Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler
“ By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen destination.” Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
Photo Credit: Dreamstimefree
Since establishing an online presence has become an essential task for any writer who seeks publication, the topic of how to handle social media comes up a lot these days. In fact, I have received several requests to do a blog post about how to manage both social media and writing.
I do not profess to be a social media expert. There are plenty of people out there, many whom I have learned a great deal from—Dan Blank, Joanna Penn, Jeff Goins, Jane Friedman, Porter Anderson, Nick Thacker, Christina Katz, Nina Amir, Alexis Grant, Michael Hyatt,Kristen Lamb—to name a few. I’m happy to pay forward what I have learned and offer some tips on what has helped me turn what can be perceived as a foe—time drain, distraction—into a friend—making meaningful connections.
The main question I receive is:
How can I make social media work for me?
Here are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way:
1. I need social media to reach my audience (since I’m not a celebrity). This presumes I know who I am and can communicate this clearly via author profile/bio. (Branding)
2. When I communicate on social media, I need to project my authentic self. My participation in social media is an extension of who I am and what my beliefs are.
3. I need to follow proper etiquette
4. The only way I’m going to know what works is to try different social media channels.
5. I need a way of measuring what’s working, i.e. Google Analytics, Twitter stats, etc.
6. I can’t do it all. After I’ve tried some out, I need to select a few to concentrate on.
7. I need to rein in, set limits and manage the time I spend on social media.
8. I need to be social and remember that the main advantage of using social media is to make meaningful connections.
Here’s how I’ve put these lessons into action:
1. I make sure my profile is up to date and consistent with my brand across all channels.
2. I check myself at the door before I post anything anywhere.
3. I try to keep a ratio of 1:5 in sharing my work: works of others.
4. I tried numerous channels and concentrate my efforts on my blog,Twitter (Hootesuite) and Triberr. I use Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ and Goodreads but to a lesser degree.
5. I use WordPress stats, Google Analytics,Twitter stats . I recently signed up for Sumall.com (free) which offers daily and weekly summaries of interactions across my channels-Twitter, Facebook, blog and Google+.
6. Same as #4 and check out this post by Dan Blank: “I Am Changing How I Use Social Media: More Social, Less Media.”
7. As per Porter Anderson’s suggestion, I signed up for Rescue Time, a tracking system for improving productivity by managing social media distraction. Pomodora is another popular tool to use.
8. I have made many meaningful connections over these past five years of being on social media. This has led to guest posting opportunities both on my blog and for other blogs. And the way I keep track of all my contacts and activities is a productivity system called Highrise.
A few extra pointers:
* Be consistent with blogging at least weekly.
* Comment on other blogs that align with your brand.
* Share the work of others freely. If you use Twitter, use #hashtags to extend the reach of the post or book review.
* Probably the nicest thing you can do for fellow authors is to post reviews of their books.
Turn social media into a friend who helps you make meaningful connections and extend your reach to your audience.
How about you? How do you manage to balance social media with writing? Is social media a friend or foe?
I’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~
***Newsflash***
I’m pleased to announce that after months of researching, listening, pondering and praying, I have finally made a decision about the best route to publication for my “baby”. I signed with a small publisher this week! Stay tuned for more details.
Also, thanks to all of you who participated in my Memoir Title survey. Your comments helped me to clarify the title that I feel best reflects the heart of my story. I ended up keeping the original title but I changed the subtitle. Introducing:
Ever Faithful to His Lead: My Journey Away From Memoir
Announcement of winners of Doreen Cox’s memoir and novella:
Congratulations, Kathy and Debbie! Thank you for stopping by and commenting. Kathy, you won Doreen’s memoir, Adventures in Mothersitting and Debbie, you won Doreen’s novella, A Sacred Journey.
On Thursday, 4/10/14, I am honored to participate in a Wow-WomenonWriting Book Tour for social media strategist and author Frances Caballo. Her new book, Avoid the Social Media Time Suck: A Blueprint for Writers to Create Online Buzz for Their Books and Still Have Time To Write should help answer a lot of questions that we have on managing social media.
Hope to see you there , too.
