Tag: social media

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.

Social Media Balance

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Social Media Balance

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on April 4, 2024

Social Media Balance

Social media balance is sometimes elusive. Yet much like everything else, social media needs to be balanced. Too much, and you’ll alienate your readers. And too little, and they’ll wonder if you’re still alive.

I’ll confine my comments to just blogging, Facebook and Twitter. Of course there are other outlets, but let’s just look at those three.

Too Much

During the 2012 Christmas season here in Boston, the oldies station began broadcasting all-day Christmas music early. How early?

So it was, if I am recalling correctly, before Veterans’ Day. Egad, it was awful. And then of course other radio stations also began their regular broadcast of holiday music. So it was very hard to get away from it all.

Now, lots of these songs are lovely. This is not me slamming religion – don’t misunderstand me. Rather, it was just … c’mon already! Because it was way too much!

It was not festive. Instead, it annoyed people (not just me!). And the same can be said of social media. If you’re a small outlet, a tiny company, a Mom and Pop operation, here’s a little secret. You don’t need to constantly tweet and update Facebook.

Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Overdo It

† You’ll oversaturate the people you’re trying to endear, and they’ll turn off to your message.
• And you’ll burn out.
† Also, you’ll run out of things to say.

Not Enough

It continually amuses me when people say something like, “I have a blog.” And they’ll post their link. However, the last time they updated was 13 months ago, or more, or they’ve never updated. Or it’s a Twitter stream with three tweets, and the account is over a year old. Maybe they have a Facebook page with nearly nothing on it.

Given the number of abandoned accounts, and the number of deceased persons’ accounts on Facebook and the like, followers might be wondering. Have you gone to the great computer room in the sky?

Per my SEO pal Garit Boothe, best practices is to keep everything fresh to the tune of nothing being over 3 months old (so, posts are updated and re-released at later dates).

Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Underdo It

• Your readers will leave you, big time. They may be loyal but today’s audiences are also pretty fickle. You’re no longer shiny and new. So they leave.
† Google still indexes abandoned accounts, although the information is out of date. And it can sometimes end up making you look worse than not having a social media presence at all.
• You show, essentially, that you no longer care about your subject matter. So why should anyone read what you write at all, if even you don’t believe in it?
† The algorithms will smash your site into smithereens.

While the exact, perfect information on any algorithm is proprietary and kept secret from us hoi polloi, one thing is certain. Newness counts. No posting means you’ve got nothing new going on. And it will push your site down in rankings on Google and YouTube. Facebook also values recency. And as for Twitter? No one will be able to find your stuff.

Seeking Social Media Balance

It’s rather Zen, I suppose, to seek a balance here.

But how do you get it?

The easiest way is to consider the people who you follow where you just love their updates. They don’t seem forced or rushed, and they seem to come in, just at the right time.

Don’t think of really big wigs in social media, like George Takei, Shama Hyder Kabani, Wil Wheaton, Guy Kawasaki, or Ashton Kutcher, etc.

Instead, consider your friends, colleagues, and neighbors, even if it’s people who aren’t making (or trying to make) a career out of social media.

Look at their Facebook walls and their Twitter streams and their blogs. What is it about how they handle those outlets that grabs you?

By the way, recognize that a person might be really good at one form of balance, but not at another. That’s not unexpected, as these are all rather different forms of media.

Your friend who crushes it on Twitter might be just plain awful on Facebook.

2 Reasons Why You Should Strike a Social Media Balance

1. Posting too much at the beginning can lead directly to posting pretty much nothing later on, so spread things out over time, and you can avoid both issues simultaneously.
2. Giving yourself a degree of posting responsibility can help you take it all more seriously. Of course you can (and probably should) be playful. But even the silliest of accounts have some form of a schedule, particularly if they’ve gotten large. They can’t just “forget” to post.

Schedule Those Suckers

• If you’re really inspired and have a lot to say, that’s great! But unless it’s time-sensitive, use the scheduling features of programs like HootSuite. Or try Facebook’s own post scheduling feature. WordPress and Blogger both allow you to save drafts and schedule them to publish when you want them to. These functions are your friend.
† Spreading the wealth over time will assure your readers that you’re not just some flash in the pan. It will also assure them that you’re still among the living.
• Too many posts means that many of them will get lost in the shuffle. Too few means that they can loom large, and maybe seem more important than you think they should be. Spread the wealth, and you can avoid both problems.

One more thing about social media balance. While Tweeting, Facebooking, etc. should be mindful, it should also be kinda fun. Overdoing it means that you’re probably spending too much time online.

While underdoing it probably means that it no longer interests you that much. Or, at least, what you’re posting and sending out to the universe has lost its luster.

Consider what either of those scenarios means to you. Because social media balance matters.

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.

Eavesdropping for Fun and Inspiration

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 13, 2024

It’s Time to Start Eavesdropping… For Fun and Inspiration!

So, Eavesdropping? Seriously?

Eavesdropping really works, and it is probably a writer‘s best tool. Once you start listening in on conversations, you will open up a whole new world. Because real dialogue, interspersed with your created dialogue, adds realism. And it’s the kind of realism you may not have been able to pull off by yourself.

Subtlety

First of all, you have got to be subtle. This means maybe you pretend to play with your phone. Or you look out a window or stare into space. Because you should not be obvious about such things.

Furthermore, conversations are often layered. While you are perhaps listening to one person talk to three other people, there is a give and take between that person and the others. However, there are also words passed among the others in the group. Then they might even break off and begin their own conversations.

This doesn’t even get into what happens when you’re in a crowded room. Since it is hard to follow a lot of conversations, concentrate on only one or two. You won’t hear it all, anyway. Furthermore, if you split your focus, you won’t get anything good.

Nosiness

I am not saying you need to be nosy. Furthermore, this is not for gossip. You’re not some latter day Gladys Kravitz. Rather, you are a writer and you are doing research. And do yourself a favor and mix up what you hear. Don’t copy paragraphs outright. Instead, grab a sentence here and there. Write them down and put them away for later. Since you will presumably be writing for years, a sentence might work a decade from now. You never know.

The Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Innocent

Have you ever heard that? Make sure to change names. Or eliminate them altogether. You can also swap gender. Hence if a friend is complaining about her boyfriend, why not change the friend to a man? Or slip the complaint into something else. The complaint could be about your protagonist’s coworker.

Eavesdropping: Takeaways

Be subtle. Don’t use what you hear in order to gossip. Change the details. Finally, don’t repeat truly personal information (bank account numbers and balances, divorce proceedings, fatal disease diagnoses, etc.) unless you change nearly all of the verbiage. Be your usual pleasant, polite, and caring self. Yes, even as you gather some writing fodder.

And by the way, if someone notices you’re using their words, and they don’t want you to, be a sport and change your manuscript. That is, if you care about maintaining any sort of a relationship with them.

If not, then bombs away, I guess.

Eavesdropping — all the cool writers are doin’ it! 😉

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Teasing Your Work

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 25, 2023

Let’s Look at Teasing Your Work

Teasing is a subtle art. It is a lot like a fan dancer’s moves or a shy person’s come-on.

Teasing should feel like a movie trailer because that is exactly what movie trailers do.

Teasers are usually a bit longer than blurbs and are meant to generate excitement. They often end with a question, but they don’t have to. Think of how films are teased if you’re stumped for ideas.

She was spoiled, rich, and beautiful, until the Civil War ended it all.
Scarlett O’Hara has lost nearly everything.
But there’s a rich man who’s interested, and he might even love her.
Can she win Rhett Butler and save her beloved home, Tara?

Revealing Too Much

Don’t get too obvious! In this case, you do not do yourself any favors by spoiling your own book. Notice how the above teasing for Gone With The Wind does not go past maybe the middle of the film?

And how it never mentions Ashley or Melanie Wilkes, the burning of Atlanta, or Scarlett’s first two husbands? In short, it stays focused.

I deliberately left the teaser off at just about when the first big reel ends. It used to be, in the theater, Gone With The Wind would have an intermission, the film was so long. This teaser ends just about a minute after intermission ends.

In fact, this is at least part of how the actual film was edited. The book gives Scarlett two children before Bonnie—one each from her first two husbands. But Wade and Ella aren’t in the film.

Then again, they aren’t in the book that much, either.

Revealing Too Little

This is another problem. If I just said Scarlett was a wealthy woman living a life of luxury on the brink of the Civil War, that would feel a bit incomplete.

I can go a little further, plus adding Rhett Butler’s name to the teaser brings in the chief male character (he’s kind of a main character, but if I had to choose, the main character would be Scarlett).

Marrying Rhett is one of Scarlett O’Hara’s main character drivers, whether it is to secure finances for her family or due to love on her part.

Bringing Rhett into the conversation means the listener or reader gets an even better idea about who Scarlett is, and what motivates her.

So, providing her motivation really cinches it.

The Bare Bones

We have something of a framework here. Of course, none of this is set in concrete. But these elements seem to matter the most.

1. Mention the main character by name.
2. Give a brief background to orient the reader to time and place.
3. Introduce the problem/conflict.
4. Add one driver of the main character’s behavior.
5. Wrap it up with tying the first, smaller driver to the most important driver of the main character’s behavior.

A Teasing Sample

To wit:

Alice is just plain bored, so she gets to daydreaming. When she sees a white rabbit wearing a waistcoat and carrying a pocket watch, it piques her interest.

She follows the rabbit when she hears it talk, and ends up in Wonderland. But Wonderland is odd, exasperating, and often downright confusing.

Can Alice get out of Wonderland with her sanity intact?

Here’s a Second Teasing Sample

Kansas is dreary and nothing ever seems to happen there. It’s a tough place for Dorothy, a girl with big dreams. When a twister drops her, her little dog, and her house into the land of Oz, things seem to be looking up.

But Oz has perils for both Dorothy and her dog, Toto. And Dorothy realizes she misses Kansas and her family after all.

Can Dorothy and Toto get back to Kansas and the people they love?

Practical Teasing Practice

I love practicing on classic works because just about anyone you talk to knows them, even a little bit. And, because they aren’t your own work, the pressure is off. That is, messing up the teaser won’t result in you losing sales or other opportunities.

Less internal pressure can help you be more creative, too. So, consider the following exercise.

Can you write a teaser for a classic work? Try it in the Comments section, and let’s see how you do!

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Social Media: Hope, Hype or What?

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 23, 2023

Social Media: Hope, Hype or What?

Hype? Hope? Now, this subject has probably been done to death but, here I will do it all over again. Perhaps (hopefully!) my perspective will be fresh and/or of some value.

First of all, this post is inspired by The ABA Journal’s take on Social Media. As in the online magazine for lawyers. And they went on about Social Media, much like I have and others have, as well.

Hype Feeds Itself

And I can’t help feeling that that, in and of itself, is feeding the ole hype machine. Is Social Media hyped? Well, let’s put out an article about just that, and we’ll rev up the hype machine and get the word out and and and …. Suddenly, there’s hype about the hype.

Ai chihuahua.

However, there is, perhaps less of a hype issue than there is one of unrealistic expectations. I suspect that most people, if they give Social Media more than a passing glance (and, in particular, if they need to touch on it for business), take one look at it and think: free. Ooh, goody!

This marvelous free thing will supplement (and perhaps eventually supplant) all of the things I have to actually pay good money for! My wealth will increase, in an incredible and exponential manner, because I can put my advertising and marketing dollars elsewhere, outside of traditional (read: expensive) channels, and instead shove it all into some investment that catches my eye. Llama ranching, perhaps.

Traditional vs. Social Media Marketing

Okay. Let’s back up. The real thing is, Social Media marketing isn’t really an apples to apples comparison with traditional marketing. It’s more like holding a town hall meeting and seeing what people have to say about your product. Or like doing community outreach (e. g. having your company send people to work at a soup kitchen or build a house).

It’s like a million networking events. In short, it’s that dreaded, over-used term: relationship building.

And creating relationships is hard. And messy. Plus it’s not necessarily terribly free, at all.

Hype and A Sense of Entitlement

Because I have seen, in many instances, when software on a website changes. And in particular with community forums, people tend to freak out. They have a mislaid proprietary interest in a whole lotta sameness. Or they want the site to be the same from day to day, because that’s familiar to them.

Hence moving the post button from the left to the right, or changing its color, is akin to moving their cheese. So it tears at them.

But, ultimately, they figure it out. And they give it a chance and come back, and pretty soon, so far as they’re concerned things have always been the new way, and were never the old way. Because for them, it’s not about the tools; it’s about the people.

And the same thing should be true for you – and that should knock the hype right out, and for good. It’s not about the tools. It’s not about Twitter, or Facebook, or TikTok, or Groupon, or Yelp, or AirBnB, or MySpace (back in the day), or LinkedIn or StumbleUpon or Snapchat or a billion others. Instead, it’s about the people.

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

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

Social Media for Writers

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A Day in the Life of a Social Media Marketer

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 21, 2023

Let’s Look at a Day in the Life of a Social Media Marketer

What does a social media marketer do all day? There is more to social media marketing than Community Management.

Job titles vary, and nothing seems to be settled yet in terms of prescribed, expected tasks. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not really have a listing although they do acknowledge that social media is out there. They seem to be more or less placing it under Public Relations-style work.

However, a review of recent job postings reveals what social media personnel are mainly expected to do on the job, whether they are called Social Media Marketers, Inbound Marketers, Social Media Specialists or something else.

Platforms

Tasks related to platforms. This is what most people think of when they think of Social Media Specialists, and it includes:

• Blogging – either creating and maintaining one, or encouraging the business or engineering sides to create or maintain blogs, or commenting on and keeping blogs active. May also include polishing prose, suggesting topics and performing research

† Facebook – creating and maintaining a fan page or pages. Possibly make an account (or more than one) to communicate with users and potentially also find rogue fan sites (e. g. those not created by the company).

Perhaps to have them shut down or changed (usually at the behest of the Legal Department)

• X (Twitter) – creating accounts and maintaining them, tweeting to followers, reciprocally following as necessary/desired and possibly also helping to design a background or logo for the company X account(s). These tasks are similar if, instead, the company has an account on Bluesky.
† LinkedIn – creating and maintaining the company profile on LinkedIn, plus adding job openings as necessary
• Sharing and bookmarking services (these have changed over time) – create and maintain accounts. Make sure that blog posts and any company articles and press releases go to these services, and keep track of all mentions of the company and its products on these services

† Articles and Press Releases – working with the Public Relations Department. Release non-secret information in the form of articles and press releases as circumstances permit
• Podcasting and YouTube – working with the PR Department and if there is a Media Relations Department at the company. Create and release appropriate content as circumstances dictate
† Community Management – create, moderate, manage and promote any online communities owned by the company

More Tasks

Other possible tasks include:

• Search Engine Optimization Efforts – in conjunction with the Webmaster, work to promote the site on Google and other search engines, though a variety of activities including but not limited to establishing and maintaining authority with high quality articles and posts, the addition of backlinks from quality resources and helping to select the best keywords for the site.

This also includes working on how to get AI to cite the company.

† Analytics – reviewing Google Analytics (or Yahoo Analytics or Omniture or whatever the company is using). Help the Webmaster reduce bounce rate, increase loyalty, and increase the number of new users and page views

• On-Site Advertising (if applicable) – work with the Marketing Department and the Webmaster. This is to increase overall online advertising presence or decide on advertising for the site (e. g. banner versus skyscraper, etc.)

† Strategy – this is probably the biggest task for a Social Media person. Although it can also be more of a managerial job. Strategy should be defined and covered with the Board of Directors (or owner if the company is small).

Small changes such as adding a link here or there probably do not have to be a Board vote.

But major decisions on direction should be. This can also encompass working with Marketing, such as to determine better ways of presenting and delivering content. This can and should include A/B testing.

• Meetings and the Like – apart from the ones above, the Social Media Specialist should find they are a part of many different teams, potentially assisting with advertising, marketing, public relations, media, and web design

The Life of a Social Media Marketer: Takeaways

There is more to it than just the tools. What a real Social Media Marketer does is far more strategic and analytical and design-oriented. Twitter, etc. are only the beginning, and may be replaced by the next new thing(s) in time.

But well thought out strategy, carefully observed analytics and usable, pleasing design are timeless pieces of the Social Media Marketer puzzle.

And Later Still…

Social media marketing now can also encompass email marketing, or content marketing and management. It veers into the land of SEO as well, and even working with AI. There is nothing perfect about it, and it keeps on changing.

Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then that is just plain awesome! So, please check out my other blog posts about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Working with 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

Next blog post

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Reinvention

Adventures in Career Changing, Welcome to my Welcome Mat, Color Theory Videos, Cheat Sheets, future of the lonely writer, Second 5K, Contact me, Tech Boston, More Than This, First 5K, This Sunday, Monday morning dash, My Appointments, Fun at Andala, Job interview, site map, my reinvention, karmic wheel, sail on, which universe, my videos, Sense and safety, universal explorations, job at Neuron Robotics, Social Media Club, enough spoons, Happy Birthday Mass Innovation, a look at Pegasystems, our collective future, Future of the Lonely Writer, Job Seeking, AI hype train, Writing Freedom, Chance Encounter in Time, Show for the Galaxy, Sense, my sitemap, site map, cheat sheets for you and me,

Reinvention

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 2, 2023

In Which I Turn Myself Inside Out With Reinvention

Reinvention for fun and, hopefully, some profit? Well, kind of. At least, that is the idea.

Reinvention is such a lonely word, isn’t it? We are so used to being one way, and the world is used to it, too. But then there we go, screwing it all up.

I mean, changing it up.

Oops, I mean, improving ourselves.

Well, but what if we liked everything just the way it was?

Ready or not, changes are going to happen. So we may as well embrace them.

Changes

For quite a while, Adventures in Career Changing ended up somewhat stagnant. At the same time, I was running a blog for independent writers called Lonely Writer. The numbers for that other blog were not so great, and they fell off dramatically after I graduated in the summer of 2016. Furthermore, it was costing me some bucks. Hence I decided to simply not allow that URL to renew when it came up again.

Instead, I decided to combine the two works, back here, on Adventures. Because career changing, for me, has also been about writing.

As a result, a lot of the Lonely Writer has simply been republished here.

Cosmetics

You may have noticed me making some housekeeping changes. There is a lot more color. The theme is considerably livelier. But beneath the surface there is another change, and it is not merely a cosmetic one. For these changes also contain adding the Lonely Writer videos, updating what I post here, and what I put on Facebook as well.

And then there is X (or X for Lonely Writer). Plus of course there is still a YouTube channel, although I may eventually figure out a way to rebrand it.*

Some things cannot be changed (such as the audio in preexisting YouTube videos). But for the most part, I have changed anything that can possibly be changed.

*And over ten years after graduating, and I still have not changed it. Heh, ewps.

Reinvention and Going Pro… ish

These transformations are folding Lonely Writer into my professional social media brand.

But please do not worry! What is free is still free! Rather, I want to introduce you to what I can do. So, that is another purpose behind this particular blog post, all right?

I can blog about virtually any topic, and I can write landing pages. I can create WordPress sites, and I can develop and manage them. See, I can get you started on social media platforms. And I can help you with SEO.

As a freelance blogger, my job was to write about maritime law one day and ad retargeting the next, and then about real estate a few days later. And I can still do that, of course.

Reinvention: Takeaways

In the old, pre-Internet days, people like me would put out a shingle.

So, here is my shingle.

A Good Six Years Later and More…

I have worked in regular jobs and not so regular ones. Yet through it all, I have been writing! So, maybe there is something to this after all?

And why am I reposting this a few weeks after Valentines Day? Because self-love is important. And reinvention is a part of that.

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Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 7, 2023

Let’s Look at Promoting Writing With Social Media

Promoting writing is important! So let’s say you’re an amateur writer. You know you should be promoting writing with social media. But how do you get started?

Not to worry; I’ve got you covered, whether you’re looking to sell your work or just get your unsellable fanfiction noticed.

My Background in Promoting Writing and More

I have my Masters’ degree in Interactive Media from Quinnipiac University. I blog, skeet, and go to Facebook pretty much every day. And I did all of that for grades and now a lot of that for work. And for promoting writing with my own name on it.

Furthermore, I have been in the social media space for years, long before the term was even so much as coined. I go back to Usenet.

Getting Started with Promoting Writing on Social Media

So it may be tempting to just plunge right in and start hyping your work on Facebook or Twitter or the like. After all, everyone else is doing it, right? It seems so easy.

And it doesn’t hurt that it’s free. But I want you to take a step backward because we are going to do some basic strategizing. It’s called the POST Strategy.

P is for Personas

A persona, or a buyer persona, is the person who would typically buy your work. This is demographics, generally including gender, age range, and race.

It can include highest educational level attained. It can also include marital status or sexual identity, time zone, and sometimes household income.

I know you don’t have the bucks to hire a team to build a demographic profile. That’s okay. You’re more or less covered online, if you don’t mind some vagueness.

In 2017, Pew Research investigated who in America is reading. You can also pull related data, such as this study on gaming. Google, as is often the case, is your friend.

Once you’ve got your general demographics together, write a short thumbnail sketch of a biography of them. E. g.

Steve loves science fiction as he enjoys the escapism elements. He’s in his thirties and lives in a small town where he has a technical job. Unmarried, Steve wants to escape into the strange worlds that are a staple of science fiction.

Because Steve is bi, and he’s in a small town where that might seem strange to his neighbors, he is semi-closeted. He wants to read about people like him or more or less like him.

He enjoys action and adventure but doesn’t mind some romance in the storyline so long as it’s not dominant.

You are writing a description of your ideal reader. That person might be a lot like you. They might turn out not to be. Plus you might find more than one persona. That’s okay, too.

Naming them, and even giving them a face (just a pic from stock images is fine) will give you someone to connect to. What should you write to Steve? Or Annika? Or Keisha? Maybe Mei-Lin would respond better to different content. Hmm.

O is for Objectives

We’ve all got pie in the sky notions, where we want to be recognized for our art, published, get an agent, make a mint, and hobnob with the best writers we can think of. Or maybe that’s just me. But you’ve got to be realistic here.

What’s realistic? Breaking even, on a first novel, is probably not realistic (although not impossible). But selling at least one copy to someone you do not personally know? That’s a good, attainable goal. It may not sound like a lot, but you start this way.

In other words, crawl before you run.

Do some measuring, in order to know you met your objectives. Amazon shows sales data, and many places show read counts even if you aren’t publishing for $$ at this time. I personally use spreadsheets but I’ve got a data analysis background so this appeals to me.

You don’t need to go nuts! You can get by with just vague ideas, such as to see that sales have gone up, or you haven’t broken 1,000 reads, that sort of thing.

S is for Strategy

What’s your plan? First of all, allow me to suggest one thing right off the top – get HootSuite or the like and learn how to use their scheduling features. Don’t be tweeting in the middle of the night. So schedule stuff. Trust me; scheduling will save your offline life.

Scheduling and strategy also go together beautifully because you can collect a number of older bits of content (posts, landing pages, etc.) and combine and recombine them to see how they do.

Maybe one order or one combo is better than another. You’ll never know until and unless you try, and test. And sometimes fail.

T is for Technology

So now let’s start thinking about platforms. And do some more research (Pew is awesome!). Where is your buyer persona going online?

Our mythological buyer persona, Steve, is fairly young and male. I bet he likes Tumblr and maybe X. Plus he’s on Facebook because many people are. Maybe he uses FB to keep in touch with older relatives.

While he might be on Pinterest (hey, it’s not 100% female), the likelihood is greater that he’s elsewhere.

That elsewhere is likely to be Snapchat or TikTok.

So what’s your mission? To post your promotional links where Steve is. Maybe Betty. Or Lakeisha. Perhaps Hong. Or José. And change up to reach whoever your buyer persona is.

Want to know more about POST Strategy? Go to the source!

More Information on Promoting Writing

However, this barely scratches the surface when it comes to promoting writing. Because there’s a ton more to know! Where can you get started? I just so happen to have a book for that. And it also just so happens to be free.

Ask me anything, here or on Wattpad in the comments for that book. Am I missing something? And do you want anything updated or clarified? I gladly take requests to update the Social Media Guide.

Now go out there and knock ’em dead!

Want More About Social Media?

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

Working with Social Media

† A Day in the Life of a Social Media Marketer
• 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

Social Media for Writers

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Social Media Background Check Being Used For Jury Selection

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on January 26, 2023

Is a Social Media Background Check Being Used for Jury Selection at all Ethical?

Social media background check? What? So, in 2010, the ABA Journal reported that lawyers admitted to using the Internet to ferret out information about potential jurors.

And essentially what happened: in some instances, while reading off the names of the members of a jury pool, a lawyer or paralegal would Google them.

Sometimes the names would be released the night before (at least, in Los Angeles County they could be), but it could also happen where lawyers only learn who would potentially sit on a jury on the day of selection.

State By State Differences When it Comes to a Social Media Background Check

While state courts allow lawyers to bring laptops into courtrooms, Googling the jury panel is not what they have in mind, says Paula Hannaford-Agor, who directs the Center for Jury Studies at the National Center for State Courts.

However, preventing counsel from checking potential jurors’ backgrounds online might pose a Constitutional question and may very well violate the First Amendment. Though the law remains fluid in this area, with no decisions or tests yet.

Personal Thoughts

With all of the above said, I do not know where I fall on the spectrum. Preventing Googling does not just seem like a First Amendment issue. It also seems to exist as more of a common sense one.

Because with the invention of the telephone, when a lawyer suddenly could learn more about jurors (and far more quickly than sending letters or asking a messenger to run somewhere or another), was that ever questioned?

And did it bother the jurors? Or did they perhaps not know about it? Or, maybe even if they did know, were they still so dazzled and flattered by the use of the brand-new technology? Did it make them not care, or see any implications?

Privacy?

And then we have the other end of things. Do I really want to be Googled if I am in a jury pool? Welllll, lawyers look for every other possible advantage and nugget of information. So what would lead me to believe that they would not look there as well?

If I exist as a somewhat sophisticated potential juror (and I have practiced law fer cryin’ out loud), I know that. And in particular in an expensive or high stakes (read: death row) case, both sides will look for every possible angle.

They scrutinize my bumper stickers. And my dress. My hair. Whether I am wearing nail polish. My voter registration records. My work product, which is available online. Because they look at anything and everything.

Plus, as an avid Facebook and Bluesky (and LinkedIn, etc.) user, I well understand the openness of my online life. And, for me, particularly after losing a boatload of weight, I feel it is important to be open about a lot of things.

Perhaps I overshare. No, wait, I definitely overshare. I know my life is open and there are all sorts of cracks in the armor.

Yet at the same time I, like many other people, feel there is still a place to put on the brakes. Somewhere in there, there are vestiges of privacy. However, are they still available to me if I end up in a jury pool?

However, I am not in a jury pool under my own volition. Hence I believe that, even as I share yet another “before” photo or mention that I am turning a particular age or whatever, that I can throw up a wall.

Can’t I? Even a little bit?

Your Thoughts on a Social Media Background Check?

I am curious as to what others think. Is this a squishy, I-want-to-be-left-alone area, or should we all just get over it? Is it the crest of a slippery slope? Would it erode privacy even more? Or did I get all hot and bothered over nothing?

Gentle reader, what do you think?

Over a Decade Later, What is Different?

Right now, a social media background check seems almost quaint. You can more or less expect a social media background check for employment. And you can kind of expect a social media background check by the police. At least, in the higher profile cases, I would think.

Hell, you would probably do well to do a social media background check on yourself. So, this does not feel so weird or invasive anymore.

It is, in its essence, just another way for the legal profession to attempt to get an advantage during a trial or for negotiations, nothing more.

And now that we are seeing motions written by AI, or at least with its help, what is to stop some enterprising inventor from creating a jury selection chatbot?

Then I suppose attorneys could really phone it in. Somewhere in there, could it mean that this starts to turn into a professional responsibility problem?

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 Continues its Relentless Pace
• Social Media: Hope, Hype or What?
† Social Media Balance

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Supercharging Your On-Line Presence

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on January 17, 2023

What Does it Mean When You Say You’re Supercharging Your On-Line Presence?

Supercharging? Yes! This post is a riff on the February 2011 edition of Law Practice Today

About a thousand (er, twenty) years ago, I used to practice law. And, of course, things were far different then as opposed to now. But I have retained some of my old interests and connections, and would get the paper version of the ABA Journal for years after I had hung up my shingle.

Once a lot of that started to go online, I renewed my interest in any number of facets of law practice, in particular how it collides and dovetails with the Internet and, these days, Social Media.

Viral Marketing Gone Wrong

And I have seen enough tone-deaf Social Media campaigns (Able2know is rife with laughably bad viral marketing attempts, for example) to see the need for a publication like Law Practice Today to try to clear up some misconceptions and get lawyers going in a good — or at least non-harmful — online direction.

What is great about this article is that it doesn’t just apply to attorneys.

Get Your Own Domain Name

The first point made in the article is: You need your own internet domain name. Well, yes. And it continues to surprise me when companies and individuals who are attempting to make a splash (or at least not appear to be totally out of it) online don’t do this.

C’mon, people, domain names are cheap! Go to GoDaddy or HostGator and buy one! You can direct WordPress to be posting through a domain name that has naught to do with WordPress. This is not too tough (hell, that’s what I’m doing with my blog), or you can hire someone to do this. It’s a lot, to me, like buying business cards with your actual name on them versus cards that just say “Lawyer”.

Rejuvenate Your Website

The next point is: Rejuvenate Your Website. No argument here. Stale websites are as appealing as stale bread. I am not saying that you need to update every minute or every day or even every week but I see an awful lot of abandoned blogs and websites out there — or at least they appear to be, as their most recent changes occurred in 2010.

That means it’s been at least nearly two months since anyone changed them. Surely there is news, or at least even cosmetic changes would give one’s readership/potential clients a feeling that someone was minding the store.

Use a Good Profile Picture

Point number three is: Your picture is worth a thousand words. A good picture is, well, good. You might not be able to afford to hire a professional as the article suggests. That’s okay if you at least get a decent photographer friend to take a lot of pictures. How many? How’s one hundred? Lighting varies. You might not smile perfectly the first time. Your tie might be crooked. Your hair might be flying in your face.

You might not be looking directly at the camera. There are any number of reasons why a photo can go wrong. And get your pal to snap photos of you in various places, doing various things, so long as they are germane to the site. For a lawyer, that could be in the office, or in front of a courthouse or in front of the office building or with colleagues or alone.

After all, with a good hundred photos, you might end up with several usable ones. If there are choices in different locations, you can use them to make different points on your site.

Fill Out All About Me and Profile Pages

Point number four is: It’s All About Me. That is, create an “About Me” page. There’s a place to put a photograph or two, eh? It doesn’t have to be long, but give it a little personality. Be sensible, of course. This is probably not the place (assuming you’re a lawyer) to tout your ninja skills.

But if you play tennis or have two kids or are from Omaha, by all means, those things are perfectly fine here. Otherwise, you’re just nameless, faceless Joe or Jane Lawyer — and I, as your prospective client, can find a million of them.

Give Visitors Takeaways

The next point is: Give visitors something to “take away” from your blog. Me, I write articles and I allow the reprint rights. So if my experiences can help you, then by all means reprint my articles, and I wish you well, so long as you respect my rights in the matter.

Work on SEO

The next point is: get on Google+ as it gives you a boost in rankings. For an SEO beginner, or someone with a limited budget, this is easy and free and it takes nearly no time.

Here’s another point: Make Sure You Advertise on Google Local. I felt no need to do this, but I’m not trying to push ecommerce directly through my site and blog. Your mileage will, undoubtedly, vary.

Next point: Be LinkedIn. Hell yeah. Here’s my LinkedIn profile. Yes, I will link to you – just send me a request. Also, I have found that LinkedIn is an excellent way to get to know people attending an event with you. If you can get a hold of the guest list in advance (and with Eventbrite, evite and others, you can), look those people up on LinkedIn.

Hey, you might have something in common with them, their photo might be up so that you can recognize them and they might be someone you’d like to know, either personally or professionally.

Gather Business Intelligence

Then there’s the penultimate point: Use Social Networks To Gather Business Intelligence. People share all sorts of stuff these days. Want to know if someone is moving? Going on vacation? Selling their business? Changing jobs? A lot of that information is out there, free for the taking. And other things are out there, if you know how to dig.

I’m not suggesting that you turn yourself into a creepy stalker but if a possible client is tweeting about buying land, and you’ve got a real estate practice, well, do I really have to connect the dots for you?

Tell People the News (About You or Anything Else of Interest)

Here’s the last point: Be the Evening News. The idea is, broadcast Youtube-type stuff, either your own or pass along others’. Agreed, but I wouldn’t overdo this, particularly not at the expense of other types of content, which are generally easier for Google to index (and for you to get an SEO bounce from).

But by all means, if it adds value (there’s a big if right there. I adore the Old Spice Guy but he does not help me on my site), add it.

The bottom line, I think is: don’t be afraid. Yes, the Internet can bite you. But it can also be quite a good friend to you. So start supercharging.

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Starting a Twitter Stream

Twitter, Twitter Stream, offsite connections, visual elements, Twitter followers, Optimizing Twitter, Professionalism, Demystifying Twitter, metrics, verbal elements, Amazoncart debuts, Optimizing Twitter, Professionalism, metrics, verbal elements, Bruins denounce Twitter hate, Twitter bigots, lost dogs, using Twitter to track, Shift in Twitter Trends

Starting a Twitter Stream

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on January 12, 2023

Let’s Look at Starting a Twitter Stream

How do you go about starting a Twitter stream? Should you plunge right in, or hang back? And what about oversharing?

Yes, I know it’s called X now. Oh, and a lot of these tips are perfectly good for Bluesky as well!

Your Twitter Stream Account

You will need a name! Let’s say you’ve taken my advice (or you have decided this on your own), and gone with an account just for writing. If you want a personal account, or you already have one, then you would want to make a second one.

Fine, but you need a name. How about a word like writer or author somewhere in there? You can’t go beyond 15 characters. Fortunately, you’ve got both letters and numbers, so you could conceivably add wr1ter or auth0r if you liked.

Go as short as you can while remaining coherent and unique. An abbreviations like wrtr is well-known, so you don’t have to worry about people getting confused.

Your Look

Settings are important in X as they are with every social network. X moves them on occasion. Every large site does beta testing, where they experiment with different layouts and looks to see what you’ll click on more often—this is normal.

Currently, they are under where it says “More”.

But you change your profile image from the profile page. Add a profile image and make it a head shot or at least a picture of the cover of your book, if you have one. Don’t keep the egg!

A background image is nice but not strictly necessary. X has some pretty decent generic images if you are unsure of how you want things to look.

Who do you Follow?

Following is as much a part of starting a Twitter stream as tweeting is. After all, you’re going to be answering people on occasion, not just blathering to the wilderness. Er, you do realize that now, don’t you?

Spend a little time chasing hashtags. #amwriting, #amediting, and #MSWL are great for getting started. Know an author you like is on X? Then follow him or her!

Publishers and agents are also good choices, as are your friends from NaNoWriMo or Wattpad or the rest of the writing community, even the fan fiction writing community.

Follow people who put words together into sentences and stories. Applaud their efforts and read what they have to say. It matters.

Your First Tweet for Starting a Twitter Stream

Yes, I still call them tweets. Don’t most people?

There’s no reason not to just say hi. It doesn’t have to be momentous. Be kind and supportive. Other writers are not your enemy and they’re generally not your competition.

That is to say, you can own both Untrustworthy (note shameless plug) or the Twilight books. Owning one does not make it impossible to have the other. A book collection is only limited by space, taste, and budget. It’s not like pie.

More to come later!

Want More About Twitter AKA X?

If my experiences with X resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about Twitter/X. While it’s now got a new name, and has changed considerably, a lot of these tips will still work. And they will often work with other social media platforms as well.

Almost Everything But the Tweet

† Demystifying Twitter
• X/Twitter, Social Media and Professionalism
† Verbal Elements on X
• Visual Elements on X
† Optimizing Twitter/X
• Metrics and Timing on X
† Offsite Connections from X

And, if you are a fellow writer, you may want to check out:
† PitMad on Twitter

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Tag: social media

What Does Social Media Mean to Me?

Then Came the Early Years

Facebook

Social Media Balance

Too Much

Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Overdo It

Not Enough

Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Underdo It

Seeking Social Media Balance

2 Reasons Why You Should Strike a Social Media Balance

Schedule Those Suckers

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Social Media in Our Society

Reviews of Books on Social Media

Working with Social Media

Social Media for Writers

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So, Eavesdropping? Seriously?

Subtlety

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The Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Innocent

Eavesdropping: Takeaways

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Let’s Look at Teasing Your Work

Revealing Too Much

Revealing Too Little

The Bare Bones

A Teasing Sample

Here’s a Second Teasing Sample

Practical Teasing Practice

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Social Media: Hope, Hype or What?

Hype Feeds Itself

Traditional vs. Social Media Marketing

Hype and A Sense of Entitlement

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Social Media in Our Society

Reviews of Books on Social Media

Working with Social Media

Social Media for Writers

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Let’s Look at a Day in the Life of a Social Media Marketer

Platforms

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The Life of a Social Media Marketer: Takeaways

And Later Still…

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Working with Social Media

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In Which I Turn Myself Inside Out With Reinvention

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Cosmetics

Reinvention and Going Pro… ish

Reinvention: Takeaways

A Good Six Years Later and More…

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Let’s Look at Promoting Writing With Social Media

My Background in Promoting Writing and More

Getting Started with Promoting Writing on Social Media

P is for Personas

O is for Objectives

S is for Strategy

T is for Technology

More Information on Promoting Writing

Want More About Social Media?

Working with Social Media

Social Media for Writers

Like this:

Is a Social Media Background Check Being Used for Jury Selection at all Ethical?

State By State Differences When it Comes to a Social Media Background Check

Personal Thoughts

Privacy?

Your Thoughts on a Social Media Background Check?

Over a Decade Later, What is Different?

Want More About Social Media?

Like this:

What Does it Mean When You Say You’re Supercharging Your On-Line Presence?

Viral Marketing Gone Wrong

Get Your Own Domain Name