But getting back to business, and in the same vein as my past webcomic networking articles, let’s talk about Twitter. First, if you don’t use it,  I want you to forget everything you’ve heard about it, or have read about it in the newspaper (or worse, in newspaper COMICS.) What is Twitter? Twitter is like a giant IM message board without the pressure of carrying on an extended conversation. It’s a forum where there is no such thing as tl;dr (too long; didn’t read, for the uninitiated) because each message must be 140 characters long or less. As you have most likely heard, Twitter is ALSO an instant newsfeed. From the latest messages from the revolution in Iran, to spacewalk updates from NASA, to status updates from your favorite comic creators, you can follow people, ask questions, or simply keep up with what the hell is going on in the world.

There are a bunch of affiliated sites and applications you use to expand the Twitter experience as well. Twitpic and Yfrog use your Twitter login to give you an instant photogallery (with comments) attached to your account. Apps like Tweetdeck and Twhirl let you “Tweet” from your desktop instead of the online interface. There are of course, many more applications, but I’m not going to list any more. It’s not too important.

Twitter also lets you send private messages (direct messages) as well as public directed messages to a specific person in the form of @username.  Profiles can be private or public. Topics can be marked with a hashtag in the form of #topic for easy searching. For example, a tweet may read, “my #webcomic just updated! http://warofwinds.com.”  A friend might then “retweet” my message, “RT @kezhound my #webcomic just updated! http://warofwinds.com.” (kezhound is my username there.) Other friends may also retweet. When a message is retweeted, not only does everyone who follows you see YOUR message, but everyone who follows the person who retweets you ALSO sees the message. Get it?

That, in a nutshell, is Twitter. Forget the fancy-schmancy “microblogging” bullshit. It can be as boring or as funny or as interesting as you want it.

Anyways, for the past couple months, ever since I caved to my buddy Canterrain’s repeated attempts to get me ON there (I was a doubter for damn sure), I’ve been on Twitter, using Twitter, and networking on Twitter to help get word about my webcomic out there. Here are my referring stats since I’ve started (click to enlarge):

Yes, there is an obvious trend. A very good trend. Twitter has surpassed DeviantART in my top 10 referrer list.

How to Network with Twitter:

I’m going to use the “d” word: diversify. Webcomic readers are still such a small audience compared to every other blasted thing on the internet that you CAN’T just cater to them and expect any kind of real result or new readers. I encourage people to use Twitter to introduce an entirely new audience to your work. You can do this by finding and “following” people with similar interests to you, and making friends. For example, I’m heavy into the martial arts, and there are tons of martial artists on Twitter. I follow a bunch of them. I don’t wave my comic in their face and ask them to retweet that. That’s small, petty, and will be ignored. Rather, I try to create a raport, and move on from there.

How do you find people with common interests? You can try a trending topic. In the search bar after you make an account, plug in a search term. For example, I might try “martial arts” or “#martialarts.” Another place to look is TwitR, a Twitter directory. You list yourself using the hastag method described above with 3 different descriptors. For example, #webcomics #martialarts #kayaker. This way, people can find you, and using their directory, you can also find others.

Since you are a comic creator though (at least, most likely you are, since you are reading this), you SHOULD definitely be posting about your work. For example, “Working on Monday’s comic. It’s a doozy! Here’s a preview!” Every time you update, post a link to your site. Every time a friend on Twitter updates, try to RT (retweet) them, because they will most likely RT you back.

Since Twitter allows only short messages, if you need to post a URL, use a URL shortening service like TinyURL. You plug in something long, and they give you something short that redirects to the original URL.

Twitter has a lot of spam/bot accounts, and they WILL follow you. This is nothing to be afraid of. For example, if I post something about…Ford Trucks…I WILL get Ford truck bots following me. If I don’t follow them back, I don’t see any messages they send. Twitter is working very hard to lessen the number of bots, and recently last week purged thousands.  Just try not to be annoyed or frighted of “all these strangers” following you. Sometimes people you DON’T know will follow you. You DO have the option to block them. Bottom line, like any social networking site, don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your boss or mother to see.

Don’t tweet stupid, inane stuff. “Putting in a load of laundry. Almost out of detergent. There are 3 pairs of socks in my hamper. Life is boring.” Accounts full of this stuff give Twitter the horrible reputation it has.  Status updates are one thing, “Going to the beach with the dog and fam! Back in a few hours!”, but lists or trivial/boring-ass statements do not help you, especially if you are trying to introduce your comic to a new audience. The goal is to find people to follow you, who thereby see your messages when you post your links. No one follows boring people. They “unfollow” them. Be interesting. Be funny. Be snarky. Be friendly.  Be a character.

It’s not a contest. Put the rulers away, we’re not measuring here. Yes, people who have more followers have more people who follow their links back to their sites. Yes, people with tons of followers aren’t likely to follow some smallfry back. But remember, you’re there to spread the word about YOUR work.  Don’t comare yourself to other people, just keep pushing to get your work out there.It’s not about numbers.  It’s a free way to introduce more people to your comic.

Involve yourself. #Followfriday happens on Fridays. You’re supposed to post the profiles of people you think other people should follow. For example, I could tweet, “#followfriday @xyliatales @canterrain @Senshuu @godspack #webcomics.” #Webcomicwednesday is something I THINK I started a couple months back. I’m not too sure. Someone may have thought of it before me and it just didn’t catch on. Anyways, on Wednesdays, you could post, “#webcomicwednesday follow @xyliatales for latest updates from http://xyliatales.com.” See how I did that? An @ and a URL.  If you passively sit by on Twitter, tweeting just about yourself and never TRYING to ACTIVELY network, you won’t network. Networking is active. It requires legwork. It requires you making friends FIRST and taking the first step to help advertise someone else. They in turn may advertise you back. This goes for people outside of the webcomic community on Twitter as well. Remember that whole “diversify” thing?

Personalize your profile page. For the love of cacti, INCLUDE YOUR URL IN YOUR PROFILE AND MAKE A SHORT BIO.  This not only lets people click your name to find your site, but ALSO proves you are not just another spam account. You can even create a personal background image on the profile. Here’s mine (best viewed in 1280px-wide resolution, or wider).

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That’s about it from me! Please feel free to post your Twitter profile in the comments here. Use it to network. There are also threads in various forums specifically for passing around Twitter accounts.

Stumble Upon works well if you’ve got connections, but then again, that is how it works at ANY networking site.  If you don’t have anyone to network WITH, no one finds what you want to share (in this case, your site). So the first step of getting SU to work for your webcomic is to “subscribe” to other people. Members on TWCL will want to get in on this thread, but since the thread is old, you may want to shrug off the complaints of others and start your own.  People are far less likely to subscribe to you [even if you subscribe to them first] from old threads.  You will of course, be immediately directed to this pre-existing thread by multiple users complaining about bad forum etiquette, but I will leave the decision of whether or not to create a new thread up to you. I don’t know if any have been started at Comic Genesis, Webcomics.com, or Drunk Duck.

How SU works: Subscribing to others, and having others subscribe to you is incredibly important on Stumble Upon because it increases the automatic popularity of whatever webpage you stumble.  (A “stumble” by the way, is what it’s called when you tell SU that you like a site. It is a good thing! Contrary to the traditional definition).  Whenever you stumble a page (I highly recommend the FireFox add-on Stumble Upon Toolbar), it appears on the “what’s new” page of everyone subscribed to you. If even ONE of those subscribed you does a follow-up stumble, the page then appears on all of the “what’s new” pages of everyone subscribed to THEM, and so on and so forth. It’s a very…viral…process.

Other than subscribing to others and being subscribed to, the more you rate and review sites through SU, the more weight all your ratings get. So, basically, the more you use SU, the more it does for you.

One of the best features SU has for webcomickers is the ability to “send” a page to friends.  For example, if I had a comic page I was really proud of, I would send the page to friends, and ask for a stumble and/or review. This is a feature to use RARELY.  Do not ask for stumbles from your friends at every update. It is highly annoying. Everytime you ask for a stumble, be aware that internet etiquette demands you be willing to RETURN that stumble and review if you are asked.

What to Expect: The viral spread of SU “thumbed up” pages means you can get a lot of visits in a very short time. It can be a major force to increase the pageviews of your site (for example, if you are paid by CPM, this can be a VERY good thing), but the visits you will get will rarely result in new readers.  Webcomickers have to face it that webcomic readers are few and far in-between; they are a small audience, more of a clique than we’d like to admit.  You may get a lot of visitors for a day or three from a single stumble through SU, but you will also have a very low average pageview/visitor number.  The majority of people who go to your site from a stumble will have no idea what a webcomic is, will check out your site for a second, and then leave (this an article I’m getting ready to write: the problem of advertising to “webcomic-ignorant” audience).  Gag-a-day comics definitely have a leg up on story-based comics when networking this way.  If a page in the middle of a story-line is stumbled, no new visitor will know what is going on. A gag-a-day comic might make people explore for more laughs.

Those of you interested in using SU on your own site, check out AddThis and of course, the SU buttons.

EDIT: JGray of Mysteries of Arcana and 2nd Shift also mentioned via Twitter that SU can also be a tool to increase Project Wonderful bids. Some may find it “unethical” since SU traffic is rather…unsubstantial…but hey! It’s out there for you, and he’s right. PW doesn’t differentiate between what kind of visitors you get, just that you’re getting them.

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Another short article today, something veteran SU users might turn their noses up at, but then again, this studio blog is about basics.  ;)

Next up, an article near and dear to my heart: having your comic OFF the main page, and how to do it RIGHT.

Here is the result of my first networking attempt, using Deviant Art as a means of free advertising through their pre-existing network of art-minded folks. I call this “networking” instead of “free advertising” because to get it to work, you really have to network (ie, connect) with people there.  You’ll need to do some legwork and make friends with others first OR have art that is great enough people will try to make friends with YOU.

First, for those of you who have not heard of Deviant Art, have no clue how it works, or how it differs from a gallery on your site, an explanation: DA is like the internet of art galleries. In one member’s gallery, you find links to their favorite pieces, and from them, more and more links. It is a web of links, and sharing who and what you like is what it makes popular (and how the whole things works).  You upload your work, and it’s posted on the front page of Deviant Art itself.  If you have people who “watch” or “follow” you there, they are notified of every update you make. This notification and exposure system it what makes it different from a gallery on your own site–AND how it brings you new visitors.

I have been a member of Deviant Art since August 2008.  By posting my comic pages there, with a link back to my site in the author’s notes, my DA account is my 19th (108 visits to be exact) top referrer this past month. And I’m not very active there! If I posted more art, more sketches, made more contacts there, I could easily increase that number.  But my point is that this type of networking is FREE advertising for you.  For the minimum amount of effort (creating a gallery, posting your comics, putting a link back to your site) you get access to a HUGE pool of prospective readers.

So, to summarize, webcomic networking via Deviant Art works with even minimal effort.

I will write articles on them later, but Twitter and Stumble Upon also work well with minimal effort. Most webcomic forums I visit have threads expressly for networking via sites like these. I encourage you to try these places out, one at a time, if you haven’t already. I say “one at a time” because if you are trying these out for the first time, don’t overdo it.  Results can be slow if you do not already have a base of people with which to network, and you may feel disappointed. But, you can take it from me, it DOES work, but how successful it will be will depend on VOLUME: how many people are linked to you as friends/watchers/etc, and how often you update.  Not to mention, of course, the quality of your content.

That’s it for today, just something simple! Next up, a review of the ad company Adtegrity.