#62: Twitter Engagement Tips with Rachel Moffett

#TwitterSmarter Podcast: Twitter Engagement Tips with Rachel Moffett

Episode Summary

In this episode, Rachel Moffett shares her top tips to boost your Twitter engagement. She’ll tell you what actions you can take each day to build relationships and brand awareness.

Listen in Apple PodcastsGoogle Podcasts, Stitcher, Overcast, iHeartRadio and Spotify.

This podcast episode is brought to you by the #TwitterSmarter Twitter chat. Each week, I host this chat and bring together hundreds of people in an active one-hour discussion revolving around Twitter marketing. It’s every Thursday at 1 pm ET. Hope to see you there!

Guest Biography

Rachel Moffett is the creator of Define Your Hustle and a mindset and manifestation coach for women in business. She helps them step into their next level selves and create success in their online businesses. You may also know Rachel as the person behind the Express Writers Twitter account. She’s super active on the #TwitterSmarter chat as well as other social media and marketing chats. Plus she hosts their #ContentWritingChat.

Episode Highlights

Rachel Moffett’s Twitter engagement tips:

  • Put yourself out there: start and join conversations on Twitter.
  • Find Twitter chats related to your audience or industry and participate each week.
  • Identify yourself by name if you’re representing your brand during a Twitter chat.
  • Tweet at least a few times a day, sharing your content, others’ content, tips, and advice.
  • Schedule tweets throughout the day to reach a global audience.
  • Interact with people live on Twitter several times a day.
  • Provide value (tips) for free most of the time. Don’t always sell.
  • Respond to posts about your brand.
  • Reach out to Twitter followers via direct messages with genuine conversations – not by asking them to follow you somewhere else or buy something.

My Favorite Quotes

“I really think you're missing out if all you're doing on social media is lurking and not actually taking part in the conversation.” – Rachel MoffettClick To Tweet
“It's really important that you're making those connections with people because that's what makes social media so amazing.” – Rachel MoffettClick To Tweet

Tools, Links, and Apps Mentioned:

How to Reach Rachel

You can connect with Rachel Moffett on her personal Twitter account and the Express Writers Twitter account.

Call to Action

Your call to action for this episode is to find a Twitter chat and participate every week to increase your Twitter engagement. If you’re not sure where to find one, check out my blog post on The Very Best Twitter Chats for Social Media & Marketing. You can also find chats on all subjects through TweetReports’s Twitter Chat Schedule.

After you’ve done that, tweet Rachel (@RedHeadRachel) and I (@MadalynSklar) to let us know how it went!

#TwitterSmarter Courses

FREE #TwitterSmarter Secret Sauce course

Need some simple Twitter marketing guidance? Check out my FREE #TwitterSmarter Secret Sauce course. It’s a mini-class I put together at madalynsklar.com/secretsauce. It includes articles and videos that share my strategies on how to boost your presence on Twitter so you get better results.

#TwitterSmarter Master Class

Ready to go all-in for Twitter marketing training? Then you’re ready for my #TwitterSmarter Master Class. This online course is ideal for beginners and intermediate Twitter users. You’ll get step-by-step instructions that will help you enhance your profile and learn strategies that work! You’ll learn how to maximize your presence and monetize your efforts.

Sponsors

#TwitterSmarter Twitter Chat

My weekly #TwitterSmarter Twitter chat on all things Twitter marketing featuring a different social media marketing expert each Thursday at 1 pm ET.

Contact me to learn how YOU can become a #TwitterSmarter podcast sponsor.

Most Recent Reviews on iTunes

Transcript

Madalyn Sklar: Hey, Rachel, thank you so much for joining the #TwitterSmarter podcast. I am so happy to have you here as my special guest. And my question for you is: What are your best Twitter tips?

Rachel Moffett: My best Twitter tips? Well, I have to say the first one is probably pretty cliche and something that everybody’s going to say is: You have to engage with people.

I was actually talking to some people recently discussing why people lurk online. There are so many people that never really bothered to chime in or say anything, and I really think you’re missing out if all you’re doing on social media is lurking and not actually taking part in the conversation.

So my first tip is definitely to put yourself out there: Start conversations. Jump into conversations. It’s really important that you’re making those connections with people because that’s what makes social media so amazing.

We have all these platforms that allow us to connect with people from all over the world, but you’re missing out if you’re not actively putting yourself out there. And as somebody who has helped her run multiple Twitter chats over the years, I really think that Twitter chats are the best way to start engaging with people on the platform because it’s so easy.

It’s an hour of your time that you can jump in, make connections with new people, share your tips and advice, and also learn a lot from other people as well.

Madalyn Sklar: You’re very active on Twitter chats. I see you on there as Express Writers, you know. People don’t know you run their Twitter … Or are you the only one managing… Are you like the person behind that Twitter account, right?

Rachel Moffett: Yeah. I’m the one who’s behind the Twitter account. I mean, I think every now and then our CEO Julia might pop in and post something. But usually it’s me posting everything, and I’m always the one doing the Twitter chatting from that account.

Madalyn Sklar: Yeah. ‘Cause I see on Twitter chats all over the place. You’re, you’re, you know, always out there. You’re always engaging. And then you host the Twitter chat for Express Writers. Tell us a little bit about that real quickly.

Rachel Moffett: Yeah, so we have #ContentWriting Chat that happens on the first Tuesday of every month at 10 AM Central. We talk about all sorts of things from content writing to content marketing, SEO. We talk about social media. So much good stuff. So, there’s always really great conversations happening. They’re perfect for online content creators.

Madalyn Sklar: Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, I’m with you. I think Twitter chats are such a great way to engage with people. There’s lots of ways to engage, but Twitter chats is definitely high up there in my book because you can’t get much better than connecting with like-minded people for an hour. And it’s not a whole lot of time. You know, it’s just, you know, committing to an hour to, to do that.

And I think for those listening, if you’ve not been on a Twitter chat, I think you should check out, check out the one that Rachel hosts. And there’s also a #TwitterSmarter that I host every Thursday at one o’clock Eastern, which is an awesome chat, if I say so myself. You’re always there, Rachel. I always see you using the Express Writers account.

Um, so, so tell us a little bit about like … OK, ’cause since we’re talking about engagement and … How was it for the, the Twitter account you’re managing, uh, for Express Writers prior to joining Twitter chats and being so visible versus now – years later, where it seems like you’re so recognizable.

Rachel Moffett: Yeah, I mean, at first there’s just a lot of people that don’t know who you are. I joined Express Writers. I think they had done one or two weeks of the chat before I joined. Like the chat had just launched. It might’ve only been one chat that they did before I came onto the team and kind of took the chat over.

And I had managed Twitter chats for other brands in the past. So it was something I was very familiar with. I had been a participant in Twitter chats since maybe about 2014 and I think through our chat and also putting ourselves out there, we just became so much more recognizable.

We generated a lot more brand awareness. We don’t join quite as many Twitter chats as we used to. We keep it very selective nowadays and really join the ones that we know that our community is going to be part of that, you know, our potential clients might be joining.

But there was a point in time where I was actually doing 12 Twitter chats a week for them, and that’s 12 hours of Twitter chatting, which was kind of a lot. But it was still a lot of fun. I mean you don’t have to necessarily do it to that level, but it definitely helps to get us out there and to help grow our audience from, you know, what it was back then when I joined in 2016 and to what it is now.

So I think the important thing is not necessarily to join every single Twitter chat out there, but find maybe one or two that you really like. Put it in your calendar and make sure you join every week. That’s the best way to get yourself notice because people are going to start seeing you as a regular participant.

Madalyn Sklar: I love that. I think that’s super smart, but 12 – wow! That was a lot.

Rachel Moffett: It WAS a lot of Twitter chatting, but I enjoyed it because it was fun, and that’s the kind of thing that didn’t really feel like work.

Madalyn Sklar: Right, right, exactly. And I think it’s smart to try a lot of different chats and find the ones that really fit into your business, your brand, whatever it is your marketing message is.

And sometimes you have to go attend a bunch of them to find the right ones. Um, for those that are listening that are going, “OK, This sounds great. I need to go hop on some Twitter chats and go engage with my people,” what about for those that have a personal account and a business account? ‘Cause, you know, you do tweet from your personal account, @RedheadRachel, right?

Rachel Moffett: Yeah.

Madalyn Sklar: Your personal one. But, but I mean it’s a busi … You use it for your business but for you know, a separate part of your business. Then you got the Express Writers, which is a brand which has a logo when you see that Twitter account active on Twi… you know.

They don’t always know they’re talking to, you know, you because they’re seeing the logo. So can you tell us, you know, a little bit of like pros and cons of the personal profile versus the business one?

Rachel Moffett: Right. I definitely think with a personal profile it just helps to put a face to the brand. And that’s kind of tricky when you are tweeting from an account with a logo on it. And I remember a few years ago there was a time in a Twitter chat that there were a couple people saying they really like it when brands joined Twitter chats.

And I guess they just felt kind of weird about it. And it was mostly personal accounts that were joining. I mean some of these people had their own brands, but they were personal brands. So, I did feel kind of weird about it initially.

But the thing is: I think it’s become a lot more accepted for brands to start joining. I see a lot of logo Twitter accounts that are participating in these chats. You don’t necessarily see the person behind the account. You get to know them I think when they’re participating every single week and so, or you might not see their face.

But I do think that that’s a disadvantage ’cause I think it can be hard for people to really connect with you and get to know you that way. But over time, once they start to see that you’re still providing value, that’s really what matters in the end.

For me with our #ContentWriting Chat, I use… I’m behind the Express Writers account during #ContentWriting chat, and I’m also tweeting from my personal account and engaging from my personal account during that hour.

So I’m managing two accounts during that hour. So it gets a little crazy busy. But because of that, so many people did get to know me. And then our CEO Julia, she would join as well. So, people got to see that, OK, we’ve got two members of the Express Writers team, and they’re actually here in the Twitter chat.

They get to see our faces. They get to connect with us directly and know exactly who they’re speaking to, whereas, with an account that you’re just hiding behind the logo, they might not necessarily know who they’re talking to. But either way, I think it’s still a really important way to put yourself out there, and it’s a great way to generate awareness for your brand.

Madalyn Sklar: Oh, I totally agree. You’re good about letting people know like, Hey, this is Rachel when you are using Express Writers, and also some of the regulars on the #TwitterSmarter chat that I see behind the brand would be like Maura from GetEdgar (MeetEdgar).

And she’s really good about letting people know like, “Hey, I’m the person running this Twitter account. You’re talking to Maura.” And then you’ve also got Jen Cole who does Social Media Examiner. Now, she goes a step further than, than a lot – where she actually puts “Jen” at the end of every tweet so people know exactly who they’re talking to because they do have a team and sometimes other people tweet from the account. But it is primarily her.

But it helps when your name is short. Like “Madalyn …” “– Madalyn” would be a little long. And I know some brands will just do initials.

Um, what do you think about that? Like to help … I know that was like a real thing years ago, where, like, big brands would always do, like, initials or something. So you, you knew you were talking to a person versus looking at that logo and not know … It’s different on a Twitter chat.

You’ve been … You’re very visible in the chats. People know, gotten to know who you are behind, you know, the, the account. But unless somebody sitting there, you know, pretty actively like, “Hey, I’m Rachel,” you know, they don’t know. Um, so what do you think about when people sign their name or do initials? Are you a fan of that?

Rachel Moffett: Um, I mean I think it’s definitely helpful. I think in terms of a Twitter chat when you consider the fact that, yes, we have extra characters than we used to have, it’s still very valuable space.

And I would hate to have to like write out “– Rachel” every single time and use up those spaces. But I think as long as you’re putting yourself, you’re like introducing yourself in the beginning and saying, “Hey, my name is Rachel, I’m tweeting on behalf of, you know, whatever,” I think that makes a difference.

I don’t think you necessarily have to include your name or your initials as long as you put it out there in the beginning who you are. But obviously all brands feel differently about that. When it comes to Express Writers, like, I’m the only one who’s really tweeting from that account during Twitter chats. So people have come to expect that it’s me.

Even if I didn’t say, “Hey, it’s Rachel,” I’ve still got like five people who are going to tweet me back and say, “Hey Rachel, how are you?” Because they are [inaudible]

Madalyn Sklar: ‘Cause they’re regulars and they know it’s you. And, and I remember when Maura was first coming to the #TwitterSmarter chat as GetEdgar (MeetEdgar), she didn’t always introduce herself. And so sometimes I see those brand accounts, I want to, I want to be able to say “Hey,” and whatever their name is. I want to say, “Hey.” You know, “Hey Rachel.” “Hey Maura.”

And I remember in the beginning saying like, you know, “Hey, let us know what your name is,” like, you know. And she started getting the habit at the beginning of every chat to say, “Hey, this is Maura. I run the Twitter account for GetEdgar (MeetEdgar).”

Thought that was super smart when, when brands are… And you’re very good about doing that. I think that’s super smart because then people do get to know … Like, they know it’s you. Then when you come on the next time before you even get a chance to say, “Hey, it’s me, Rachel,” they’re already like jumping in, “Oh look, Rachel’s here.” So it’s a way to just keep that engagement alive, which is, you know, what we’re talking about here: engagement. There’s so many ways to, to work that.

Rachel Moffett: Right. I mean, I think with the Twitter chat is just simple to say, “Hey, it’s so and so” at the beginning. I can understand why some other brands and especially a lot of bigger brands … Like, what comes to mind is, like, if you tweet Verizon’s customer service or something, they all sign it with their initials.

But some brands want to keep track of who on their team is posting what, especially if they’ve got multiple team members and if somebody maybe post something that they shouldn’t have posted, they want to know exactly who did it.

So I think in certain situations I think it makes a lot of sense to sign all the tweets. But, I think for us everybody’s just kind of come to expect that I’m the one behind that account.

Madalyn Sklar: Yeah. And that makes sense. You know, when it’s just one person, it makes sense to do it in that manner versus these bigger companies with large teams, especially when they’re using Twitter for customer service and being able to keep track of who’s doing what. Um, what other Twitter tips do you have for us today?

Rachel Moffett: Other Twitter tips? I think really the biggest thing is making sure you’re staying active. I think a lot of times today I feel like I come across a lot of Twitter accounts that aren’t very active.

I don’t know if people are just moving onto other platforms or what it is, but I think everybody needs to make the effort to be posting regular content. I know that it’s not something I’m always the best at. But considering I’m managing a personal account and business account and doing social media for other people, that’s a lot of social media to keep up with.

But I do think it makes a huge difference to at least get a few tweets out there a day – to share your content, share some curated content, just share some tips and advice. Whatever your audience might be interested in, you have to give people a reason to actually follow you, otherwise they’re not going to want to stick around for long.

Madalyn Sklar: I agree with you 100%. Consistency is really important. And I always stress to people, especially when they’re new to Twitter or coming back to Twitter and wanting to really make that impact, is like: You got to put content out every day and you’ve got to be consistent about it. If you’re not tweeting, people are gonna forget about you.

And that, I think, goes back to Twitter chats and why Twitter chats are so great. What a great way to be top of mind with people when you spend an hour chatting with them about, you know, a topic that is relevant to your business or something you’re passionate about and you’re surrounded by like-minded people. Uh, so I love that.

What about like, regarding, you know, doing more tweeting, keeping the consistent. What about scheduling? How do you feel? You know, some people love scheduling. Some people don’t like scheduling.

But my thing is if you’re wanting to be consistent and be tweeting every day, we all can’t be on Twitter 24, seven. So sometimes we need to schedule some content. So what are your thoughts on that?

Rachel Moffett: I mean it might be fun if we could get paid to be on Twitter 24/7 and just play around all day. But it’s not realistic when we have other things to do. Even you as somebody who’s like basically the queen of Twitter over here, I mean you have so many other things that you have to worry about in your day-to-day life. You can’t be on Twitter all day long posting.

And I think when it comes to Twitter, our audiences based really all across the world, if we’re just tweeting when we’re awake … If I’m just tweeting like during normal times in the eastern time zone, people across the world are going to see that because they’re probably asleep.

They might be at their nine-to-five job, whatever it may be. So I think scheduling makes a huge difference because one, it frees up your time to focus on other tasks that you might have to do in your business or your job, whatever it is.

And it also helps you to reach different people in different time zones. So you want to make sure you’re scheduling tweets to go out throughout the day to make sure you’re actually hitting the various people in your audience.

I think a lot of people fail to realize that they have followers that are based all over the place. So, I don’t have a problem with scheduling because it makes it so much easier to manage all of your social media.

I think where people go wrong is when they try and automate engagement in some sort of way, and that’s what’s not cool. It’s fine to schedule promotional content like your blog posts or some curated content or whatever you want to share, but you still have to make sure that you’re also checking in – maybe a couple times a day – and interacting with people because that’s what makes social media so effective in the end.

Madalyn Sklar: Yeah, totally. I love that. That you said all that very well. Love it. Great. Great advice and tips for sure. Um, any other tips that, that, uh, you think would be helpful to the listeners?

We’ve covered a lot. You know I wanted you on this show because you, you understand, you understand Twitter very, very well and you do a really great job. When I see you out there tweeting, you’re doing it very well so I knew you’d have lots of great tips to share with the listeners here.

Rachel Moffett: Yeah, I think the other thing that really comes to mind, especially because I’ve got the book sitting over here on my bookcase next to me, but Gary Vaynerchuck’s Book “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” …

Even though I think there are probably some outdated references of social media on that now because it is a bit older, I think the general concept of that book of needing to focus on providing value and really delivering great content to your audience before you come in there and hit them with some sort of promotional offer, asking them to buy something or whatever, I think that’s really the key to being successful at social media.

If you’re on all day, every day posting links to your online course or your ebook or your coaching and you’re not really delivering any real value, that’s not helping you build the know, like, and trust factor with your audience.

They’re not going to be compelled to buy something from you because they haven’t developed any kind of connection. They haven’t seen that you can provide value yet. So, I think it’s really important to focus on providing a lot of value to people before you start hitting them with all of the promotional offerings and asking for their money.

Madalyn Sklar: I love that. You know, so many people that do really well on social media are the givers. You know, the people are just sharing information, being of service, being helpful. And when Gary Vaynerchuk wrote that book, um, “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook,” it was such an important thing to get out there as a discussion, like the importance of …

I remember his, like, alternative title was, you know, “Give, Give, Give, Ask,” you know. Just give and give and then occasionally asked for, for something, you know, ask for a sale, ask for something that you’re promoting. But, but not make it such a regular thing day in and day out where that’s all people see.

Um, so that’s a great tip. I love that. So this is like really awesome, Rachel. You’re sharing lots of really important tips. Some of these are like super fundamental things with social media, but sometimes I think we all need to hear it and be reminded and hear someone’s take on it to, you know, really get that to sink in of, like, OK, I need to be doing this more. This is something I need to be focused on.

Rachel Moffett: I agree. I mean it’s basics, but the reality is there are a lot of brands out there that still get that wrong. There are a lot of brands that aren’t bothering to engage with people. I mean, it’s 2019. We really shouldn’t all go into social media and see brands ignoring posts from their customers that are asking questions or, you know, providing feedback in some way.

It’s really sad to see just how many brands let all of that stuff go unanswered because they’re not bothering to engage or they’re just focused on selling, selling, selling all the time. I think it’s really something that a lot of people need to take into consideration, but unfortunately I just don’t know how many, why so many people are realizing this and actually taking it to heart and putting it to action. But maybe one day they’ll get it.

Madalyn Sklar: That’s our hope. Well that’s, you know, one of the reasons why I do this podcast is to just to have people come on and share lots of great practical tips and advice and hear, hear others, hear experts say, like, this is the best way to do it. Because sometimes people do things, and I scratch my head and go, “Who told them to do this?”

You know, I still get those occasional DMs. I mean we know auto DMs have been shut down, but people are, I guess … There are manual DMs where people DM me, like, it’s still like a form letter. It’s like a copy and pasted thing, and they’ll say things that are so not relevant to me.

And it’s like, “Are you kidding me? Why are you sending this to me? You think I’m going to go drop what I’m doing and go buy your book or stop what I’m doing here and go follow you on LinkedIn because I don’t know you but you asked me to go do that?” It’s like, no, like, like who said to go do that, you know, that’s not how it works.

I hate those the most – like, the people that as soon as you become, you know, connected with them, “Oh, will you go over to LinkedIn and follow me there too? And actually I like to chat on LinkedIn.” I was like, uh, delete. unfollow.

Rachel Moffett: You’re on Twitter. So that’s great that you like to chat on LinkedIn, but right now you’re on Twitter. Maybe you should start chatting on Twitter instead of trying to direct the conversation elsewhere.

But I mean, I’m glad that we’re not getting all those auto DMs that we use to, that’s like, “Hey, check out my book. Check out this. Sign up to my email list blah, blah, blah.” It was absolutely ridiculous to get, you know, so many of those a day.

And I think one piece of advice that people can kind of take away from that is I think it’s smart to reach out to somebody that you’ve just started following in the DMs and have a genuine conversation with them. Not a conversation that’s like, “Hey, follow me here. Buy this,” whatever.

I mean, I get emails from people that are like pitching different things to me that make absolutely no sense to my business or pitching something that I’ve clearly stated on my contact page that I’m not interested in.

I think it’s worth it to do your research, get to know somebody a little bit, figure out what they’re all about, and then send them a DM and to have a genuine conversation that way. Not Pitching, not any of that, but I think we can all have some really great conversations in the DMs if we’re just smart about it.

Madalyn Sklar: I love that for sure. Great, great insights there. Cause DMs used to really suck. I used to hate ’em. And I remember when I first started this podcast in 2015. You would hear me talking about, like, how anti DMs I was.

I remember I had Mari Smith on in 2015, and she was telling me that her DM box was virtually impossible for her to us and it was a real shame that something that could be very valuable for us as marketers becomes useless because of the bad apples that are ruining it for everyone.

But these days, my DM is amazing. Like I have so many great connections with people in there that helped me and my business. I’m sure you do too.

Rachel Moffett: Oh yeah. I mean the DMs that I get nowadays are so much better than what you got when you followed somebody and immediately got some pitch about something that was just totally irrelevant. Something you were interested in. I mean, I know some people claim that these auto DMs worked for them, but I don’t really know how.

Madalyn Sklar: Oh, for the people that say it worked for them, it was that numbers game of “Let me just be a bad marketer and let me just send out those form form letter type messages to people. And most people are going to ignore it, but that occasional person is going to say yes and they’re going to buy something from me. And it was worth it.”

It’s like, no, it’s not worth it because most of us don’t appreciate being contacted that way. Most of us are going to unfollow or even block you for doing that in the first place. Um, so yeah, and I love that Twitter is really starting to focus more on that DM box and doing some cool things. You know how right now, uh, as you know, they are doing some new features.

Not everybody has them yet, but I do have the new feature on desktop where you can search for DM messages, which I am so excited. What do you think of that? ‘Cause I’m really excited. It’s like sometimes I have these old messages with people on this slide is hard.

I mean the work around is just go to that person’s Twitter account and click on the little envelope and get back into DMs, but to actually be in your DM box, go to the search bar and type in their name and have that conversation come right back up. I think that’s huge.

Rachel Moffett: Oh yeah. I mean when you were telling me about this … I still need to go and check and see if I have it because I haven’t yet. But you’re right. I mean it just wasn’t user-friendly to have to remember, OK, “what was that person’s name? What was that person’s user …” cause, like, what if you were having a conversation with somebody, but maybe you just couldn’t remember their name?

Then you’re really not going to find it, but to have to remember their name or their username and then go to their page, click on the message button and then have it pop up. It’s not user-friendly.

So it’s kind of crazy to think that it took Twitter this long to put a search box in the DMs. Like that seems like it’s something that should have been there from the beginning, but I do think that’s going to make it so much easier, especially if you’ve got conversations that you want to follow up on.

Maybe your inbox is a really busy place. I mean, there are good people out there who probably get tons and tons of DMs a day, and they just can’t possibly find the conversations that they’re looking for and now they’re going to be able to and do that easily.

Madalyn Sklar: Exactly. And so for those of you listening, go go to desktop Twitter. Go to twitter.com on your desktop to see if you have it. I use Chrome. Um, I don’t know if it matters what browser … I don’t think it does. Um, but, uh, when I go in there and I click on Messages …

You know, we got the new Twitter desktop layout now, and on the left side you’ll see Messages. And when you go in there, uh, when you see all the different messages, there’s a bar right above it that says “Search for people or groups – in groups.” You can’t do a keyword search.

Um, and I don’t know if that’s ever going to become available, but for now this is kind of nice that you can actually type in someone’s name and easily get back to that conversation you had.

So I love that Twitter is … They’re putting out lots of great features right now, which I really like, but this I think is going to be good that they’re focusing on the messaging aspect. Uh, ’cause now that auto DMs are gone and we’re not being bombarded with crap, more and more people, I think, are using … I know so many people that are into using DMs, and I love using it. So I think this is going to be a big plus for Twitter.

Rachel Moffett: Oh absolutely. I just checked, and unfortunately I don’t have it yet, but I’m sure it’ll show up soon when it starts rolling out more. But yeah, I’m excited to start using it ’cause it’ll definitely transform the way people are using their direct messages.

Madalyn Sklar: I agree. And some of the … It’s really interesting with some of these updates. There’s really no rhyme or reason as to who gets it and who doesn’t because there’ve been like the Twitter desktop feature, you know, now everybody has it or if you don’t have it, you will at any time.

But I’ve had it for like since last year. Like I’ve had it, you know, they, they always have early users that have access to things, and I’ve had the ability to use it for a very long time. I didn’t like it.

So I just kept using the, the old Twitter, not the new Twitter. Uh, but now we all have no choice.
If you have it now, you cannot go back. I liked how you could go back and forth before, but now we’re stuck with it. But I’ve grown to like it.

I do have an article about it on the new Twitter design and a podcast episode talking about it. So, for those of you listening, y’all can check. I’ll make sure it’s in the show notes. Um, you’ve shared a wealth of information, Rachel. Last thing I want to ask you: What are some of your favorite tools and apps that you use that helps you do Twitter better?

Rachel Moffett: So I would say there are three tools that I really rely on. The first one would be … For me personally, I use Buffer just because Buffer is super simple and straightforward. Buffer is actually the first scheduling tool that I ever used for any social media, so I feel a very like fondness for Buffer.

They have a very soft, very, very special place in my heart because they, they’ve done nothing wrong to me. They’ve been a great team, and I think their customer service has been fantastic as well. Buffer’s awesome for that. So I highly recommend Buffer for anybody who’s looking for really simple, straightforward and affordable scheduling tool.

The other one would be TweetDeck, which you can schedule from there as well. That’s actually what I use for all the Twitter chats. And even when I schedule out the questions for #ContentWriting Chat, I do all that in TweetDeck, as well, because it’s super simple, easy to keep it all in the same place.

And then the third one would be Canva because I don’t have graphic design skills whatsoever. May have Photoshop on my laptop. Don’t ask me how to use half of the things in it. I can’t. So I rely a lot on Canva, and there are templates to create really nice-looking social media graphics. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have any graphics on social media because I wouldn’t know how to do any of that.

Madalyn Sklar: I love Canva. It’s such a great … It is great for us nongraphic designers because I have Photoshop, too. I can only do like maybe 10% of what Photoshop can do cause it’s like it can do so many amazing things, but there’s such a learning curve. So I know how to do some very, very minor things. But uh, yeah, Canva I definitely rely on for sure.

Those are really great tools. I love those. I’m so glad you shared those. I’ll make sure links are to all of that in the show notes so people can check it out.

All right, last thing, how can people get in touch with you? I’m sure some of our listeners are going, “Rachel is cool. I want to go connect with her. I want to go follow her on Twitter and everywhere else on social media. I want to check out her Twitter chats as she runs for Express Writers.” So how can people get in touch?

Rachel Moffett: Yeah, well you can, of course, find me on Twitter at @RedheadRachel, or you can always find me behind the Express Writers account, which is Express Writers, well E-X-P-W-R-I-T-E-R-S, and we do #ContentWriting Chat first Tuesday of every month at 10 a.m. Central.

Madalyn Sklar: And for Redhead Rachel, it’s R-A-C-H-E-L. Right? It’s how you spell Rachel. Right?

Rachel Moffett: Yes.

Madalyn Sklar: Awesome. Thank you so much, Rachel, for being my guest. I’ve known you a long time on Twitter, and I love all the stuff you’re doing out there. And I just knew you’d be so great to have on and share your, your tips, your advice, your expertise. So this has been great. Thank you so much.

Rachel Moffett: Thanks for having me.