Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 6 Issue 2 | Page 38

TRYING TO KEEP UP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

BE CONFIDENT

MORGAN ST. JAMES
Social Media is something that is a time vampire and yet it is an important part
of marketing your books. The question is how in the world do you keep up with
Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, You Tube and all the myriad of other sites that produce
hits? If you say it’s overwhelming, you’ve got lots of company.
Here are some suggestions, and if you can discipline yourself to stick with them
I applaud you. I know I’m going to try, but have no idea of the outcome. PR
Web.com offered these tips to stay on top of social media marketing in just fifteen
minutes per day.

FACEBOOK - 5 MINUTES
Spend one minute scanning the Facebook wall to answer new posts, comments
or questions from people directly related to the market you are trying to reach.
Then post an update, add a new photo or link to a story relevant to your book or
books. This would normally take me way more than 5 minutes, but I’ll accept the
challenge and see if I can do it.

TWITTER - 4 MINUTES
Do a quick search on trending news in your topic of business. Find a few stories
that might be of interest to your the type of readers who like your genre. Tweet
one, and schedule a few others to be automatically sent from your Twitter account
later in the day.

PINTREST - 2 MINUTES
Find or upload five great images that relate to your books and "pin" them to
your Pinterest boards. Don't overthink it. Did you recently witness a great example
of customer service, like homemade cookies at the check-in desk of your hotel and
perhaps you write cozy mysteries that involve a cateress or bakery owner? Pin that
photo under "Inspiration" or "Customer Service."

BLOG ROLL - 3 MINUT