Using Social Media Effectively

Do you know the term hashtag?  Further, are you aware of its purpose and how to effectively use them?  How about retweeting?  Or tagging someone on Facebook and Instagram?  These are just little but important tools to enhance your social media marketing strategies.  Whether you are selling a book, offering a service or want to become a prominent influencer, you’ll want to pay attention, and begin to practice using these techniques. 

Hashtags:

·    The metadata tags have been actually been around for quite some time, first being used in 1988 on a platform known as Internet Relay Chat or IRC. They were used much then as they are today, for grouping messages, images, content, and video into categories. The purpose of course, is so users can simply search hashtags and get all the relevant content associated with them.

o   Metadata is defined as the data providing information about one or more aspects of the data; it is used to summarize basic information about data which can make tracking and working with specific data easier.^[

·    By July of 2009, hashtags were formally adopted by Twitter and anything with a # in front of it became hyperlinked.  Facebook and Instagram more recently adapted with the usage. 

·    For most people, the hashtag is used for fun. Others help organize news stories around major events. Sometimes they're just made up on the fly to make a Tweet sound funnier. The most basic function of a hashtag is to create a single, organized feed of Tweets or updates around each topic.  Popular hashtags are related to sports, names, charities and politics .  They should be words or terms that are familiar, already trending and not outlandish that nobody will ever search for them.  Examples: #POTUS  #nfl  #BreastCancer  #GeorgeClooney.

·    Popular hashtags related to writing:  #AmWriting  #AmEditing  #WordCount  #WritersLife  #LitChat  #WritingParty  #IndieAuthors  #NaNoWriMo  #SelfPub  #WritingPrompt  #BookGiveaway  #MustRead  #FlashFiction (do not use punctuation, and they must read as one word)

·    You may also use genres, and you should always create your own with the title of your book, or your name, or brand with the hope of going viral.  For instance, mine are #Bridges, #KymberlieIngalls, #WriterOfTheStorm, #RainfallPress, and #neuroticy.  Some of these are generic terms or easy to misspell, but over time when people search for me or any aspect of my work or social media posts, these tags become familiar to them. 

·    Tweets or posts that include a link and a hashtag show the highest engagement of any others. 

Hashtags have become more than just a way to categorize posts or add a narrative to your updates. Marketers have found new, innovative ways to use hashtags as a means to drive conversation, harness the public support, and garner attention to their brands.

Retweeting:

·    A Retweet is a re-posting of a Tweet. Twitter's Retweet feature helps you and others quickly share that Tweet with all of your followers. You can Retweet your own Tweets or Tweets from someone else.

·    Retweets look like normal Tweets with the author's name and username next to it, but are distinguished by the Retweet icon and the name of the user who Retweeted the Tweet.

·    To see Retweets of your own posts, go to your notifications tab. There you will see all activity concerning your Tweets—including which have recently been Retweeted and by whom.

·    If you're familiar with Facebook, then you may have already seen a friend reshare a post that was originally posted by one of their own friends or one of the public pages they've liked. Facebook sharing is basically the same as Twitter retweeting. You'll have the option to add a message of your own with the retweet before it's reposted to your profile, or simply leave it blank and retweet it just as it is. That user's tweet will then be automatically embedded in your profile and they will receive a notification.

·    When you retweet, you're essentially interacting with them. Unless they get a ton of interaction from thousands of followers and have a hard time keeping up with notifications, they'll notice your retweet and they may decide to connect with you or possibly even return the favor. You're also introducing valuable information and suggesting new voices to follow, to your own followers. Retweeting is what spreads good information fast and makes things go viral.

·    If you tweet something really great and a big influencer decides to retweet you, their followers will see and they may end up retweeting you as well or even following you. It's really the best way to get the word out about anything worth sharing and the build your own engagement.

Tagging:

·    Instagram has revolutionized how we experience visual content. It allows people and businesses from around the world to connect through pictures, graphics, and video.

·    Tags are a convenient way for individuals and businesses to expand the reach of a message or photo on Instagram. They allow users to find content like pictures and videos that they would otherwise not seen, helping to increase the reach of visual marketing materials..

·    Adding tags on Facebook allows you to create a link to their profile in your status update. People you tag will receive a notification so they can see your post. The post may also go on the person's profile and appear in their friends' newsfeeds.  Because of this, be aware of what you are including them in.  Don’t post offensive material or any kind of hard sell without their permission at the risk of losing that connection. 

·    Tagging a page is a different than with a person.  To tag a friend, you simply type in their name and Facebook presents you with an option to tap or click that person and automatically links their profile.  Pages have a different formula, more like Twitter.  Type "@" followed immediately by the name of a Facebook Page. Do not include the quotes or a space between "@" and the name of the Page – just the same as a hashtag.  Click the name of the Facebook Page when it appears below your cursor. This automatically inserts the name of the Page and turns it into a link.  You must know the exact title of the page.  For instance, to tag me on Facebook, typing in Kymberlie will bring up my personal profile if we are connected, or anyone can type @writerofthestorm and tag my professional page. 

Once you’ve become familiar with these techniques, you should find you’ll have more activity, engagement and traffic to each of your social media sites.  Most sites employ similar tactics, a simple search will turn up specific applications.  They’re essential tools to have in your utility box for effective marketing and branding, so get started now because it will take practice and time to develop.  Don’t be frustrated if you don’t get immediate results.  Patience and continued effort will get you far. 

Sources: Twitter, hashtag.org, lifewire.com, Facebook, digitalli

Guest: Alon Shalev - Authors Are Funny People

Authors are funny people. Really. Some are socially awkward. We take that for granted given that they sit alone behind a keyboard for long hours and live in alternative realities. Still…

I recently participated in an authors’ fair and, to be clear, most presenters were lovely, social people. I think I just happened to be sandwiched between the um…more interesting ones. I could just see the sympathetic looks I received from other authors around the room safely ensconced behind their tables.

Here is a list: What Not To Do at an Authors’ Fair.

• Don’t hog the microphone. Seven minutes of Open Mic might be 10, but they sure ain’t 20.
• Don’t walk up to someone’s table and lecture them how they really must read your book, especially if it is not connected to their genre. Actually, just don’t do it.
• Either compliment their book covers or don’t say anything. This is a book fair, not an art show.
• If you say you accept credit cards, make sure you can. Have the app open and ready (and don’t ask the author at the next table to swipe on their phone for you).
• Do not ask an author to put your promotional material on their table even if you write in the same genre.
• If you get a phone call when another author is presenting, take it outside. Better yet, if you need someone to tell you that, don’t come back!
• We understand why you need to eat during a long event, but go wash your sticky fingers before you fondle our book covers.
• “I’ll swap with you.” Don’t offer to swap books with an author who is making a living from this, especially when there is no genre connection. Go to a Swapmeet.
• Don’t spend your time telling us how really successful authors in your genre don’t know what they are doing. Sell a few million books first. Then we’ll listen … maybe.

I remember reading a collected work of the musings of Sir Terry Pratchett, who passed away last year. I have to admit never experiencing what he did. During a Book Show, he went to the bathroom and someone passed a copy of his book under the cubical door and asked him to sign!

Guess I have nothing to complain about, eh Terry?
____________________________________________________

Alon Shalev is the author of magical realism, fantasy and social issue themed fiction.  Click here to explore his work and here for Shalev's popular blog.  He can be found on Twitter at @elfwriter 

Chances Are...

An amazing thing happened last night on my way to another ho-hum day.  

I attended another lecture in another city, and truthfully I didn't even know what the lecture was going to be about or who the speaker was, only that I'd committed to being there.  It has been a blistering long week of meetings and administrative work and other boring things that writers never really talk about in the light of day.  On my drive over, I realized I hadn't stocked up on business cards nor had I brought along my bag of books.  Upon arrival, I frantically searched my car for any back ups, and found one copy of each book buried in my back seat under a pile of half-drunk Diet Dr Peppers, emergency snacks and a box of Kleenex. 

I was tired and overworked and the glow of compliments from my own presentation last month was beginning to fade.  As I settled in to my seat and listened to the introduction of Mr. Sterling Anderson, an Emmy and NAACP award recipient among his awards for screenwriting and other works, I thought crap, I should have been better prepared!  Because I always work better on my spurs, I immediately went to work using my favorite tool (my always-in-hand-phone) to research Mr. Anderson as he told his glory stories, explained what makes a standout scene and echoed my own instructional philosophies on various other elements such as the purpose of dialogue (a way for a character to be seen/heard and expressing what they want which propels the story forward).  In just a few minutes, I knew that his work was being featured in an upcoming new television series, his nickname was Yoda, that his novel was one I wanted to read, his social media presence could use a little work, and that his Hollywood stories had merit.  When the time came for Q&A, I pointed my questions in that direction and therefore put myself in direct line with the speaker before me.  I was able to connect on a more personal level.  The expression on Sterling's face was its own reward when I read aloud a passage from his novel and asked what had inspired it. 

Sometimes we need to take chances.

One of my best pitches ever to a potential client was at another lecture and announced his project in progress to the audience and said he'd be looking for help, namely an editor.  I promptly got on my tablet, looked up his website and jotted down a page of notes on what worked and what needed improvement.  When I approached him later that evening, I lobbed a soft pitch for my services, asked how open was he to constructive criticism and at his invitation I handed over my notes.  It's now a pending contract.

As I stood in line last night to have Sterling sign the books I'd purchased (yes, including his novel), I kept cursing myself for not having business cards on hand.  Before I could say anything to the man, he looked me in the eye and said "Thank you for those great questions!"  I again said how much I appreciate the theme to his book of using our time wisely and curving with life's road, that it's something I write about a lot.  "That's great, are your books available somewhere?" 

Um, what?

In my best think-fast voice, I said "Yes, they are.  I also happen to have copies with me.  Because, you know, every self-respecting author keeps their books in the trunk of their car." 

And that's how I put my books in the hands of an Emmy award winning professional screenwriter.  Now, nothing more may ever come of it, but after having a lively conversation with him and his family as he asked me to sign both books, I felt an enormous sense of pride in myself.  I'd taken a chance, struck up a conversation, found inspiration, made a connection, and now had something to show for it. 

If anything, this amazing story.

Paying the bridge toll for the stranger behind me on my way to the lecture sure did pay me back in fortune.  I am rich in the opportunities that have come my way through this writer's life.  They might not be on a grand scale of things, but that's okay.  It is a legacy that I'm proud to own.

Quote from Five Seconds To Go by Sterling Anderson

Why First Impressions Actually Count

Anyone who tells you not to judge a book by its cover or that first impressions don’t count is someone who either didn’t listen to given advice or knows they messed up and haven’t yet fixed the problem and are desperate to make a sale.  When it comes to books, first impressions are everything.  The cover is what will catch the eye, then they’ll read the blurb on the back, but then any discerning reader is going to open to that first page and look to be drawn in. 

First sentences are everything. 

But it isn’t only the first few words; undoubtedly, you need to back them up with a great story.  I like to think that it isn’t just the one line, but maybe a few… the first idea, if you will.  It’s different in a movie, where we have visuals to set the story, an actor’s expression to lead us to their character.  With a song, we have the opening notes.  For a writer, we need to use our words wisely. 

We can set the tone of another world seemingly with ease:

• It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. ~ George Orwell, 1984
  
  
• In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Or we can introduce character right away:

• If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. ~ J.D. Salinger, Catcher In the Rye
  
  
• You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. ~ Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  
  
• It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not. ~ Paul Auster, City of Glass
  
  
• It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not. ~ Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

If you’re going to reveal the objective upfront, keep it simple. 

• Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. ~ Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
  
  
• Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person. ~ Anne Tyler, Back When We Were Grownups

And sometimes the words, the syntax, are just interesting enough to pull us in without doing any of the above:

• You better not never tell nobody but God. ~ Alice Walker, The Color Purple

So, you may be wondering what my own experience is with the first sentence.  My genre is primarily personal essay – it’s not a lot of time to hook the reader.  I’ve got about 1500-2000 words to get my point across, and I need them interested right from the beginning.  My style can be anything from quirky to profound and often is a blend of both.  My first sentence will set the tone.

In my first collection of essays, I strung together 17 years of writing.  That was nearly half of my life.  A lot had happened and when I began to edit pieces I’d written that long ago, I decided to keep the voice of that younger woman as much as possible, sometimes sacrificing the craft I’d learned later on.  In the earlier essays in the beginning of the book show an immaturity and somewhat naiveté that only a 20something can have.  In American Girl, I began with “Deep down, we all want to be smart, funny, strong and sexy.  It’s in all of us.  We totally demand respect like Aretha, cry like Patsy, and shake it all of like Madonna.”  By the end of the book, I am just into my 40s, which is an entirely different perspective.  In the piece titled Bridges, I wrote “Nobody really knows how close I came to death in this past year.”  At the time of writing both of those, I had no idea that they would be linked together in a book someday.  Each was written with the intent of jumping in, having my say and getting out in very short order.  Once I put them all together, I realized that to ask the reader to overlook the simplistic angst of my essays, I had to give them a super strong hook.  I prefaced all of it with a retrospective piece I’d actually written in 1999 but altered to give it the flavor of who I was at the time of creating the book. 

• I’m leaving my childhood behind today, a long time coming at twenty-eight years old, and for the last time will be walking through the door where I learned how to become a person.  And I’m terrified.

Keep in mind this trick whenever you need to jump start your creativity.  It’s called “The Knife Trick” but you don’t really need a knife.  Pick up any book around you, turn to a random page and with your eyes closed, place your finger on a sentence.  Copy that sentence and let the words flow from there.  Don’t edit as you go, don’t over think it, just let the words tumble.  It could be garbage at the end of it, or it could be the basis of your next great work.  Even if you only create one great sentence from somebody else’s, that’s okay.  Be inspired! 

Keep a journal with you whenever possible.  Sometimes a great first line comes at you when you aren’t expecting it, so be prepared to make a note of it.  If you don’t have pen and paper handy, use your smart phone.  They all have a notebook or a record feature, use it.  Many of my best first lines or prompts are scribbled on cocktail napkins. 

And always remember that first impressions really do count for a whole lot.

Beyond the Sale

So, you're selling books.  Great!  But if any of your buyers are anything like me, selling the book isn't always enough. 

I love being able to support my fellow authors, if not for my own reading, I at least love to have a copy of their book in hand so that when I talk about the writers themselves, I can show the books as a visual. People like tangible things. Simply saying "I heard this author talk about blah blah" and it's just another name to remember, another story we've all heard. Seeing the book gets the feel of the author into their heads. 

For me, the hard part is a) finding time to read the ever growing stack of books, and b) not inner-editing them as I go. Occupational hazard. 

I used to love to read. I don't know that it's why I became a writer. I've always felt the need to express myself and this just seemed the logical way to do it. Over the years, too many critique groups and classes and manuscripts have taken some of that magic away. I find myself wanting to find that spark again, but like a midlife hormone change, the feeling just isn't there. 

I think we all have more readers like that than we want to realize. We practice smart marketing methods, contractually bind ourselves to agents and publishers and sell our souls to sell a book, but then what?  I wonder how often our books end up sitting on a dusty nightstand or crammed into a forgotten bag.  

Today I met author Kevin Smokler (Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched Since High School) and he asked me what was my favorite book to read in high school.  It was Black Boy, by Richard Wright. It was the only book I was required to read that I actually did. All of the others I'd skimmed just enough to get by. 

Kevin and I talked about why it's important to read other writers, and how he managed to find the time. Then he challenged me to go home tonight and while my husband watched his beloved football to read just ten pages. "It's only ten pages!"  

I'm not sure if he's devious enough to know that if go home and read the first ten pages of the book he just sold me or if he never gave it any thought other than to give a push to a fellow writer, but I went home and read Kevin's first ten pages. And it wasn't even because I was trying to get out of football or figuring out this space age new laptop. It was because his love of words made me want to see what he had to say. 

So, when selling or networking or engaging with others, remember that not only are you asking for them to boost your sales, you're asking them to give you their time, and that's the best benefit you will ever receive from selling a book. 

Ready Writer

I met Delia Ephron once.  You know, the author of Sister, Mother, Husband, Dog and Hanging Up, and frequent collaborator with her sister Nora. 

It was at a LitQuake event in San Francisco.  After watching her interviewed by local favorite Ellen Sussman, I dutifully stood in line with book in hand for her to sign.  Delia was very personable, as we talked about her new memoir and exuded patience as my husband tried to figure out the complexities of my phone's camera. There she was, making small talk with me as we posed endlessly because he didn't realize he was shooting video.  Once we finally got past the pictures, I handed her the book for signing. 

Here's where I'll tell you one of my little secrets; anytime I have something signed, I always hand over my business card "because my name is so hard to spell!"  It's a very passive aggressive way of getting my card to the person with the hope that they later will be so intrigued with my eye-catching image that they'll take a look at my sites.  When we walked away from Delia, I told my husband with excitement, "Did you see?  She kept it!"  Later, I followed it with a message to her Facebook along the lines of "Thanks, it was great to meet you.  If you'd ever like to take a look at my work..." and gave a direct link while thinking yeah right, little fish in a big pond.

And then I forgot about it.

It was a month later that I received a response.  I had been going through a lot of personal issues and hadn't been maintaining my blogs for months.  The last few posts were more personal rants than crafted essays.  But there was Delia; "I promise I will check out your website." 

Thud.

When??  Today, tomorrow, a year when she might think about it?  Holy crap.  What did I have on the first page?  Was it that nonsensical one?  And that's the moment I got a lesson about being prepared. 

Not every post will be a standout. However, I try more now to keep the better essays on the top page. I'm never caught without cards in my hand - three different kinds for whatever need of the person receiving one. And now I've published two books, so dutifully keep copies in the trunk of my car, and in my bag too whenever I'm attending an event. 

I spend a lot of my time hearing lectures and attending industry functions.  Just last week, I drove two hours to hear a memoirist tell me how to turn facts into page-turning stories.  I was making small talk with a fellow author and thought his novel sounded very interesting.  I like to support the locals and like to have signed copies, then showcase them to my friends and colleagues while being able to tell a little about both the writer and the book.  "I don't have any with me... I guess I should carry some in the trunk of my car!"  Something we all hear.  A lot.  Some advice is worth listening to.  "But it's available on Amazon."  My attention span unfortunately doesn't last that long.  "How am I supposed to have you sign it if I buy it online?" I countered. 

The author I'd come to hear spoke to us for over an hour, and even read excerpts from her book, which was decent.  Okay.  Then finishes it with "But I only brought three copies with me" to a crowd of 50+.  "I'll be doing a reading though at the library in two weeks.  You can come buy it there."  Well, no, I came here. 

We're taught as writers to stay away from the cliché.  That's fine when putting pen to paper, but we need to heed tried and true wisdom  This goes too for any industry; in business, always have a verbal resume in mind, and a card in hand.  In art, always have a product available or make yourself so memorable they absolutely need to go find it right then and there to buy.  For myself, I have ulterior motives - I make more profit when I sell in person.

People are fickle.  Seize the moment.  And be prepared!

One foot in front of the other

I really enjoy working with others to explore their creativity. Relationships between editors and authors should be one of utmost respect and understanding, and a journey in expression.  I take a hard line because I feel honesty is the most important factor in productivity, but it needs to be a true synergy. 

If you're not quite to the editing process, perhaps you're looking more for guidance and/or instruction.  I would love to help you with this!  We can sit down one on one and refine your craft.  Talent is only part of your success.

 I also understand the hardships and expense of taking this road. I am willing to work with you financially. The goal is important, the getting there can be worked out along the way.

Please contact me with any questions!