Someone asked me this yesterday: If you have to choose only one social media channel for authors, which would you recommend?
It felt a little like Sophie’s Choice. It’s just not possible to pick one channel because each is designed differently — we are instinctively drawn to the layout of one over another, which makes it impossible for me to say which is best for you. Additionally, you need to go where your readers are.
Let’s review our options:
I personally started on Facebook first (after avoiding it for years), and didn’t love it. When my mid-20-ish niece suggested Twitter, I balked. Isn’t that for young people who talk about raves and tats? She patiently explained that she used it for getting her blog posts out there and even to job search. This was in 2009.
Once I checked it out, I saw that she was right. Twitter is a great marketing tool if that’s how you use it. And when I say marketing, I don’t mean one-way broadcasting, which is completely different and not at all effective. Twitter is great for relationship-building, as a news source, an information resource, and as part of my marketing research. Sure, I share occasional self-promotional tweets and posts, but no more than one every few days. If you change your paradigm from ‘I have to sell more books!’ to ‘Relationship-building will help create fans for life,’ you’ll tweet much differently.
I encourage any author, no matter your age, to look at Twitter through that lens, and to take the time to read a few articles on how to properly use it (read here, my site BadRedheadMedia.com, Mashable, Media Bistro, and tons of others).
There has always been this kind of weird rivalry between people who love Facebook and hate Twitter with people who love Twitter and hate Facebook. Honestly, I look at it from a marketing perspective and find them both indispensable. Sure, you will find yourself more comfortable with one format over the other — typically, Facebook caters to an older demographic and that makes sense: learning new skills is more difficult based on our inherent bias. If something is seemingly hard, we judge it before trying it. We are humans go for whatever is easiest and requires the least amount of time and effort.
(Not always the best choice for your marketing efforts. Kids are more open to trying new things because they don’t have that bias yet. So think like a kid and be open to learning something new, i.e., Facebook, or Twitter.)
Regardless, Facebook is a great way to connect with readers on several levels: via an account (where you ‘friend’), pages (where you get LIKES and sell stuff), and groups (where you connect on a deeper level). According to Facebook guidelines, you need to have a page for any selling efforts. Using your personal account to sell is technically against Facebook guidelines.
I find I’m much more active on Twitter during the day and Facebook in the evening. You’ll find your groove once you’ve been on the different channels for awhile.
GOOGLE+
When Google Plus started out several years ago, people viewed it as the redheaded stepchild of the social media world. Early adapters understood quickly how it worked, but the majority of us didn’t get it: circles, accounts, pages, oh my. Why all the options? It seemed so confusing!
Now, however, Google has done something very smart (some say tricky): they give more credit in their algorithm to members of Google+, which means you will not only rank higher but your posts show up higher in search. Not only that, they have Authorship — something Lori has discussed previously so I won’t go into it here — but let’s just say if you’re an author, you need to sign up for Authorship.
HOOTSUITE (OR TWEETDECK) & OTHER THIRD-PARTY APPS
Okay, so these are the main three any author must be on. Add in your Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube (smart, also a Google product), LinkedIn, and who has time to write? Right?
Wrong. This is where third-party applications like Hootsuite come in. I prefer the layout of Hootsuite to the others — there’s also Pluggio, Sprout Social, Tweetdeck of course, and BufferApp to name a few), but this is my main platform. Why? I can add ALL OF MY ACCOUNTS right in one place. I can schedule in some, live interact, etc. It’s not difficult and it’s a great way to save time.
So there you have it. Maybe not the easy answer you wanted, but a realistic one. Got questions? Ask away!
