Social Media | Social Media Aspirin™

December 17, 2018January 11, 2019

Create a Partnership with Your Social Media Manager

If you’re a writer or author, you know that leveraging social media while building your writer platform is not optional – it’s necessary! Partnering with a social media manager helps tremendously.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, WordPress blog, Goodreads, Pinterest, Snapchat…did this partial list of social media sites overwhelm you? Does the social media beast seem enormous, time consuming, and hard to tame? The answer: partnership.

Partnering with a social media manager relieves the daily maintenance stress of your social media presence, AND you don’t have to keep up with the daily changes happening on every social media platform.

Social media managers work within your marketing plan (you do have one, right? complete with a budget for social media, right?) to ensure your online presence supports your writer and author goals whether you want to drive traffic to your blog, build awareness for your products or services, or increase book sales.

Based on your writer and authors goals, your manager helps develop a social media game plan including setting up profiles if needed, devising and managing a consistent posting schedule, and engaging with your fans through online conversation.

A good social media manager reviews progress with you every month, suggests improvements or changes when necessary, keeps up with social media changes and news, researches your industry for engaging content to share with fans, and communicates with you immediately if an issue or question arises.

Choosing to work with a social media manager is an investment of your resources and some of your time. They are also investing in you as a client. Work with them as a partner in your writer or author journey.

It’s worth it to invest in a productive social media manager partnership.

Melody Jones is Dispenser-in-Chief of Social Media Aspirin™ for Writers and Authors. She helps take the pain out of social media! Check out her services and learn how your can reduce your social media pain – and get back to doing what you love.

May 24, 2017February 5, 2019

Should Authors Have a Strong Social Media Presence?

Charles Dickens once wrote that “you can’t shut out the world…you must mingle with it…make the best of it…and make the best of yourself into the bargain.” Social media is as important to writers as the words they put on the page. If you cut yourself off from the world, you lose connection with your readers.

There are some authors (like Joanna Trollope) who believe that social media engagement is a threat to literature, but I disagree.

It is human nature to be social in some form. Social media interaction allows us to do so from the comfort of our own homes. You can give articulate responses in pajamas and no one would know the difference.

Social media is beneficial for writers. Your online presence is necessary and valuable to your author brand. Here are some tips to get you started.

Nix the Drama

You’ve seen it happen. Flame wars, insults, rumor spreading, schoolyard-style bullying and more are what give authors in social media a bad name. Your social media presence represents who you are to your readers. They will remember how you act, so keep the drama to a minimum.

Be Comfortable in Your Skin

I’m not talking about taking selfies. I mean show your fans, friends, colleagues, and potential readers something you enjoy doing. If you like to paint, share that. If you enjoy planning your week on a paper calendar or in a planner, snap a quick photo before you add personal data to it so they can see your process. When you’re ready to ship off new products, show the shipping production line. I work with one author who shares the view out her window when she’s writing, and her affection for her cats who regularly lay on her keyboard.

The behind-the-scenes posts are what makes you stand out from the crowd!

It’s Not About Sales (Most of the Time)

Social media is about being social. While your end-goal is to gain loyal book-buying readers, you won’t get there by pounding them with promotional material post after post. By the same token, if you never post about what you do or the services you provide (with links, of course, since most of your social media readership are now mobile-only users), they won’t engage with your sales funnel.

Spelling and Grammar are IMPORTANT!

While it’s easy to become lax about spelling and grammar, I would urge you not to be. Have trouble with either one? Try a free plugin like Grammarly. If you’re a fumble fingers with your phone, consider a USB keyboard, using a stylus, or waiting until you’re able to concentrate more on your posts.

Social media isn’t the literature-killer that people believe. Not every reader will be on board with their favorite author having a social presence. For the rest, however, they’ll be thankful for the chance to get to know you.

January 19, 2017

Top Three Thursday: Social Media News You Can Use

Welcome to my Thursday feature. Here’s where I link three useful and interesting articles from excellent information sources all about social media and marketing subjects.

As you know, changes are always happening in the world of social media. We have a lot to keep up with!

Facebook has announced in their blog titled “Facebook Live Updates for Mentions” that they have made some changes to the format of their Mentions platform to improve the quality of Facebook live events. These new updates are designed to allow the person that is going live to plan ahead, moderate comments, view the status of their broadcast in real time, and trim their video afterwards, if desired.

Pinterest released their Pinterest 100: Top Ideas to Try in 2017. This collaborative list was created using the top saved and shared pins of 2016. The list predicts what will be the popular trends of 2017 and is a useful tool for business owners to keep in touch with their customers and their interests. Plus, it’s just plain interesting to see what made the Top 100!

Twitter created a list of examples of how Fortune 500 companies chose to leverage Twitter to create positive results and accomplish goals. Adweek outlined some of these strategies in their recent blog post Success Stories from Twitter’s Front Lines. These annual insights are great for planning your own social media marketing for 2017.

See you next week with another edition of Top Three Thursday: Social News You Can Use.

Melody Jones is your social media aspirin. She helps take the pain out of social media for you! Check out her services and see which one can reduce your social media pain the most.