Posts
Platforms that began as a way for regular people to write honest reviews and interact with fellow readers
have slowly mutated into tidal waves of BUY ME!
Yes, I know I am guilty with my requests for reviews but I actually write about other things ...
like helping my fellow strugglers in self-publishing not get the bruises I've gotten!
Are you getting burned out by the
SOCIAL MEDIA TREADMILL?
The problem however, is that simply showing up is rarely ever enough.
And with so many things that need to get done, it’s easy to end up back on the treadmill—
doing enough to make being on social media worth your time
but never enough to get the type of results you were hoping for when you got started.
Hope is not a marketing strategy.
Being the last tier in a pyramid scheme is poor positioning for success.
The Cliff Notes Version:
1) Once you join, you want to turn off most of your "notifications" or your inbox will be glutted with them.
2) If you put a + in front of somebody's name on Google+, it works like an @
symbol on Twitter. Use it and the person will be notified that you're talking to
him.
3) If you go to your profile page and click on the big "G+" it brings a dropdown
menu with all sorts of great options, like "communities."
Ratatoskr, the Asgardian squirrel, and I read the whole article, and my nose started to bleed,
and Ratatoskr's head threatened to explode!
The fact was that I was overwhelmed by what I call the social media treadmill.
I just could no longer keep up with the forever changing social media trends
and I did not want the responsibility of managing yet another platform.
I was burned out.
There are literally hundreds of social media platforms.
We are constantly bombarded with information and requests to be part of them.
It makes us feel as though we will fail if we are not part of each and every platform.
As a result, we end up joining every site available hoping to get our personal social brand “out there.”
The reality is it will give you the
exact opposite result.
When you look at it this way you will begin to understand:
- There is no way that you will become the top contributor on all social media sites, there are simply too many to manage.
- When a new social media site is introduced, if you are one of the first persons to join it, you will master it before others do.
- There are some social media sites that unless you are the owner of Facebook, you will never be part of the VIP status on it. It is just the nature of the business.
- If you spend your days focusing on keeping up with current trends instead of writing engrossing novels, how will you ever make a social site work for you?
Don't forget FEB. 1st!!
Please Pre-Order
RETURN OF THE LAST SHAMAN
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S7HOCVG
Please Pre-Order
RETURN OF THE LAST SHAMAN
And on Feb. 2nd!!
Catch my guest-post
about the Lakota Way of the Warrior
on Lara Schiffbaur's
MOTIVATION FOR CREATION
http://motivationforcreation.blogspot.com/
Ratatoskr wants you to see where he
and Hibbs the cub with no clue
spends their days:
May the Fates smile upon you, Roland! Social media is just another game people play. . we must choose how we spend our time.
ReplyDeleteI hate social media. It just makes life progressively more difficult and time-consuming, as well as work and to be honest I don't think it gets people all that interested anyway. I know if I see someone going buy my book, but my book over and over again, with nothing to give you an indication of why you might want to, that it is just an off putter for me. With blogs, you feel like you get to know people and that does more in the way of encouraging me to buy a book than a tweet, for instance, that just comes across as spam
ReplyDeleteYou can't be everywhere and do it well. People wonder why I'm not on Facebook, but I have all I can handle right now. Blogging is the focus, followed by Twitter and Google+. (And Goodreads.) Even with clones, I can't do it all, so why try?
ReplyDeleteI agree with D. G., we must choose where we spend our time. I feel that those who are addicted to social media are losing touch with real life. And get caught up in something very weird and strange, a sort of competition or something. None of it makes any sense to me.
ReplyDeleteD.G.:
ReplyDeleteI imagine you're right. Social Media is a way for me to say HI to hopefully kindred spirits. I am never going to be Neil Gaiman, but hopefully I can be the best me I can be! :-)
Joss:
Twitter comes across to me like the Spam you talk about. I want to connect to like minds and hearts. But as a rare blood courier, it is hard for me to get two spare minutes to rub together!! Thanks for visiting!
Alex:
Not even with your clones? Now, I do feel better. :-) Whenever I go to Goodreads, the reviews are so nasty and snarky that it convinces me to stay away!!
Inger:
I know people who spend HOURS on Facebook with digital friends! Hours? I am with you, D.G., Alex, and Joss!! :-) How is your husband doing?
Authors can engage their existing audience on social media if they've already established one. And an author may be able to cull a few new readers in initial forays onto a new social media site, but it's a fantasy for an author to believe s/he can use social media to GROW an audience. How can you engage new readers when you're constantly trying to sell to the same group of people? A like or follow rarely equals a book sale. I play on the social media I enjoy. When it comes time to market something, I'll go to Facebook and Goodreads because that's where the targeted reader groups are.
ReplyDeleteVR Barkowski
Excellent post, Roland! They always are.
ReplyDeleteVR:
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw Salem, Mass. on the globe, I knew you were reading, but 2 hospitals called and I had to hit the blood runs again!
Goodreads is so snarky that I stay away, and Facebook whittles your book promo's so that only 10% of your signed on friends get them. So I rarely make an attempt there.
I am like you: we have to break out of the Author Blog Ghetto if we want to engage the larger world of just readers. I only have a few new ideas, and I have been trying to share them with my friends here in these last few posts. :-)
My new book is out for pre-order, but I know you don't do reviews of folks you know, so I haven't asked. Looking forward to your Monday post.
Shelly:
You made me smile this weary evening. Thanks!!
Social media simply overwhelm me... I love the quiet of blogger where you can still think while reading or writing a post... Of course, that doesn't do any good at selling your work... but there's only so much I can do. If I have to take (too much) time out of writing then what's the point?
ReplyDeleteVesper:
ReplyDeleteIt is a puzzle. If we write the best novel in the world, but no one knows about it, then we have been spinning our literary wheels. But if we desperately spam all over the social media, we will chase readers AWAY from us!
I am like you: I like the quiet, reserved atmosphere of blogging. It is in-depth enough to get to know the blogger and to allow your cyber-visitors to get to know you.
We need to get mentioned on Neil Gaiman's blog, right? :-)