I had a meeting yesterday with an author who was reluctant to start the "Online Stuff" because it felt to him like a time drain (although by any standard he was very open to the stuff, just had questions). We talked through some tools, like Hootsuite, that can make your social media life fit right into your life-life.
By spending 30 minutes once a week pre-scheduling tweets using Hootsuite and Facebook posts, you guarantee that those channels will be active even if you get busy. It also frees you up to scan your accounts a couple of times a day to find someone to talk to or retweet organically. So you get the best of both worlds: content without having to devote time each day with real-time content as you've got a second.
Try out some of the tools out there. You'll find they make social media accessible on any time budget. MediaBistro's daily email has great news when a new one comes out.
I had no idea you could pre-schedule tweets. Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this info! Yet another reason to use social media. INFORMATION
ReplyDeleteBest to you-
Hmm- I hadn't seen this before- thanks for the tip. In the last two weeks, I've beefed up my presence on LinkedIn, created a Facebook Author page and created a second blog that focuses on "reader" issues (as opposed to insider baseball talk about publishing and writing that a lot of readers don't care about). In the last month I've "upped my game" on Twitter (and I'm a power FB user). I don't mind being on social media, but some of what I'm seeing of other writers is making me squirm. From what I've seen, social media is most meaningful- and helpful- when people *engage*, but I'm seeing a lot of spam. I worry that the white noise is going to dilute the effectiveness of the tools.
ReplyDeleteYea, I didn't know about Hootsuit either, thanks,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Deb. Authors really have to avoid being spammy or acting like Facebook/Twitter bullies. If every time your "friend" goes to their home page, they have to scroll through three pages of your sales pitches and navel-gazing in order to get to the vacation pictures from Dad, they aren't going to like you.
ReplyDeleteHaving people hate you is worse than being anonymous. So be careful not to overuse Hootsuite or any other social media tool.
I should have known you could pre-schedule tweets! So glad I found your blog today! I'm taking notes!
ReplyDeleteI'm a pre-scheduler by nature so this is very helpful. I do keep my blog regularly updated. I haven't missed a day in a year and a half. I'm always at least a week in advance and that is so helpful throughout the week!
Life does get busy as does the writing so having some structure online is helpful. I still like to stay up to date on my besties (blog buddies) so I'll lurk when I don't have time to comment!
I just wanted to clarify that by "white noise" I'm not referring to the personal details that don't belong in a professional conversation (although that could be annoying), but spam, whether it's "Checkout my awesome book!", "Did you see the latest interview I did?" or "Go Like my Facebook page now!" ten times per day- or twice in one hour. I see it a lot, and I know I'm not the only one less inclined to check into certain platforms because of it. http://web.me.com/imagobooks/IMAGO_FANTASY_REALM/Blog/Entries/2011/6/27_When_Social_Media_is_not_so_Social....html
ReplyDeleteI love your blog. Very informative! I've been writing for years, but just now decided to brave the querying and such. I quit my day job a year ago to focus full time on the writing, and I have yet to regret that decision. I have a blog, a Facebook, Twitter, and even a Facebook fan page (thanks to prodding from my husband) and I admittedly spend hours working on them. I finally have a nice following on my blog, and just sent my first round of query letters out. I will definitely come back here for more good advice!
ReplyDeleteHi Meredith - I'd no idea you could SCHEDULE teets. So cool! Thanks for the tips. =D
ReplyDelete