I was thinking I knew a great deal about social media. I truly did. When I started several years back, I thought, how hard can this be? Publish something now and again that sounds fascinating and intellectual as well as "experty"...and BAM... you have yourself a marketing campaign.
Wrong!
WRONG!
WRONG!
Here's what I learned after a little over two years dabbling within the art and science of social networking for authors.
Lessons in Twitter
Check your stupid inbox as well as direct mentions! I had to spend forever to realize that there's great stuff in there. Also some spam, however digging through that may be worth the real nuggets. There is also an etiquette which i have a tendency to ignore - actually thanking those who follow you. Directly. By name. Personally. I'm not rude from ungratefulness, but rather out of ignorance and lack of period. My New Seasons resolution is to start remembering to give thanks to the people who might actually listen and read from time to time. Finally - don't Twitter update indiscriminately. Promiscuous Tweeting may get you caught with your pants down if you don't read what is at the end of those hyperlinks.
The biggest lesson I've learned this year is that Facebook is actually worse than a crack addiction. Half the reason I get behind on writing and marketing is because I get busy messing around on this silly site. The wealth of information on publishing, writing and style is mind-boggling! And I'm easily sidetracked....squirrel!...by the national politics and humor. Second, Facebook is busy developing capabilities as well as changes faster than I can keep up with them. The marketing potential for authors is overwhelming. In my experience, authors haven't actually BEGUN to tap this particular potential.
Time & Consistency
Managing your social networking is time consuming if you want to do it right. Social media managers such as Hootsuite and Social Oomph can help out a lot. Yet, there is still so much you must do. You have to go as well as add relevant people to follow and Such as, thank people personally, publish all of your occasions and the reminders that go with them, post/Tweet original content (not just re-Tweet and Reveal), answer messages...get the picture? More than once in the last year my social networking has gone very quiet. I don't mean in order to; I simply forget. If you are using a social media management program, you overlook when your pre-programmed announcements end. I originally believed, "Hey, I can do 3 months of this stuff at once and become done!"
Not so.
You really should be going to your social media every week whether you have the time to do it or not. But bear in mind it's all very addicting. Keep it consistent - don't try to set an objective of five or more Tweets per day unless you're willing to give up using a real life. You need to have something at least once per day, preferably, so that you pop up in your follower's stream, but try to be realistic about what you can and can't do.
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