Five Things I’ve Learnt About Social Media

The year is steadily marching on. I cannot believe it’s already May! This post almost fell by the wayside due to a little thing called Eurovision! 😀 Today’s post is about that thing we all either love or hate. Or both. 😛 Social media. Its’ controversial and at sometimes confusing and most of all ,there is a lot of it. Working out how to navigate the depths of the interwebs and learning how to manipulate it to your advantage it difficult. Hopefully these tips will help. 🙂

1. Target your market

Do your research. There are so many social networking sites out there these days that in  order for your use of them to be effective in building your author platform, you need to ascertain which site will work best for you. Or even if social media is what you need. Although there is a lot more marketing taking place online these days, there are still some demographics that either do not have access to or simply don’t access the internet. If this is your market then you will go absolutely nowhere.

Which leads me to my next point….

2. Research

Look at what sites are being used to publicise what type of commodity. Are authors in your genre more successful on Facebook? On twitter? Find the stats. What media does your target audience prefer? As tedious as it can, it always pays to do your research to both reach a wider audience and also to save yourself from endless and useless posts.

3. Network

Once you’ve done your research, the time is ripe to begin networking. If you’ve decided to blog, follow blogs, like posts, comment, comment, comment. This is where admittedly I fall down a little. Sometimes I just don’t have the time to comment or read heaps of blogs but you do need to make an effort, even if its just for an hour each week. If you simply shout out into the ether, you are less likely to be heard than if you target those you think would be interested in your posts. That said, please don’t be one of those people who leaves a comment that is just a plea for a follow. That will not work. Leave insightful and helpful comments and let them come to you. Networking is important. After all, its called social media for a reason.

4. Be consistent

Sporadic posting will get you nowhere. Post everyday and while you may accumulate a few followers, no one is going to read every single one of your posts but good on you for making a consistent effort. I find that as far as blogging goes, if I consistently post three posts a week, my stats increase. Twitter however, is a different beast and one I am still trying to tame. I read the other day that you should post on average eight times A DAY which is ridiculous. I don’t have internet on my phone and I refuse to spend all day in front of a computer. Also, what is there to say that would fill 1,120 characters. If you are using social media to begin to build your platform, to make yourself known, to become a prescence, make sure you aren’t the one known for posting about details of breakfast and that time your dog chased another dog. Occasional posts of this nature are fine but remember that marketing is about creating an image and in this age of the digital footprint, the image you create now may either haunt or help you in the future.

So basically, focus on…

5. Quality not Quantity

At the end of the day, you may be the most prolific user of social media in like, evah, but if what you are producing is not quality, then you may as well not bother. Even though our society encourages excess and public splurging, from a business point of view, you want your product, that is you and your books, known but not ridiculed. Sorry to crush egos but no one is interesting enough to produce tens of tweets a day. Everything in moderation and quality above quantity. use your social media platforms to tell people about where you are in your story, to notify them of upcoming or recently posted blog posts, to connect with other users.

Hope these tips help. 🙂