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What Does Social Media Mean to Me?

Social media has become a big part of my life. And here is how that all went down.

The truth is, I started going online in early September of 1997. It was my 35th birthday, and Princess Diana had just died. I was not a big fan of hers.

This does not mean I was actively hostile or even uninterested. It was more that I was not a royals watcher. And I am still not much of one.

Whatever Harry, Meghan, Will, and Kate are doing is not much more fascinating to me than what the Kardashians are doing.

That is, not much at all. But I digress.

I was shocked to find people (this was on MIRC) who had whatnot to talk about. Now, this was not a great swath of highly intellectual jargon. And I was not making deep, long-lasting friendships.

But I was finding out that there were people out there with something to say. And, I was learning that I, too, had what to say.

Then Came the Early Years

I switched over to the New York Times’s forum, Abuzz, in maybe 1999. There, I found more intellectual discussion but also a lot of silliness and a lot of heart. The friendships were deeper.

In fact, I am still friends with some of the people from that time.

When Abuzz finally folded, Able2know.org was born. This continued the smart talk but it also opened up less intellectual talk.

Facebook

I joined Facebook on October 5, 2008.

And when I first got there, it, too, was a more geeky and almost intellectual place. But that changed.

At some point, Facebook converted to a more egalitarian site much like it is today.

And through it all, social media has been my BFF.

Community Management – Collection of Users to True Community

Going From a Collection of Users to a True Community

What is a True Community?

I’ve written at least seven obituaries.

That is, perhaps, an odd thing to confess. But when Jill, Kevin, Paul, Joanne, Olen, Joan, and Mary all passed on, it was up to me to write something, to not only commemorate their lives, but to try to help comfort a grieving community.

I am not saying you will write as many, or even if you will ever write even one. And I certainly hope you will never have to, as they can be gut-wrenching.

But it was with the first one – Mary’s – that it became manifest (if it was not already self-evident) that, to paraphrase the old Brady Bunch theme, this group had somehow formed a family.

How Can This Happen to Your True Community (Without the Tragic Part)?

But no one has to cross over to the other side in order for your collection of users to coalesce into a Community with a capital C. The secret is very simple, although many companies do not want to hear it: it is going off-topic.

Let us assume, for example, that your community is a corporate-run one. And the product is a soft drink. Corporate tells you to stay on topic, on message. However, your users are saying something very different.

For it is easy, as you are talking about the soft drink, to slide into discussing foods eaten with it. And frankly, for such a community you would almost have to go off-topic. Nobody but a truly dedicated corporate marketer can talk about a soft drink 24/7.

Food slides into a discussion of recipes. Recipes turn into a talk about entertaining. And then suddenly you are all off to the races and talking about family relationships.

Corporate tries to pull you back on topic. Yet your users pull the true community ever further away. And they pinball from family relationships to dating, raising children, and elder care, if you let them.

The Community Manager’s Role

Here is where you, as the Community Manager, can talk to Corporate and forge a compromise. Corporate needs for people to talk about the product, tout it, and virally promote it. And they need people to make well-ranked (on Google/cited by AI) topics about it.

Corporate should also realize that they need to hear the bad news about the product as well. The users need to talk.

So, make a compromise. One way is to create an off-topic area and move all off-message topics there. And be fairly loose with your definition of what is on topic.

In our soft drink example, the recipes topics, even if they do not use the product as an ingredient, are still close enough so you could consider them on topic.

Also, do not be surprised if the corollary is true. Hence topics that begin on message veer off it, even by the time of the first responsive post. That is okay.

Those topics should still be considered to be on message.

Because Google is far more concerned with a forum topic’s title and initial post than with its tenth response. And for AI, whether a question is answered well and clearly will matter more than some off-topic stuff. For the most part.

The Benefits of the Off-Topic Section

Do not be shocked if your off-topic section becomes a large one. And recognize that you and your Moderating staff (if you have one) may need to make on message topics in order to continue creating germane content.

But your true community will be talking and the site will be a lively one.

If it is a party that is going nonstop, your users will stick around and from this you can build a marketing database. And that is one of the standard corporate aims behind creating a community in the first place.

So, when your users start talking about life events, such as births, school, divorce, moving, jobs, marriage, children and, yes, deaths, it matters.

And when they start supporting each other through each of these phases, it marks a bright line distinction between a haphazard agglomeration of users and a true team of like-minded individuals.

Finally, that team, that family, that army, is what being in a true community is really all about.

Want More About Community Management?

If my experiences with community management resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about how online communities work.

Community Management Tidbits

Here are some posts about my years in community management, and what I have learned.


A Day in the Life of a Community Manager
Analytics
Going From a Collection of Users to a True Community
Risks of a Community Without Management
Are Off Topic Posts Ever Okay?

Want to see more from me, on writing, and the business of being an independent author? Click here to add my site as a preferred source.

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Community Management — Get Together

Conquer Your Fears and Get Together

Yes, you can—and should — get together! Life online is all well and good. Many of us spend large chunks of our time connected, whether that is via a desktop PC, a smartphone, a laptop, or a tablet. Newer technologies will, undoubtedly, make it even easier to get and stay connected.

But sometimes you’ve just got to say: Stop the Internet, I want to get off!

Of course you go offline every night for bed (er, you do, don’t you?), at the absolute minimum. But there is more to it than that.

When your community has been around for a significant period of time (say, a year), your users are going to, naturally, be curious about meeting one another. In person. With no screens dividing them.

And this is excellent. It is a sign of the community jelling. You should encourage this. Or, if you like, you can even suggest a meeting yourself.

I mean, why the hell not?

Informal Gatherings

For informal gatherings, there is little, if anything, that you need to do. If you can attend, great! And if you are not able to, ask people to take pictures. However, remind your users they should get permission before they take any photographs and post them online.

Furthermore, if there will be minors present, emphasize that photographs of them really should not appear online. Be prepared, if the child’s parents ask, to remove such photographs if they end up on your site. But that is about it.

Formal Gatherings

Formal gatherings allow for a lot more dazzle. A get together can be as expensive or cheap as you like. Your attendees might wish to reserve a block of hotel rooms, or even a hall. Or you might just need to make reservations at a restaurant.

Or you could think outside the restaurant, and consider a visit to a museum, historical attraction, or nature preserve. Your group might enjoy attending, say, a minor league baseball game (it is often a nominal fee to get your site or company mentioned on the scoreboard or over the public address system. Usually this takes the form of a charitable donation).

Or your users might even enjoy a potluck, or a cruise, or a bowling tournament for fun. They might like to run a 5K race (or just watch) or even attend lectures or form a book group. And they might even enjoy helping to build a house for charity or volunteer at a soup kitchen for the day. The only limits are your imagination and the focus of your community.

Because a forum devoted to young mothers, for example, might enjoy a gathering where they can bring their children. Whereas a board focusing on a hip hop artist might prefer attending a concert.

Get Together Swag

For a gathering (in particular, for one specifically planned and sanctioned by you), it is nice to bring swag. That is, forum- or company-specific merchandise. Make it free for the taking! Hats, tee shirts, frisbees, key chains, whatever you like.

The young mothers’ forum might like diaper bags or onesies. That hip hop forum might like licensed mix CDs, or special music that they can download.

Just give them the URL and a key or password, so they can get it exclusively, at least to start. And, it is never a problem if people begin to share the URL and the password. Because you want them to do this.

Gatherings are fun. It is so neat to finally see and get together with people you only know from online. Once you have heard their voices and seen their mannerisms in the flesh, you will never read their posts the same way again.

Want More About Community Management?

If my experiences with community management resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about how online communities work.

Community Management Tidbits

Here are some posts about my years in community management, and what I’ve learned.


A Day in the Life of a Community Manager
Analytics
Going From a Collection of Users to a True Community
Risks of a Community Without Management
Are Off Topic Posts Ever Okay?

Want to see more from me, on writing, and the business of being an independent author? Click here to add my site as a preferred source.

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A Day in the Life of a Community Manager

A Day in the Life of a Community Manager

Whether paid or volunteer, the life of a community manager tends to be fairly similar. Community management can be a piece of social media marketing and management, but it does not, strictly, have to be.

Most of a Community Manager’s time divides into three different modes:

1. Discussions
2. Nurturing and
3. Disciplining AKA Trust and Safety

Discussions

The discussion piece involves creating new discussions and shepherding them along. Users will not return, day after day, without new content. While the users are, ultimately, responsible for the content in a community, the Community Manager should create new content as well.

This is not always topics as it can also encompass informing users about changes in the site blog (if any) and even a Facebook fan page (if it exists).

This discussion piece will evolve as the community evolves. In a community of fewer than one thousand users, content from the Community Manager might be the only new content for weeks! Which…can sometimes be problematic.

As such, it can loom very, very large. But it can also have a much stronger calming effect if other content is snarky.

As the community grows, regular Community Manager contributions should diminish. But there should still be some involvement. Otherwise members may feel the Community Manager is hanging back a bit too much.

It is a community, and that means that the users want to know the Manager(s). An easy and somewhat safe way to do this is by creating discussions.

On Topic/Off Topic

And the discussions need not always stay on topic! Lively discussions can be almost spun from whole cloth if the Manager can get the people talking. An automotive community might thrill to talking about cooking.

A cooking community might engage in an animated discussion about the Olympics. And a sports community could very well bring its passion to a topic like politics.

In particular, if the community is single subject-based (e. g. about, say, Coca-Cola), going off-topic should probably at least peripherally relate to the overall subject.

Hence Coke could branch out into cooking and, from there, into family relationships. Or into health and fitness.

But a push to discussing politics may not work unless it stems from a major recent news item or if there is precedent. And, if you get started with politics, it is maddeningly hard to put that genie back in the bottle.

Finally, if a member is ill, or has passed on, getting married or having a child, an off-topic discussion can spring naturally and effortlessly. This happens regardless of the community’s main subject matter.

Corporate management may not love off-topic discussions. But they keep a community together, and they do help to keep it viable.

Nurturing

The nurturing piece relates to the discussion aspect. However, it tends to encompass responding to and supporting good discussions on the site.

This is especially helpful if the Community Manager identifies top users who are good at making topics who the community likes.

And then nurtures them to promote their discussions over more inferior ones.

Use nurturing to encourage newbies. And use it to encourage members who might become superstar users if they only had a little more self-confidence. Give them a track record of support and positive reinforcement.

But keep in mind that welcoming people can get old rather quickly. But there is nothing wrong with a form welcome, whether it is an email or a private message or even a popup. Why not explain where to go to contact a Moderator? Or where to look and even where to report if the site is down?

Another use for a welcoming message can be to link to the Terms of Service and any other rules the community must abide by.

The Life of a Community Manager and Relationships

Nurturing can also take the shape of developing relationships with members. The Community Manager does not have to be friends with everyone, even if the site is very small. However, they should get to know the users.

Private messages (if available), writing on a wall or the like can do this.

Furthermore, the Community Manager can use private messages, etc. to head off potential problems at the pass.

Headstrong members might be wonderful when they write on topics not related to their overarching passion. Or they might respond to a tactful request to tone things down a bit. Or a lot.

The Community Manager can encourage those members to take part in those other discussions. The manager can reach out to other community members. Friendship can help to minimize flaming.

After all, it is a lot easier to go ballistic on someone if they are just faceless to you. But with your friend Joe, it is a rather different story.

Disciplining AKA Trust and Safety

And this leads me to the disciplining part. It is often the first thing that people think of when they think of community management. That includes things like pulling spam.

It also includes giving users timeouts or even outright suspending them when their activities run against a site’s Terms of Service.

Trust and Safety can also mean checking content to be sure that it fits community standards. Those can be everything from avoiding porn to getting rid of health misinformation.

The Facebook Trust and Safety team, for example, once had the unenviable responsibility to weed through violent and disturbing imagery. Nowadays, that is a task done by AI.

And it also includes shunning and ignoring. These can be extremely powerful. The Community Manager can help to mobilize other users.

But the Community Manager Must Do It Right

An email or private message campaign is almost always a very poor idea. Rather, the Manager must lead by example. Do not take the bait when challenged, unless it is absolutely necessary. But that is rare.

It is the Community Manager’s call when to take it, particularly if personal insults fly.

Often the best tactics include: (a) get offline and cool off. And (b) ask another Community Manager or Moderator to determine if it warrants disciplinary action. And then enforce that if it does.

One thing a Manager should never forget: there is far more to the community than just the people posting. There is often a far larger audience of lurkers, both registered and unregistered.

They are watching events unfold but rarely comment. By leading by example, the Community Manager can influence not only active posters but also the community at large.

Customer Service is Key in the Life of a Community Manager, Even if the Forums are Free, with no Real Customers

During a typical day, new members register. Also, members lose their passwords, or start and respond to topics. Furthermore, they answer older topics. People engage in private communications (if permitted on the site).

Members may disagree on something and they may do so vehemently. The site may get spam. Or someone might add violent and disturbing imagery.

The Community Manager can become involved as a content creator if content creation lags or goes too far off subject. He or she should discipline difficult members if necessary.

However, generally, a Community Manager’s main task, both daily and over the life of the online community, should be to carefully nurture and shape relationships.

Want More About Community Management?

If my experiences with community management resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about how online communities work, and how to best make them work for you and your organization.

Here are some posts about my years in community management, and what I have learned.


Want to see more from me, on writing, and the business of being an independent author? Click here to add my site as a preferred source.

Going From a Collection of Users to a True Community
Risks of a Community Without Management
Are Off Topic Posts Ever Okay?

Next blog post

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Your Elevator Pitch

Let’s Deconstruct Your Elevator Pitch

We have all heard of what an elevator pitch is. It seems like it is the kind of stuff for some overly eager new sales associates looking to make an impression on the big boss between floors.

But there is more to it than that.

Someone has just turned to you and asked, “You’re a writer. What is your book about?”

Don’t just stand there! You have got to be ready.

Some Ideas for Your Verbal Elevator Pitch

Try something like this on for size.

Imagine if animals started talking, and they told you what to do in a topsy-turvy world.

My book is about Alice; she’s a young girl, a little bored on a sunny afternoon, when she spots a white rabbit. The odd thing about this rabbit is, he’s wearing clothes and talking. She follows him down a rabbit hole, but then she can’t get out.

That is less than seventy words, and the person asking has the basic plot, the name of the main character, and a reason to want to know more.

Also, you do not give away any spoilers with this pitch. Is that important? You had better believe it is.

Your Pitch in Writing

Yes, you need one of these, too. But a written elevator pitch is going to be a little different.

Even if readers know you for writing sweeping, epic sagas, you should still write some short stories. They can be in your universe, or not, although it might help with both marketing and your own personal creativity if they can fit somewhere within your universe.

They do not even necessarily have to be sent out for publication, but they could be good for anthologies. Do not knock that. This is exactly how a lot of people get their starts.

In fact, if you are having trouble breaking in, or want to impress a publisher, try submitting to anthologies. You can get a publication credit and impress the publisher of the anthology. And maybe also impress other publishers.

That is a win-win right there.

Point them there, if someone wants to read a sampling of your work. Do not make them commit to a 100,000 word novel.

Unless, of course, you really feel like alienating a potential customer.

In all seriousness, never, ever do something like that.

How Do You End Both Types of Elevator Pitches?

Why, with a call to action, of course! Why, here’s one right now.

Click to buy Untrustworthy on Amazon

On Balance

Finally, try to have some fun with it. Is your main character funny?

What about quoting one of her best zingers, assuming you do not need to explain the joke (that is key)?

Now that is an off-beat idea for a pitch.

And it just might be memorable enough to snag you a customer.

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Four Important Social Media Stats for Writers

The four important social media stats are for writers and non-writers alike!

Consider These Four Important Social Media Stats

These were four important social media stats for you! This post was, in part, a riff on Four Great Free Tools and Four Important Stats. And I like the important stats. As for the four free tools, I’ll reserve judgment for another day.

These are still somewhat important, but keep in mind that the numbers have undoubtedly changed.

STAT 1 for Writers

53% of people on Twitter recommend companies and/or products in their Tweets, with 48% of them delivering on their intention to buy the product. (ROI Research for Performance, June 2010)

However does this takes into account what essentially looks like spamming (e. g. buy this stuff!) versus what seems to be more sincere mentions of products, e. g. someone says I love this new Gatorade or I think my New Balance sneakers really make me faster?

I know it can be difficult for a large-scale survey of tweets to tell the difference between the two. However, if there is that much of a return, then I figure, the people either know or, perhaps, they just don’t care.

For authors, your best bet may very well be to make sure that your work is a part of the overall conversation. But not in the way of, “A story about the president? Well, here’s my story about a turtle and a Shetland sheepdog!” It’s…probably not related. So, don’t go there.

STAT 2 for Authors

The average consumer mentions specific brands over 90 times per week in conversations with friends, family, and co-workers. (Keller Fay, WOMMA, 2010) – Just what  does this mean? I mention products all the time, but it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m touting them.

Ugh, I hate what they did to my conditioner! Why did John Frieda have to change it?

And that is a far cry from I want some more of that Amy’s Low-Salt Marinara Sauce with Basil – sooo good.

Since the stat doesn’t mention whether the mentions went positive or negative, I suppose it’s a corollary to the old saw, that any press is good press. Note: sentiment analysis is better than it used to be, but still has a ways to go.

For writers, the best move may be to get a conversation centered on your work going, and keep it going.

STAT 3 for Independent Authors

Consumer reviews are significantly more trusted – nearly 12 times more – than descriptions that come from manufacturers, according to a survey of US mom Internet users by online video review site EXPO. (eMarketer, February 2010)

This is how viral marketing works, kids. Because if a company can send out its minions to tout a product, even if not 100% positively (and it’s more believable that way, as it doesn’t look like mere puffery), then folks eat that up. Astroturfing Nation, here we come.

Here’s a counter-example.

When Untrustworthy first came out, people would privately message me and tell me that they liked it. Well, this is lovely and all, but at the time, I had none or nearly no public reviews.

And so, I nicely asked those folks to please review me, preferably on Amazon. I would provide the link, of course! And even when people said it wasn’t their cup of tea, I asked them to review the book, anyway.

Why?

Because a set of 100% five-star reviews for a brand-new author looks rather suspect. Warts and all, my reviews are the real deal.

STAT 4 for Indie Writers

In a study conducted by social networking site myYearbook, 81 percent of respondents said they’d received advice from friends and followers relating to a product purchase through a social site.

74 percent of those who received such advice found it to be influential in their decision. (Click Z, January 2010)

However, this may be more of a function of the pervasiveness of social sites versus their influence. E. g. I truly only hear from some of my cousins through Facebook.

Do I give their opinions more credence than I do passing acquaintances’? Sometimes. But do I get this Facebook-based advice from them because we don’t pick up the phone or send snail mail or meet in person (we’re too far away to do this, anyway).

But to my mind, this is almost like giving the phone company credit for marketing strategy if we chat on the phone. We don’t. Instead, we use Facebook. I think this is a potential confusion of medium versus message.

For authors, your best bet is likely to involve yourself in

Where Do We Go From Here With These Four Important Social Media Stats?

So, are social sites really that important? Is X (Twitter) really that targeted? Perhaps not as much as it was. Do consumers really trust their pals more than they do slick, conventional marketers? Probably maybe, not really and yes.

Even years later, it’s up to the writer (acting as their own Social Media Marketer) to separate the wheat from the chaff with these kinds of stories, and see what’s really going on.

What do you think?

Fifteen Years After This Post Was First, Er, Posted…

… (and over five since it was last posted) keep in mind that numbers shift and, these days, Twitter is called X, anyway.

But these metrics are still good, and they are still vital. For larger businesses, getting case studies published, and getting brand ambassadors on board, is still a terrific and inexpensive way to market. For writers, that translates into reviews.

These types of marketing build trustworthiness (the ‘T‘ in Google’s E-EAT). They also help to build and bolster word of mouth, which is still a vital piece of any marketer’s strategy.

And in the world of AI, trustworthy and clear reviews and answers are a lot more likely to pass muster and be recommended by the likes of, say, Google Gemini.

So, don’t discount these metrics, okay? But do be sure to take the numbers with a grain of salt.


Click to buy Untrustworthy on Amazon

Writers: Do You Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Social Media in Our Society

Social Media Continues its Relentless Pace
Social Media Background Check Being Used For Jury Selection
How Social Media Can Ruin Your Life
Happy Holidays, Social Media Style

Working with Social Media

A Day in the Life of a Social Media Marketer
Social Networking/Social Media Tips
The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts and More
Jell-O on the Wall: Social Media Perfection is Fleeting

Social Media for Writers

The Power of Social Media (Neurotic Writers’ Edition)
Social Media and Writing
Social Media and Writing Part 2
Social Media and Writing Part 3
Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

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What Do You Look Like Online?

So, What Do You Look Like Online?

This post is a riff on a rather old post, Do You Know What You Look Like Online. Essentially, the question is, if you were searching for someone (someone just like you, perhaps), what sorts of judgments would you make? What seems off?

What’s being suppressed, which aspects should you be promoting, and vice versa? Is the picture clear or fuzzy?

The gist of that article is, take control of your information, keep it as a uniform brand and check it every month or so. The corollary to this is one from Shama Hyder Khabani, which is, essentially, don’t spread yourself too thin. Concentrate in only a few places.

My Own Information—What I Look Like Online

Absolutely agreed. When I google my own last name, 40,900 hits come up. And, fortunately, my own website is on page 1 (Yay, SEO!). My Entrepreneur profile (writing I did for work) comes up on the first page of results. So do my Twitter/X and LinkedIn profiles.

Also on the first page are my Facebook profile, and my Amazon author page. Get to page 2 and there’s my profile on YouTube.

Another Angle

Putting my last name into quotation marks yields 6,480 hits. All of the same usual suspects come up on Page One of the results. And nothing is too weird or scandalous. Even MuckRack, which essentially just scrapes for your name, doesn’t have anything bad.

Hey, Bartleby published me!

How Accurate is the Information?

To my mind, checking and rechecking every single month might just be a bit excessive. Is there a need to keep your profile accurate? Sure. Flattering, or at least not damaging? Yes, particularly if you are looking for work.

But to keep it sterile and perfect, as you scramble to make it perfect every moment of every day? Eh, probably not so much.

My own profile is the product of just doing a lot, and it being published. It’s easy to find flattering info on me. What I look like online is competent more than anything else. There’s nothing radical.

As for less flattering stuff, well, let’s just say that I am glad the internet wasn’t around when I was in high school.

Yikes.

But…

I would like to think (am I naïve? Perhaps I am) that potential clients and employers will see the occasional typo and will, for the most part, let it slide unless the person is in copyediting.

I am not saying that resumes, for example, should not be as get-out perfect as possible. What I am saying, though, is that this kind of obsessive and constant vigilance seems a bit, I don’t know, much.

Will the world end if I accidentally type there instead of their on this blog? And, does it matter oh so much if I don’t catch the accident immediately? Even when you consider that I’m a writer. After all, I should know better, yes?

I mean, with all of this brushing behind ourselves to cover up and/or perfect our tracks, and all of the things we are leaving behind, where’s the time and energy to make fresh, new content and look in front of ourselves?

Clean Up Your Presence

To me, there is little joy in reading a blog post or website that looks like the person who put it together was barely literate. But there is also little joy in reading sterile, obsessively perfect websites and blog posts.

A little imperfection, I feel, is a bit of letting the ole personality creep in there. Genuineness – isn’t that what the whole Social Media experience is supposed to be about, anyway?

I refuse to believe – I hope and I pray – that a bit of individuality never cost me potential jobs or any company I’ve ever worked for potential clients.

And if it has, then that saddens me, to feel that, perhaps, people are paying a lot of lip service to the genuineness of Social Media but, when the chips are down, it’s just the same ole, same ole.

Genuineness is great. One you can fake that, you’ve got it made? Please, say it ain’t so.

And don’t get me started on AI.

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Writer Giveaways

Giveaways

So giveaways can be helpful when you are first starting out. Because people do not know your writing, they might not be inclined to spend too much on your work. Rather than pricing down to nothing, do one better: give your book away as a prize. Amazon, in particular, makes it easy. And on GoodReads, this kind of a promotion costs you even less.

Prizes

A lot of the internet is gamified these days. So, what do I mean by that? Essentially, instead of simply telling you that your LinkedIn profile needs work, that site gives you a completion percentage. And it also pits you against your fellow job seekers. So never mind if they have your qualifications. The competition starts even if you don’t want it to. And this kind of competing tends to spur people to action.

Hence you can provide your work as a prize for really anything. I provide it as one of the prizes for the 24 Hours of G & T Fundraiser, and I’ll even send a signed copy if the winner is in the United States (where the shipping costs less; otherwise, I try to order my work directly through whichever Amazon applies to them and then pay the exchange rate).

So if you have some sort of event, there’s no reason you can’t raffle off your book. Do it for charity, even. Just, get it out there, and into the wild. The more copies out there, the better.

Advance Review Copies

Now, Amazon has been cracking down on this a bit so proceed with some caution. However, no one is stopping you from giving away your book for free. The issue arises when writers provide a copy of their work in exchange for a review (generally referred to as “an honest review“, as the intention is to get the truth out of the reviewer and not bribe them to shower you with unfounded praise).

Hence instead of doing an even exchange, your best bet is to simply provide a copy and ask that someone review your work if they see fit.

Spoiler Alert: for most people, if they have a free copy of your book and they liked it at all, they’ll usually leave some sort of a review. This is even if it’s just in the form of stars.

Impulse Writer Giveaways

Furthermore, you can always give things away on an impulse. Or during the promotions day at various writers’ Facebook groups, I will offer my book for free. All a person has to do is show me their receipt for purchasing another group member’s work. To make my life easier, I limit the time, usually to just one week.

I ask if someone will review both our works if they want to. And then I send the book and leave it. By the way, I’ve gotten three reviews this way. That might not seem like a lot, but I have also made some friends. And that helps in ways that go far beyond promotions and marketing.

Writer Giveaways and Takeaways

Consider opportunities for giveaways, prizes, and gamification of your work. Yes, yes, I know you want to make money from your work. I get that; I really do! But sometimes you need to lay out some of your own funds to make it all work. Don’t be cheap about this. When the time and conditions are right, give away at least a few copies of your work. Because nothing builds goodwill and relationships better, or faster.

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Social Media and Writing Part 3

Time for Social Media Writing Part 3

So, Social Media Writing Part 3? Well, it’s more like Social Media and Writing Part 3. Good lord, I do write when I get going, eh?

These posts are related to a Chuck Wendig post on these topics.

When we last left, I was talking about some things not to do. Here are a few more.

You Don’t Have to be Everywhere Online

Don’t become a one-armed paper hanger online. Just like with athletic training, rest (e. g. taking breaks) is a weapon. Furthermore, too many posts will burn you out and they will probably end up hurting each other.

In SEO in particular, too-similar posts can cannibalize each other. And then nothing does well. Of course, you don’t want this.

Now, this does not mean you take three years between blog posts. It does not mean you never tweet! Rather, the idea is to say what you want and need to without overdoing it. You do not need to get back to people in five minutes. Even big-time professionals take some time.

And yes, I am including big-time professionals who have people to do all of this for them. If it bothers you, you can always set an expectation on your blog or Facebook page or the like. But do yourself a favor: don’t be too specific, so as to allow for the occasional weird hiccups in life. If your laptop is damaged during a vacation, you’ll thank me for this.

Don’t Chase the Shiny Stuff

Here is a corollary to the previous tip. By shiny, I mean new platforms. Hot platforms are fun and they can be exciting. Furthermore, it can be helpful to get in on the ground floor, as it were. Or that can be a waste of your time.

Most of us remember when MySpace was big, and Facebook was an upstart. But here we are now, years later, and we can be killin’ it on Facebook without having been there at the very start. So relax. And do some research. Maybe the shiny thing would fit your work and your readership perfectly.

Or maybe it won’t. Experimenting is all well and good. Just take some time and take its temperature and get some metrics.

If it’s not working, stop doing it.

Timing is Everything

We have all heard that expression, and it’s true on social media. But it’s also true in writing. When a big zombie television show stops making new content, for example, readers might be interested in almost continuing the story. I don’t mean fanfiction; rather, I mean similar works in the genre but they do not infringe on copyright. That could be an opportunity to ride the wave.

Or maybe people are sick of those stories, and that’s why the show was cancelled. Without further information, either theory is plausible.

Use Your Spots But Don’t Be Annoying

What? While you should not be a 24/7 advertising channel (nobody likes that, not even born advertisers), you can and should take advantage of certain spots and placements. For example, when you add a picture to a blog post, what do you put in the alt= attribute? Nothing? Sacre bleu!

Excuse me for a moment while I swoon in horror. At the absolute minimum, put your blog post title in there. Even better, add your name or your blog’s name.

Or, are you published and your work is available on Amazon? If it is, then you need to take possession of your author page. Make it so that, if someone clicks on the author name (that would be your name), then they get somewhere. Somewhere with a bit about who you are, and what you are working on next. It is foolish to let this free real estate go.

When people click on the author’s name, they want information. So feed it to them.

But don’t force-feed them, by providing a Twitter stream that is a nonstop ad for your work. That brings me to my next point.

This is a Community. Act Like It.

Way back, when I was a kid (so, the late 1960s, early 1970s), suburbia was where you could borrow a neighbor’s hedge clippers. Or they would come over for coffee and bring a cake and you would temporarily take possession of the plate it was on.

In both instances, you would return the articles as soon as possible, cleaned and ready for reuse. If you broke either, you told the owner, you apologized, and then you presented them with a brand-new one. Or if their kid had a recital and they invited you, you did your best to go. If your dog got loose, they helped find the beast. You get the idea.

People still help each other, of course. And I grew up far from Mayberry. So the concept here is: build each other up. Don’t break each other down. Got praise? Then tell everyone. Got criticism? Then tell the writer privately. Don’t lie on your public reviews, but don’t tear people new ones, either. Even bad writing can be considered unique or ambitious.

And that reminds me: if you get someone’s book, either free or cheap or used or at full price, review it!

Don’t Sacrifice Writing Time for Social Media

This one is important. Yes, you need to promote, and social media is a part of that. Promotions can also include holding book signings, or donating your book to your local library, or handing out bookmarks. But don’t lose your writing time because you’re out socializing (Or in. You know what I mean).

I use my calendar program and I just make a daily appointment with myself. Now, I don’t always keep those appointments. And the one hour I set aside sometimes means 2,000 words and sometimes it means 20. But the appointment is still there.

I urge you to make a recurring appointment so that writing is as important to you as visiting the dentist or changing the batteries in the smoke detector.

And Finally from Social Media Writing Part 3 …

Hard work is everything.

Overnight success stories take years.

You are worth it.

This has been Social Media Writing Part 3. Now back to you, in the comments section. Did I leave anything out of Social Media Writing Part 3 (of 3)? Do tell.


Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Social Media in Our Society

Social Media Continues its Relentless Pace
Social Media’s Seduction AKA Oops, Did I Do That?
Social Media Background Check Being Used For Jury Selection
Social Media: Hope, Hype or What?
Social Media Balance
How Social Media Can Ruin Your Life
Happy Holidays, Social Media Style

Reviews of Books on Social Media

Social Media Marketing by Liana Evans, A Book Review
Book Review – Likeable Social Media by Dave Kerpen
The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder Kabani, a Book Review

Working with Social Media

A Day in the Life of a Social Media Marketer
Five Ways for Charities to use Social Media
Four Important Social Media Stats
Social Networking/Social Media Tips
The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts and More
Jell-O on the Wall: Social Media Perfection is Fleeting
When NOT to Post on Social Media Platforms

Social Media for Writers

The Power of Social Media (Neurotic Writers’ Edition)
Social Media and Writing
Social Media and Writing Part 2
Social Media and Writing Part 3
Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

Next article

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Social Media Writing Part 2

Getting to Social Media Writing Part 2

Let’s look at Social Media Writing Part 2? Er, I mean Social Media and Writing, Part 2.

More about the Chuck Wendig blog post, and my take on it all.

Recap from Social Media Writing Part 1

Let us return to our discussion. In the first part of this post, I talked about the current state of social media, more or less. Numbers are high. The avalanche won’t let up.

Now is the time to talk about you.

Yeah, you.

Your Definition of Success Will Define Your Book-Related Happiness. Choose It Wisely

What am I talking about?

What I mean is, if you go into writing thinking you’re going to become wealthy, stop right there, turn around, and go to actuarial school or something.

Actuarial?

Er, I don’t know. Bear with me, okay?

Just, don’t consider writing as a super-lucrative career. That is rare, which is why most of the people who have become wealthy from writing are household names.*

Furthermore, two of them, JK Rowling and Stephen King, both started in grinding poverty. They both played what I like to call Bill Roulette, where you have five monthly bills but only enough money to pay four. So you mentally spin a big wheel and choose who you’re going to stiff that month.

Although they probably both dreamed of making it big, I imagine their initial goals were things like paying all the bills or getting the transmission fixed on the car.

*Note: there are people who write to market and can do rather well. And you should see how much they spend on ads, promos, covers, etc.! If you get there, great. But do not expect to get there. It is a ton of work. In particular, if you have a day job, it is likely to be out of reach.

Icons

Think you’re going to become iconic, like Harper Lee? You might, yes. It’s not wholly outside the realm of possibility. But don’t go into writing with that as your primary goal. For you will surely be disappointed. Furthermore, before your death, how do you even measure iconic status? If it’s by number of books sold, then you’re back to the fame and fortune dream, supra.

SMART Goal Success FTW

Instead, try defining success in bite-sized terms. And try defining it objectively. Usually that means books sold or reviews obtained.

Goal: sell 50 books. Get 20 reviews. Average 3 1/2 stars or better on the reviews.

There. That’s reasonable, attainable, and measurable. It’s a good old SMART goal. And it’s useful, because at a certain number of ads, Amazon starts serving the link to your book in more places.

You may or may not want to add a time component, but I personally would not. Why not? Because you’ll just make yourself crazy with a self-imposed timeline.

What if, for example, your most devoted and reliable readers end up being middle schoolers? They might not have the time to read for pleasure during the school year. So if you limit your goal to the school year, you could end up feeling like a failure. And then summer would save you. So avoid the heartache and just excise the time element. You’ll be a far happier person.

Nobody Wants to See or Read a Nonstop Advertising Stream

Seriously. Stop doing that. That’s why people are on the Internet in the first place. If they wanted ads, they would be watching network television.

If the only thing you have to talk about is where to buy your book, then I’ve got news for you.

You’re boring.

So please don’t do that.

Instead, divvy up your time. And spend 30% or less of it on self-promotions. For your other time, take 40% for promoting others. And take no more than 30% providing more personal information. Don’t talk about the weather or your lunch, but if you just broke through writer’s block, I bet your audience would love to know that.

Me, I use my personal info percent and a bit of my promoting others percent by writing information/instructional stuff. You know, like this post.

Social Media Writing Part 2 Isn’t Done Yet!

Egad, I had no idea I would write this much! Time for part 3!


Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Social Media in Our Society

Social Media Continues its Relentless Pace
Social Media’s Seduction AKA Oops, Did I Do That?
Social Media Background Check Being Used For Jury Selection
Social Media: Hope, Hype or What?
Social Media Balance
How Social Media Can Ruin Your Life
Happy Holidays, Social Media Style

Reviews of Books on Social Media

Social Media Marketing by Liana Evans, A Book Review
Book Review – Likeable Social Media by Dave Kerpen
The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder Kabani, a Book Review

Working with Social Media

A Day in the Life of a Social Media Marketer
Five Ways for Charities to use Social Media
Four Important Social Media Stats
Social Networking/Social Media Tips
The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts and More
Jell-O on the Wall: Social Media Perfection is Fleeting
When NOT to Post on Social Media Platforms

Social Media for Writers

The Power of Social Media (Neurotic Writers’ Edition)
Social Media and Writing
Social Media and Writing Part 2
Social Media and Writing Part 3
Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

Next article

Leave a Comment

Social Media and Writing

What is Social Media Writing?

Is there such a thing as social media writing? No, I mean both of them. Not the combo.

Social media and writing go together.

Kind of.

I read Chuck Wendig’s post on the two and I want to comment on it.

Basic Info That Can Help Anyone (Really!)

Let’s start with the basics.

Social media will not save a bad book

Unfortunately, it’s true. We have all seen the Twilight tropes, e. g. “still a better love story than Twilight”. My apologies to Stephenie Meyer, and to the people who enjoy her work. She caught fire because she hit a particular market extremely well. Social media did not fuel her success, at least not in the beginning. Although it probably did later, as people shared their joy on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Rather, her work did well, at least in part, because it hit the teen/tween girl market like a bull’s eye. Ever wonder why Bella Swan is so undeveloped with such a bare bones description? It’s so any young girl can dream of being her. Any girl of any race or height or weight or hobbies.

Her publisher, Hachette Book Group, also marketed the Twilight novels very well. At the time the fourth one came out, I received it (it’s called Breaking Dawn) as a bonus because I was working for Hachette in their IT department.

Some people get Thanksgiving turkeys. Some people get …

Er, sorry, Ms. Meyer. I don’t want to turn this into a bash session.

Rather, the point I am dancing around is: what if Ms. Meyer had blasted everything on Twitter and Facebook? What if she hadn’t had a good marketing department behind her? Then she probably would not have gotten so far.

Social media did not improve her works. It did not worsen them, either. Her success arose, for the most part, outside the realm of social media. And it did not save critics from savaging her work.

Converting from one platform to another is exceptionally difficult

You may be fantastic on LinkedIn but stink on X. You may be killin’ it on Wattpad but limping along on YouTube. Or you may even have tons of Facebook friends but few followers on your Facebook page.

True story. I read a lot (duh!). It’s all sorts of stuff. I read fanfiction, I read original writing, I read free stuff, I read NaNoWriMo novels. And I read the classics.

What often interests me is seeing works which are highly rated on GoodReads with so few sales on Amazon that they don’t get recommendations. But with enough sales, your book gets mentioned in those, “If you like __, you might enjoy ___” kinds of notifications.

I see people who are Wattpad gods and goddesses, cranking out tons of super-appreciated chapters and adored by hundreds of thousands of (presumably) screaming fans. Then they try to monetize their work, and it falls flat. New York Times bestselling authors, for real, only sell a few tens of thousands of works in any given week and they make the cut.

So why don’t these Wattpad writers with phenomenal read counts to an order of magnitude ten higher than that end up on bestseller lists?

Social media is a daily tsunami

Part of the reason? This right here. We are all inundated, every single day. Users upload over twenty-four hours of new YouTube content every second of every day. They have over one billion users. Facebook has over 1.7 billion registered users and over one billion of those people access the site on a daily basis. Therefore, Facebook considers them ‘regular users’.

The average number of Facebook friends currently hovers at around 150 or so. X’s users also number in the hundreds of millions.

Given all of these big numbers, you can’t blame organic reach decline on a platform trying to hide posts so you’ll pay for the privilege of advertising (although that’s part of it). It is also a sheer numbers game.

If you have 150 friends on Facebook and it’s your sole platform, you still can’t keep up with it all. If you go on Facebook for 150 minutes (e. g. two and a half hours), that won’t be one minute per friend, as you will inevitably read a headline, take a survey or quiz, like a comment, post a picture, or watch a video.

Social Media Writing – Takeaways

How does this apply to you, the indie author? Does social media writing matter? Stay tuned; I’ll keep covering it.


Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Social Media in Our Society

Social Media Continues its Relentless Pace
Social Media’s Seduction AKA Oops, Did I Do That?
Social Media Background Check Being Used For Jury Selection
Social Media: Hope, Hype or What?
Social Media Balance
How Social Media Can Ruin Your Life
Happy Holidays, Social Media Style

Reviews of Books on Social Media

Social Media Marketing by Liana Evans, A Book Review
Book Review – Likeable Social Media by Dave Kerpen
The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder Kabani, a Book Review

Working with Social Media

A Day in the Life of a Social Media Marketer
Five Ways for Charities to use Social Media
Four Important Social Media Stats
Social Networking/Social Media Tips
The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts and More
Jell-O on the Wall: Social Media Perfection is Fleeting
When NOT to Post on Social Media Platforms

Social Media for Writers

The Power of Social Media (Neurotic Writers’ Edition)
Social Media and Writing
Social Media and Writing Part 2
Social Media and Writing Part 3
Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

Next article

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