Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Rules to Tweet By: Social Media and You!




Okay, so these aren't exactly rules. I mean, who likes rules anyway? Not us writers, that's for sure! I just like to use these as guidelines when it comes to social media and writers. Please feel free to add to these as needed.

Keep it real!
I don't know about you guys, but I can't stand automated posts a la twitter, etc. They come off as entirely fake and obvious plugs to sell books. If you want to sell books, forge real relationships with people. Also, if you're only posting about links to your books or your great reviews I have zero interest in you. Clearly you have no interest in getting to know me, you just want my money. Social Media is about being social. It's not a link factory.

Remember you're human!
No one expects you to post every day. No one expects every single Facebook post to be chock full of witticism and wisdom. Sometimes you just want to comment about the crazy guy in front of you in the Starbucks line, sometimes you want to comment on laundry. It's okay!

Don't go overboard
You don't need to be on every platform. Pick one or two of your favorite platforms and stick with them. If you're on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, Instagram, etc, how can you possibly keep up? If you can, good for you, but when the heck do you write? ;)

Don't get offended if....
You reply to someone's post on Blogger or Facebook, etc, and they don't respond. Sometimes an email is missed. Sometimes the person has seven million other things going on and it can't be helped. Just like you're only human other social media peeps are stuck in that category too, except for that super intelligent cat who manages to always keep up his Facebook page.

Don't get mortally wounded if....
Someone unfriends you or unfollows you. There are generally really good reasons why someone drops someone from their contacts on social media and it has nothing to do with the person personally. They may be cutting down to people they only talk to regularly or maybe they just want it to be family. Perhaps they noticed you're a middle-grade writer and they realized they only want to be connected to romance writers for the sake of their craft. Think about it before you get too upset. In reality, it's no big deal and you probably did nothing wrong, so don't sweat it.

Don't be a mass unfollower!
Nothing...and I mean nothing disgusts me more when someone on Twitter, generally a writer follows me, I follow them back, and then months later, they unfollow myself and every other writer that's followed them back in a lame effort to make themselves look "popular" by having a few people they keep following (and I mean a few) and then hundreds to thousands of alleged fans (those they mass unfollowed). It doesn't make you look popular and it's pretty despicable. We all know the truth and we'll all eventually unfollow you. Sorry, but it just makes you look like a tool. Please don't do this!

Don't comment on your reviews!
Here's another huge no-no in my book. We've all seen the public meltdowns from authors commenting on bad reviews, blowing up at the reviewer. It's shocking and horrible to watch. Please stay away from this. If you feel your emotions will get the better of you, then you've got to stop reading reviews of your books, plain and simple. Nothing will make you lose credibility faster--even if you're comments have validity--then an author who cannot control themselves.

Okay, so these are my "rules". What are some things you might add? Social Media can be tricky, but it can also be lots of fun. I like to keep it light. I don't discuss my political views or religious beliefs, but that's just me. What's your social media advice?

17 comments:

  1. Great tips on social media. I'm new to Twitter and not there so much yet so really appreciate the tips. I'm definitely going to take the advice not to try to join everything. I can barely keep up with blogging, Facebook, & Twitter.

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    1. The great thing about Twitter is that you've only got those 140 characters to work with. It makes it easier to whip out a thought and move on! :)

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  2. Excellent tips! Another one is to go ahead and plug your book once in a while (I truly want to know when a book is on sale or see the cover or read your blog post) but please make sure there are other tweets/posts that aren't about your book that interest or entertain followers.

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    1. Once in a while is perfect! It's all about balance! :)

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  3. Auto-follow back on Twitter is one of the most ridiculous and transparent things on the internet. Those people are kind of funny though.

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    1. .99 cents on Amazon now through July! 101 5 star reviews!

      Oy.....

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  4. Excellent. And, of course, I am going to tweet about it right now.

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  5. And I'm going to retweet Michael's tweet.

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    1. Thank you, Rhonda. *The power of Twitter*

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    2. We are posting about the tweets we have yet to tweet! Ha!

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  6. When someone new follows me and they have 30K followers and follows 30K back, I'm pretty sure they aren't interested in engaging me in personal dialogue.

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    1. Yes, and half of them our spam/porn followers they follow back? :)

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  7. terrific advice! i'm still figuring out how to maximize my time on twitter. it's hard to sift through. i feel like i'm shopping at TJ Max - searching through tons of clothes to find that perfect, chic fit.

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    1. Tara, great analogy! Yes, you have to quickly sift through everything crammed into the aisles and find the stand out pieces. :)

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  8. I think you nailed it. While I am normally sort of a "rules, schmules" girl, I can go along with all of these. I'd maybe add a 'don't be afraid to get to know people'. The people who keep it all professional all the time I am not going to UNFRIEND (or unfollow) but I don't actually read their posts 90% of the time. They bore me. I like to find people with common interests and who share the bad with the good (not the superbad--but the disappointments)

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    1. Hart, I agree. I post links to all our PM Posts, but other than that I try to keep it pretty, well, unprofessional! ;) I want to get to know people and make some new writer friends. I doubt I'm going to increase my sales too much by droning on about my craft. My real life is way funnier!

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Thanks for adding to the mayhem!