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Tag: Facebook

My daughter recently asked, “So Mom, do you have tons of blog followers now?”

Hmm. If she defines “tons” as some, then yes. Whoo hoo! I have tons of followers.

The pressure to hook readers can be intense for new writers like me. I’m tempted to grab people on the street, drag them into a dark alley, and force them to sign up for my blog and newsletter.
“C’mon, it’s free. And I give gifts. What are you afraid of? Just sign up. DO IT.”

Since the police won’t let me use that technique anymore, it’s back to work. I need to

  • Be diligent in writing
  • Submit my work
  • Stay active with the social media sites I use now.

So what’s the problem? When presented with new technology my fight or flight response kicks in. Learn how to create a podcast? Aaagh! Run! Escape to the safety of the refrigerator!

Picture courtesy of iosphere @freedigitalphotos.net
Does anybody else push dreaded tasks to the back-burner?
Hmm, I can’t do that now because it’s time to
           Make a Starbucks run
                       Wash the car
                                   Check on the sleeping children AGAIN
                                                                       Cut the grass…with scissors.

My current lofty goals:

1) Stop chasing my tail like a Yorkie on crack and take advantage of free resources like YouTube. Sometimes their videos give clearer instructions than a company’s tutorials.
2) Better utilize my current social media sites, like posting interesting and relevant content to my Facebook author’s page.
Jeanie’s tutorial, “What to post on a professional page.”
A) A video of a two-headed lamb. Interesting, but not relevant. Leave it.

B) A video of a two-headed lamb writing poetry. Interesting and relevant. Post it.

In my last blog I promised to share

Jeanie’s Super-Secret Newbie No-No’s

Those are things that cause editors to shred your writing, drive to your home, and sprinkle the pages like confetti over your head. Which is inconvenient for them, and wastes a lot of gas. In the interest of conserving natural resources we learned:
Exclamation marks scream, “Newbie!”
Today’s secret is
Adverbs are our adversaries.
Using them tripped me up badly, royally, horribly, and exceedingly.
Our critique group leader read my first submission, stifled the urge to roll her eyes,  and told me to search out every word ending in “ly.” A peck of them peppered the pages.
Here’s the fix: Use strong verbs
Example using Dreaded Adverb:John walked slowLY behind.
Better: John lagged behind.
Best: Leave John at home. He needs us to make a Starbuck’s run for him.
Platform building also includes face to face human interaction, which I love. So on June 28th I’ll be at Bible Truth Ministries church sharing my experiences with others who want to start their own writing journeys. You’re welcome to join us.
Why start now?I don’t even have a book written.

Whether you self-publish or publish traditionally, you need an audience to read your book. That’s what building a platform is all about. For the most effective book launch, you want that audience built ahead of time.

When approaching publishers and agents, that is one key element they will look for.

For myself, involvement with social media was limited prior to my contract and the learning curve for building a platform took away from actual connection time with people as well as creative time to write my content.

How do I start without getting overwhelmed?
  • Keep it simple.Choose one social media venue at a time. Take time to learn the ins and outs before you add more.
  • Supply quality content, one blog post at a time. Don’t worry about offering the same amount of content as an established blogger. But keep your promises. If you promise to blog once a month or once a week, do so. People don’t like to follow links to dead ends. They want to discover what you do. Show them.
  • Focus on making connections. How would you connect face to face? Keep it real in your interactions. Be helpful, not just self-promotional. Visit other blogs and Facebook pages and comment. Join online writing groups and participate.
Think of everything you do online as a piece of the puzzle. You are building your reputation or brand as a writer. Your brand is what people come to expect from you. What you write about, how you write about it and what you do with it.
Action: Do you have a FB fan page? If not, start one (link back to previous FB article). This is a great place to learn how to interact with your audience. And if you’re not ready to start posting on a regular basis to a blog or feel overwhelmed at the thought, this is perfect. You can still share content – in bit size pieces.

Here are two previous posts about using Facebook to help you get started: Building a Platform Part 1  and  Building a Platform Part 2

A funny thing happened on the way to writing this blog. I could not upload a new profile picture. No matter what I tried. What did I learn? Sometimes, Facebook has glitches. And sometimes you just have to wait a couple of days. It took about 3 days of waiting and now I have a brand new picture!
Photos, Likes, Notes, videos and events come with the fan page. You have tabs for 12.
 
 Only 4 are visible unless you click on the little arrow to the right of the tabs.
 
After all the app boxes drop down, click on the little + in the upper right corner of the blank app box to see what is available. There are also some more choices under “find more apps.”
Otherwise apps are tricky to find. There is no central cataloguing system to find them. The best way I know is to look around at other pages and find one that you like. Click on that tab and somewhere on that page you should find a button to click to get the app for your own page.  Unless it was a custom app. Click and follow the directions to load it to your page.

Once your apps are loaded, you can customize the look. You can rename most of them, add your own photo for the tab cover and rearrange the order of them (except for photos-  the tab shows the last one that you uploaded).

To make changes to your tab, click on the little pencil in the upper right hand corner of the loaded apps(after you have dropped down all the tabs). If you want to change position, click on the app you want it to switch with. If you want to change the name or picture, click on edit settings.
Under edit settings, to change the name, type in what you want it called and your set. To change the picture, click on change picture. On the next screen, click on change and it will take you to another screen where you need to follow the directions to download the picture you want used as a custom tab. 
For sizing and cropping, use whatever photo editing software you have on your computer. The picture must be at least the minimum size referred to in Part 1 of this post. If it is too big, then Facebook will tell you when you try to download it. Adjust accordingly.
Please share what you have been learning in your Facebook experience so we can help each other grow in this area.
Give more than you take from your readers.
Before you flag down people cruising the internet highway and redirect them to your website, Facebook page or some other social media, make sure you do have something to give your readers once they get there. And make sure it is worth their time.
In his new book Platform, Get Noticed in a Noisy World,Michael Hyatt emphasizes the importance of the wow factor.
You get one chance to make a first impression. You want to make that impression memorable. You want them to go out and tell all their friends to come.
Have you taken the time to develop the product (whether it’s a book, blog or something else) you are offering or are you settling for “good enough”?
It’s better and less costly in the long run to make it the best now rather than to go back and try and recapture those people who passed by and said it wasn’t valuable enough for them to stay. At the same time, don’t use this as an excuse to not start.
My lesson this week:
My main product is my book, but on my website, Facebook, and other social media I need more to offer  than my book to attract an audience(especially since this is a debut novel). 
 
While at times I may feel anxious about building my platform, I can’t rush to a place I’m not ready to be. I’ll be making some noise to wave down more traffic soon enough.
I highly recommend Michael Hyatt’s book. He has the proof that he knows what he’s doing. His audience is huge and it’s loyal. Me? I can only share what I am learning and point you to those who have gone before me.