!

Twitter - how does it work?

But outside of hashtag topics like that, you can respond to other people -- some people are conversational on twitter and others aren't. Also, a lot of times I'll see a certain subject kinda go through the community -- Anna will tweet something about fandom, and then I'll see other people tweeting their two cents about their feelings on fandom. And if I have feelings on that subject, I might respond to one of the others' posts, and I might tweet out my own thoughts about it.

Which is another part of why I think the most important part is to follow people you find interesting and lurk for a little bit. Trying to find something entertaining about your day to yell into the void is hard and weird for a lot of people, but if you see everyone around you talking about something, it's a lot easier to add your own thoughts to that mix.

[respheal]

@shaneoid77 - You can save a lot of characters by tagging the image instead of putting @promotecomic @supportcomics etc in the tweet itself. You can tag up to 10 accounts in the image and the users you tag will still get notified of it the same way.

Like so:

[shaneoid77]

That's epic, thanks so much

[mjmassey]

My day job is in advertising, and we're always doing social media stuff. Here's some basics to help you get started:

Pictures and videos will always help you get more engagement with your posts (ie. more people liking and retweeting)
Videos at this moment I think have a limit of 1 minute. I use twitter to post previews of my youtube videos. Make sure you video is attractive enough without sound to keep people's attention

Tweet a mix of your own stuff and retweets of what you are interested in? For example, I'll retweet things I find interesting like other comics or Eurovision/F1 news, because that's what I'm into. For one, it shows that you participate in the world around you. People like to see that you are about more than just your own stuff. It might seem counter intuitive, but retweeting tweets you find funny/interesting/important/whatever actually can help build your own personal brand because you're building a personality for your account.

With #webcomicchat, it starts with answering the 5 questions in the session, but sometimes side conversations can break off in regards to one of the questions. If you see one you want to join, don't be afraid to chime in with something in regards to the conversation! Everyone is very nice. After a few weeks, you'll start to become familiar with people and it will get easier to talk to them.

Also, #ComicBookHour is a nice community in a similar but more professional vein. I chime in their from time to time as well.

For more information, here's a pretty thorough guide to get you started. It's from a marketing perspective, but I've found that marketing a brand is the same thing as marketing your comic. Good luck! And feel free to follow me @MelissaJMassey on the tweets and you can ask me questions there too.

[Kayke]

I post an update image with links every time I update my comic, as well as posting illustrations and works in progress.
I also just... talk. I feel like that's how I gain most of my new followers. Joking around and having fun... and sharing my thoughts and feelings too. If you're doing a long form comic, it can be hard for a person to want to jump right in just from comic art posts (especially if you're like 200 pages in or whatever), but if they see your personality through your text tweets which are shorter and easier to connect to, they might feel more inclined to check out your comic.

I've seen twitter accounts of artists where all they do are post their work and links and don't have any personal stuff and while I'll follow them if I like their art, I won't engage with them. If I see that someone is talkative on twitter I'm more likely to chat with them and comment on their art and befriend them.

[cedric]

It might sound overly simplistic but one thing I always ask myself is, "Woukd I find this interesting if someone else posted it?" Or, put another way, "What kind of things would I want to see/read/like/follow?" and then post those things. On my Twitter feed (@cedrichohnstadt) I try to share a mixture of artwork, jokes, tips, and interesting links. I also recently started a Twitter feed for my chapter of the National Cartoonists Society (@ncsnorthcentral) and I try to share a mixture of member tweets + cartooning tips, news, etc.

Of course, it also helps to follow the right people. A lot of the value I get from Twitter comes from following other artists who use it well, and then retweeting them, interacting with them, and trying to emulate what they do.

[Doubtcent]

I should use it more...
Currently, I use it as an update checker, posting links whenever I update.
I also use Twitter as a way to keep in touch with other artists, which is fun, and discover new artists, which is also fun.

I should eventually upload full comic pages, since I mainly make a gag-a-day sort of comic.
Could do well, but it's not perfect.

[allenthomas]

I use my twitter whenever I make an update. I'll also occasionally post tweets of some comics I'm subscribed to. Outside of #webcomics, #makingcomics, and #comicbookhour I'm not sure how the webcomic community connects by and large. For what it's worth you can follow me @shadosassins.