FAQ: Marketing & PR
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You want to be on Twitter. Hate it all you want, you ... have ... to ... be ... on ... Twitter! Period.
Setup your Profile
An easy way to be completely overlooked on Twitter is to not fill out your profile. The second best thing is to use your account infrequently or for non interesting topics like the type of coffee you're drinking just now.
When i'm cleaning out who i'm following, i target the profiles with the default Twitter icon first. So add a photo of yourself or at least something iconic as your profile photo. Otherwise most people will expect your Twitter account to be a dead thing.
Definetely write something about you in your Bio. What you do right now is most interesting. Where you live is almost irrelevant - i wonder why people keep mentioning that. Or that you're a father/mother - big deal. We don't want to know that you're a Software Developer - so you're a generic person, eh? Unfollow ...
Write in your Bio what makes you special! It's hard but pays off! What you did in the past depends on what you did in the past. For me it would be downright stupid not to mention that i've worked for EA. If you've been a plumber the last 10 years that may not be the most interesting thing to mention in your Bio. Being a plumber is not a shame, don't get me wrong, some of the best videogame characters i know were plumbers. If you do find the right edge, you can actually make it very interesting to others by pointing out that you are a "plumber gone programmer". People love those curiosities especially when you're not coy about it. And they most certainly love the rags to riches stories. The American Dream still flies high with everyone.
If you have a website it would be foolish not to add that to your Twitter account. Even more foolish you would be if you ran a blog but don't have a "post to Twitter" plugin installed.
Do NOT protect your Tweets!
I actually never follow anyone who is protecting their Tweets, respectively request permission to follow. If you want privacy or want to communicate only with your friends, for the love of god, use Facebook or MySpace. Twitter is about open communication and networking among people you probably don't even know, but you do want to connect with people with which you share a common interest. If you're so concerned about protecting your Tweets then you'll have to ask yourself what you really want to tweet about, then just don't tweet about the things you find protect-worthy. It's as simple as that.
There are other and better ways to connect with your friends, use the right tools for the job. Twitter is about networking and building relationships and flow of information and opinions, it's not about you getting drunk, nailing chicks, doing drugs.
Stay on topic
It's ok to rant. It's ok to sometimes mention the type of music you're listening to. Or other enlightening circumstances of your life.
What you shouldn't do is to post about your underwear, how drunk you were last night or how much you would love to nail your neighbor's daughter. Be a professional on Twitter. Your followers are not your friends, at least over time most of them won't be. Your followers want to respect you, sometimes they look up to you, others regard you as peers. None of them want to learn about the boring bits of your life and your unsettling thoughts and experiences.
If you're an iPhone developer like me, keep tweeting things related to that matter. From time to time you can and should let your followers know that you're a human being but don't overdo it. Your tweets on the subject matter should always outweigh any personal tweets.
It all changes a bit when you're a celebrity however. Interestingly, the more popular you get the more people want to know about the trivialities of your life. Given enough followers you as a person gradually become the focus of their attention while what you do on a daily basis loses some traction. But until you get there, which i'm sure like 99% of other Twitter users you never will, earn your wings as a dedicated Twitterer on a narrow topic and only then gradually branch out as you gain experience. Learn, share. Rinse, repeat.
+1 to Ray’s comment. I’m curious on what the impact of press releases are. I suppose if a media outlet comes across the release and writes an article about your game it’s worth it…
Haven’t seen this comment yet. Actually I don’t think Press Releases are very helpful unless you do all the other things as well. A Press Release with nothing to show for will get you close to nothing. With a press release kit maybe someone might pick it up.
I guess in most cases it’s preferable to do your own Marketing first, Youtube videos, website, and what not. Only if your App or whatever you are promoting already looks promising with all marketing aspects covered well might a Press Release give you some traction. By itself they won’t do squat.