In my physician days attending medical conferences, whenever I tweeted about the physician speakers I “mentioned” ( by using the @ symbol) both the speaker’s Twitter handle and their organization’s Twitter handle. Example:
I just heard a great talk from @DrX from @HosptialY about #heartdisease! #MedicalConferenceZ
This single extra step—including the speaker’s employer in my tweet—had several benefits.
First, it let the speaker know you went the extra mile to amplify them.
Second, it let the speaker’s organization know one of their own is out in the community sharing useful information, which gave that organization a chance to retweet or like my tweet.
Third, it subtly strengthened the digital bond between the speaker and their organization, improving my role as a connector and as a sharer.
The combination of these three elements nearly always made my tweet receive increased engagement, and sometimes it resulted in an expansion of my network with one or two high-quality follows.
Well, I found the same thing can be down for writers. Now, whenever I finish reading a book I like, I’ll take a photo of the book, and mention both the author and their publisher in my tweet. Example:
I just read @AuthorX’s fab book, published by @PublisherY, about #AncientGreece! It’s a must-read!
Nearly always, these tweets will garnish an increased level of engagement, and often I will also receive high-quality follows.
Key point: Spending a little extra time on the craft of Twitter (Tweet-Craft?) is a great way to grow a quality network for both physicians and writers!