As a writer, when it comes to building your writer’s platform, social media is one of the easiest way to interact and build your brand. Everywhere you look it’s sell, sell, sell and you’re encouraged to promote you yourself.
Building a writer’s platform means marketing yourself. And with any form of marketing, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. You may not like the idea that you’re an internet marketer but you are. Unless you stay totally off the Internet, you have to get used to the idea that in your Corporation of One – you as writer, novelist, author – you have a marketing department (yes, it’s just you) and one area of that marketing department gets to work on the social media marketing side of the brand that is you.
Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in products or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves. (Philip Kotler, Principles of Marketing – via Wikipedia)
The most important thing to remember is you’re not ‘selling’ as such but building relationships. Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin are just three popular ways to do that amongst the many other options open to you as a writer. Although all three social media platforms are on the Internet does not mean you should treat them the same. Think leaflet, newspaper and magazine. They may seem similar – all paper-based with text and image but they’re very different and you should approach them differently.
Lucky for us writers, there are many articles out there that give us an idea of what to do and what not to do.
Be aware that people are no longer ignorant about the marketing tactics used by internet marketers anymore. They are tech-savvy. Everybody knows what you’re doing – and it’s not a crime to self-promote – but at least do it in a way to avoid alienating the very same people you’re trying to connect with. Because there is a fine line. They know what you’re doing; they understand you’ve got to do it but what they don’t like is you spamming, and screaming down their necks about your book, your blog, your product, you, you, you all the time. The emphasis is on ‘all the time’.
Be aware that not only is there a right way to involve yourself but also there is the level of involvement. There are some people out there who think the term ‘self-promotion’ is like being accosted by a salesman who knocks on your door on a Sunday afternoon when you least want to be disturbed. And with so many internet marketers doing it the wrong way ie spamming, it’s not surprising that digital marketing gets a lot of people fuming.
Some people get very involved whereas others may involve themselves by just doing the minimum. There is no right or wrong way when it comes levels of involvement; just be aware and don’t get upset when people do not respond or get as involved as you do or if they seem to interact too much in your opinion. There are the extreme lurkers (nothing wrong with that – lurker is not a nice word – let’s call them readers and everyone has been one at one time or another – you know days when you think you’ve got nothing to say) and the extreme participators (nothing wrong with that) but be aware you’ll meet the extremes and the ones sprinkled in between.
For example, when commenting on other blogs. Some people only read. Some people read and comment. Some people don’t read, don’t comment and just spam. People take time and effort to write blog posts – if the post helped you or you were inspired, comment and let them know. Every blogger appreciates relevant comments, relevant to the post. If you are going to comment, say something specific about the post so that the blogger knows that you’re not a spammer. I don’t mind people linking back to their own websites to relevant posts. But some people do mind that.
The best way to self-promote that doesn’t offend anyone?
Just hang out, be useful, participate and learn to really know your subject and be an authority on it. If you comment and provide something useful people who are interested will find you, your website and your articles.
What things do people do that irritates you? What advice would you give to aspiring writers so they don’t offend you?
[pic taken from here]
Similar Posts ~
Why Spamming Social Media Won’t Get You Very Far by Jennifer Mattern.
Social Media Etiquette 6 Lessons Learned From One Japanese Company’s Major Twitter Mistake by Neal Schaffer.
8 Twitter Habits that May Get You Unfollowed or Semi-followed by AugieRay.
What is a Writer’s Platform by Jessie Mac
How to Twitter by Jessie Mac
“Each indecision brings its own delays and days are lost lamenting over lost days. What you can do or think you can do, begin it. For boldness has magic, power, and genius in it.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – Poet and Novelist
CURRENT STATUS: Reminder, Motivator and Daily Review Meeting (Read on if you want to join me in my Corporation of One meeting)
What l have learnt:
- I saw a website offering a PDF, email and print options for their blog post. Great idea.
- You can still be rejected even if you’ve published many books before says Rachelle Gardner – The Learning Curve that Never Ends.
What I have done:
- Read ‘Darkly Dreaming Dexter’ by Jeff Lindsay - watched some episodes of the TV series and then read the book. Enjoyed it.
WORD COUNT: Night Walker 128,000 in total. Friday 16 July 1700 words.
graveyard.
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