No Time For Twitter

For those of you just joining the Twitter saga, a quick recap: 

1. My Twitter account was hacked in March. 

2. Said account was locked and suspended. 

3. I sent a mountain of documentation to regain access. 

This week, in the midst of website-building, I was debating whether or what social media buttons to use. But first, I figured I should check on the old Twitter account since I’d heard nothing from Twitter Support. 

In March, I could see my account in all its glory, waiting patiently for my return. Now, there is nothing but a vast white screen with the message: 

Account suspended 

Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules. 

AS IF I VIOLATED THE TWITTER RULES!

So from my new account (that was created only so I could actually get into Twitter to see what’s going on in my old account), I sent Twitter Support a message: 

@TwitterSupport My original account was hacked months ago, I sent you ALL the info, but nothing since March 30. Now that account is suspended/gone and I'M left to start over? Not worth the trouble--and I guess my account w/700 followers not worth your time. 

 Notice that even though I’m livid, I’m polite. Within three seconds, the tweet was bombarded by bot messages, recommending that I contact other helpful bots who will retrieve my account. Honestly, I’ve never had so much activity on a tweet before—and the rapid bot response tells me that customer support on this platform is seriously lacking. 

Anyway, I was already leaning heavily into tossing Twitter; I assumed (correctly) that I’d never get my old account back and I wasn’t keen on taking the time to start over with my new account. But mostly, after researching social media of mystery authors, I didn’t see where Twitter is worth the effort. 

I just couldn’t find (cozy or general) mystery writers (followers from 200 to maybe 2,000) tweeting about their new releases or old releases or re-releases where the tweets garnered much if any attention. And I’m not referring to only indie-published writers; I checked authors who were with trade publishers, too. 

An occasional “Like” hardly seems worth all the Twitter trouble. So for me—and granted, I’ve never been big on Twitter—I’ll pass on spending my marketing time tweeting. But I’m curious about mystery readers…Where do they go to get information about books, about what to read next? Is it Amazon? Goodreads? Both of those behemoths are a given, and they seem the best bet for my time and effort.

But I’m thinking about a Facebook page…or maybe Instagram. I see both of these social media buttons on writers’ websites and I wonder about the payoff. I’m fine with Facebook and I know my target audience—we’ll call them the "Golden Girls"—are all over that space. But do they follow authors there? 

Instagram? I’ve never bothered with it but the Junior Halls are always throwing pics on there. I suppose I could give it a whirl but is it worth the work? Do photos promote books? 

So readers (and writers), I’d really appreciate your input. Where should I—as a mystery writer aiming to attract the mature female reader—put my marketing money and time? (And if you say the T word, I’ll scream!)

~Cathy C. Hall

Read More »

2 comments Cathy C. Hall, Facebook, Instagram, social media marketing, twitter

Twitter Trouble

Around 6 PM on March 11th—a Saturday—four emails landed in my inbox. Not in Focused (where I get alerts) but in my Other Inbox which usually indicates not-so-personal or urgent business, like a neighborhood newsletter. So it was about 11 PM when I checked my Other inbox and found the emails, spaced a few minutes apart, all from Twitter: 

Security Alert: New or Unusual Twitter login (Probably some junk/spam) 

New Login on Twitter (Well, that’s kinda interesting.) 

Your Twitter Password has been changed (What the heck?) 

Email address for CCHall_Author has been changed (WHAT THE HECK?) 

Still, I was not freaking out completely because it had to be some kind of phishing, right? I mean, I’m a nobody in social media world; I have less than 1,000 followers. Who’d want my Twitter account?

But sure enough, I can’t get into Twitter with my email so now, I am kinda freaking out. Because (as per the emails) someone has hacked my Twitter account and taken it over. Next, I use my gmail account and basically set up a new account for Cathy Hall so I can login. I find CCHall_Author, just sitting there, looking all innocent. 

Everything is just the way I left it. Except it’s not me. It’s some scoundrel with nothing better to do than steal my account. 

It’s a bit ironic, y’all. I don’t use Twitter much. It’s connected to my website so that when I post, it posts on Twitter. And since January, I’ve been working on writing the next novel and thinking about the new website so I haven’t posted on my own site. And I can’t help wondering if that’s why someone thought it would be okay to usurp my Twitter account. Because I wasn’t using it? Like my Twitter account is some kind of parking space that someone can avail themselves of because I’m not in need of it right now. 

I’m not having that. So I contact Twitter to let them know I’ve been hijacked and unfortunately, the onus is upon the legitimate user to prove legitimacy. So I fill out a form and promise my first-born child and before midnight I hear back. To wit, we’ll look into it, just give Twitter a few days. 

About four days later, “we’re on it!” apparently means the account is suspended. It may have been immediately suspended and it was 72 hours before the notification went up but whatever. I can’t use it and neither can he/she/it (since I’m not discounting a bot/AI). 

On March 30th—nearly three weeks later!—Twitter contacted me about the Twitter Impersonation Case. To get back my account, I’ll need to fill out another form, promise another child, and somehow prove that I am the rightful owner of CCHall_author. I felt like I was on To Tell the Truth, standing up to say, “I’m Cathy C. Hall, the author.” 

Anyway, as it happened, I had a few screenshots of my Twitter account to back up my claim. But I still haven’t heard from Elon Musk or anyone else at Twitter about my account. I’ve got a few questions to ask when I do:

Does this sort of Twitter hijacking happen regularly? 

Why steal a fairly ordinary account with little usage and even less followers? 

Who does this Twitter thief think he is? And why is all the work on me to get the account back? 

To be honest, if I weren’t putting out a book, I’d probably throw in the Twitter towel at this point. But I worked hard for those followers—mostly writers and readers. Then again, it’s a bit humbling that no one has contacted me to ask about the suspension. 

So Twitter User, beware. I strongly suggest that you make screenshots of your account, just in case. And if you’ve had experience with this sort of Twitter trouble, I’d love to hear about it and/or what else I can do because I am down to my last kid.

~Cathy C. Hall

Read More »

10 comments Cathy C. Hall, Elon Musk, twitter, Twitter account impersonation, Twitter account suspension

If Twitter Goes, Where Will Writers Convene?

In case you missed it, Twitter has had a hectic couple of weeks (or months, really). From Elon Musk's takeover to the layoffs and departure of many of its core employees to rumors of the platform's eventual demise, it begs the question: what will happen when Twitter is gone?

Personally speaking, I use Twitter far more passively than I ever did in the past. There once was a time I was so active on the site, I considered myself an expert on building a community there, but with minimal effort. Now, I use the site to keep track of breaking news and apply for writing jobs. 

But even that limited use of the social media platform will be difficult to replace elsewhere. I don't find many editors on other sites asking for people to DM them to apply for jobs like I do on Twitter. Breaking news is hard to find on Facebook (stupid algorithm). 

I've seen people talk about Tribel, Tumblr, and the more mysterious, Mastodon. All of which I'm on, by the way. Just look for @BeingTheWriter on any of those three sites. But in less than 5 minutes of using those platforms, I realize they don't capture the same community feeling as Twitter.  

Then there's talk of people starting a Substack which reminds me of the burgeoning blogger days of yore. Even then, there are only so many newsletters I can follow before I mindlessly hit the delete button and never read them. 

And then there's the final factor that has made all of this more difficult as I think of Twitter's demise: me. I find it hard to imagine rebuilding a new community on a new social media site. The battle of thinking of something clever (or informative or helpful) to say, finding followers that are willing to follow me back, and being consistently active feels overwhelming to me.

So, much like the musicians on the Titanic (which people who remain on Twitter have been compared to, strangely enough), on Twitter, I will quietly remain. Although not so much making music on the site as I am sitting on a deck chair watching the players play. 

Where will you convene if Twitter does, in fact, fall by the wayside?

Read More »

2 comments Nicole Pyles, twitter

Be Wary of Marketing Offers for Your Books

 

You know that saying, "If it's too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true"? I was reminded of it recently when checking my email, and I thought: This subject would make a good WOW! blog post. Probably other writers are receiving emails like this or will be soon, and so let's discuss...

These are the kinds of emails I'm talking about:

Dear Ms. Dill:
We want to market Finding My Place for you. It is such an excellent book! We will put your book in front of thousands and thousands of our followers on Twitter by tweeting about your book every day for XX days for $XXXXX dollars. Don't wait. 

Sincerely,

Book Marketer Extraordinaire

#eyeroll

I'm not trying to be mean or condescending. I know that there are some legit marketing firms out there, including services that help authors promote books. But I also know that if someone is contacting you to promote a book that is not famous and where you recently promoted it yourself through a legit eNewsletter, most likely, this is not a good deal. And I also know that tweeting your book title with a link to a bunch of people who may have no interest in your type of book will not sell books. It just won't.

Even if the above email came and the person said they would do it for $1 or $5, I wouldn't do it. Most likely, here's what happened. This person subscribes to a newsletter for children's books that are being offered for free or a discount. They saw that I ran a promotion on Finding My Place. They Googled my name, and they found my website, where I have my email address. Then they emailed me and made me feel "special", so that they can send out tweets that no one will care about, and they can take my money. 

My point? If someone is emailing you and asking you to market something for you for $XXXX, I wouldn't do it. In 999 cases out of 1000 (or maybe even 1000 out of 1000), this won't be a good ROI for you. They may even do what they say they're going to do, and Twitter may show you that they have 200,000 followers, but you have no idea if those followers are mostly bots or readers of a completely different genere you write. 

So my advice--delete those emails--send them to spam. Don't waste your time.

What does work? 

I think offering the first book in your series for free still works. I don't think it works as well as it used to because there are so many free books out there. But if you offer your ebook for free and advertise it in a newsletter for people who love that genre and free ebooks, you will get a lot of downloads, and some of those people will read the book. Some of those people will review it for you, and some of those people will buy book two. 

What are some good newsletters?

My two favorites are Free Booksy and The Fussy Librarian. There are more, I'm sure, but those are the two I always use. As for Twitter, we tweet at WOW!, and we get some love on there, but none of our book packages for authors are just for Twitter. We use our blog, our eNewsletter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter--plus sometimes banner ads on our website. It's a combination of strategies that works to sell books.

If you want help with marketing, it works much better if you find someone to help you. You are in charge. You find the service or the person, and you tell them what you want. This October, in the season of Halloween, you don't want a bad and wasteful book marketing service/package to scare you away from your writing career! 

Margo L. Dill is a children's author, editor, publisher, and writing coach and instructor, living in St. Louis, MO, with her fifth-grader and almost three-year-old rescue dog. You can find out more at https://www.margoldill.com. 

Read More »

5 comments book marketing, book marketing packages, Margo L. Dill, Preditors, scams, twitter

How To Spot Bad Advice and What To Do About It

by Guudmorning on Flickr.com

I run the Twitter account for WOW! and my day job, and I'm also on there for my personal account. Some of you may use it to market yourselves or follow your favorite authors or join in on discussions, using hashtags such as #writetip, #writerslife, or #writingcommunity. Twitter can be full of funny tweets, lead you to intersting and informative articles, and allow you to interact with people whom you normally wouldn't during your everyday life. But...it can also be full of a lot of misinformation and sales-y approaches, as well as (I hate to be cliche but) ... fake news.

The other day on Twitter, I saw this tweet from Emily Everett in the #writingcommunity chat:

Writing community, help me out - I sometimes get novel feedback that I shouldn't use contractions in narration, only in dialogue. I've always used them because it's a fairly close 3rd person limited, in and out of character's mind without signaling it. Thoughts?

I immediately answered her with "bad advice" and why I thought so, but this entire thread of writers also chiming in with "this is not correct and don't listen to these critiques" made me wonder how much bad advice is out there in the writing world, how many of us are listening to it--whether on social media, in unhealthy critique groups, in professionals who don't know what they're doing--and how do we stop this!

Now, if you're expecting a clear answer to this dilemma, please don't be disappointed when you get to the end of this post, and I don't have one. I'll admit tackling this problem is still something I'm mulling over. I seem to be encountering more and more writers these days who have a story similar to Emily's, where someone in the industry has told this writer an absolute (such as don't ever write a rhyming picture book) or wrong advice (describing your characters' race is unacceptable these days). So I came up with a couple tips that I've been sharing with other writers and that I'm implementing myself:

1. Listen to your gut! I can't stress this enough. Most of the time, you know if someone is giving you bad advice and/or the critique you received is just wrong for you and your work. We doubt ourselves too much in my opinion; and if your gut is telling you that this person does not know what he/she is talking about, then discuss this with other writers whom you trust. By the way, here at WOW!, we're always happy to help with this. You can leave us a personal message on Facebook or on Twitter, and we will answer your question or direct you to someone who can.

2. If it's an absolute, it's probably wrong: Now, someone reading this post will come up with an absolute that is not wrong, and that's fine--this is why I said PROBABLY because I don't want to use an absolute when giving advice. (smiles) But honestly, there are very few rules in the writing world that some author hasn't already broken--and was probably told never to do it before she broke the rule. J.K. Rowling was told that her first Harry Potter book was much too long for her audience of readers and that no young reader would ever stick with a fantasy book that long. J.K. is laughing all the way to the bank!

We'd love to hear any stories of bad advice you didn't listen to in the comments below or if you have some tips for how to decide if what someone is telling you is correct.

Margo L. Dill teaches three classes for us: Writing a Novel With a Writing Coach (9/7), Individualized Marketing For Authors...(9/11), and School Visits and Author Talks...(10/16). Check them all out on the classroom page and enroll today!  

Read More »

7 comments bad writing advice, good writing advice, listening to critique, twitter

Is It Time For a Makeover?

There are times, Dear Writer, that we need more than just a toss of dead links on a website; we need a major makeover. Because there are times when subtle (and sometimes, not so subtle) things change in our writing life.

And when I say we, I of course mean me. I needed a makeover in the worst way and in one of those moments of clarity (that for reasons unknown always seem to occur in the shower), I knew I had to tackle that makeover before June arrived. So how did I know? I came up with these signs that smacked me upside the head while rinsing my hair:

Twitter, the Before

Invalid Important Information

So you have a link to an article that’s no longer available. That’s not a big deal; we all have a few links that go nowhere. But if you have a book and the link for purchasers to buy your book is not working, then that’s a big deal. And maybe something like that is an easy fix and won’t require an all-out makeover. But it does require fixing in the most thorough way possible.

I can’t tell you what’s important as far as your specific writing career goes, but I can tell you that generally, anything finance-related is going to be a necessary fix. Agent information is pretty important and contact information is, too. And if you’ve changed your entire writing career from say, romance author to nonfiction children’s writer, and haven’t quite got round to updating your website, then stop reading right now and start that makeover.


Obviously Outdated

Twitter, After...Yeah, these would be the subtle changes.

Is your website tagline something everyone said in 1989? Do you have a color scheme that screams avocado appliances? Do you think your photos are cool vintage (when they’re really just black and white)?

We don’t stay the same year after year, and yet, we’re perfectly okay with a website that we created a decade ago. And if you’re a celebrity writer, you can probably get away with that. But if you’re not a celebrity, then you might want to take a long, hard look at your online presence and get with the 2019 program.

Make sure that your photo looks like you. I know you spent a lot of money on those professional head shots, but if you are making appearances and you show up to an event and the organizer doesn’t recognize you? Get new photos.

Scrutinize the message your online presence is sending and make sure that’s the message you still want to send. Maybe when you first started out, you highlighted your humorous side and so naturally, there are quips and funny pics on your website. But maybe now, you’re an inspirational writer who focuses on loss and grief and do you really want a clown dancing next to a funereal floral arrangement? The point is, your website needs to reflect who you are now.


So take a look at yourself, Writer. Maybe you need to make some subtle (or not so subtle changes) at your online home. And now that my hair is dry, I really should get to work on my makeover!


~Cathy C. Hall (who's still working on the not-so-subtle website changes)

Before I go, a not-so-subtle message to all the veterans, those who've gone long before and those who've come after: Thank you for serving! I am so grateful to live with the freedoms I have but on this Memorial Day, I remember that those freedoms came with a price. May you always know how much your sacrifice is and was appreciated!

Read More »

4 comments author website, Cathy C. Hall, Memorial Day, online presence, twitter

Hello! Making Sure People Can Find You Online

If I Googled your name, what would I find for you as an author? I’m not talking vacation pics with your kids or the cobbler recipe you got from Aunt Ona Mae.

When I write how-to’s on writing, I frequently interview other authors. How do you research your historic fiction? What steps do you take to assure that your secondary characters are three-dimensional?

But I’m surprised at how many authors I can’t find. I Google their name and get . . . nothing. No website. No Facebook page. No Twitter.

You may think that because you don’t have a book yet, this is no big deal. But I’m not the only one looking for you. I’ve had editors tell me that I made a sale or got the job because they Googled me and found my on-line presence. 

For published authors an online presence is important in a different way. If a librarian, teacher or professor can’t find you, they can’t invite you to speak. A reader? They can’t find out more about you and your work.

If a website feels too intimidating, don’t start there. Start where you already are on social media. 

I set up my Facebook author page in about 30 minutes. All you need are a profile photo (my headshot), a cover photo (a book cover), and a first post. Your description can include your e-mail addy so right away people know where to find you. Post once a week and soon you’ll have several screens of content. 

I also had my Twitter account ready to go in about 30 minutes. Actually, if someone more proficient like my son does it, it takes less time. But in 30 minutes you or I can have a Twitter listing up that identifies you as an author. 

Follow your favorite authors and illustrators. Interested in breaking into a specific publisher or signing with an agent? Follow their Twitter feed. I've found work this way. And when someone looks for you on Twitter, they’ll see what you are checking out and see that it is professional content. 

Retweet and like other people's Tweets once or twice a week. Tweet something original every now and again. Like Facebook, it doesn’t take much time for Tweet and Retweets to add up. Soon you’ll have an online presence and people can message you through Twitter. You can be found!

A blog or a site is great but they can be a big time commitment that not everyone is prepared to make. That’s understandable. Your focus should be on your writing. But if people can’t find you, you may not be making the connections that you need to get your work in front of the right person.

--SueBE

To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards' writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey.  Sue is also the instructor for Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins March 18th, 2019.

Read More »

6 comments Facebook, online presence, twitter

Social Media: Your On-Line Presence Isn’t All about You

I wouldn’t call myself a social media maven. I have a personal Facebook account, a Facebook author page, and I putter about on Twitter. I post on most days but when it comes time  to boost my writing career sometimes I’m at a loss. A big part of the problem is that I feel like I never know what is going to click with my online readers. Often, even when I put a great deal of effort into my posts . . . nothing. I only get a handful of likes or responses. It can really be discouraging.

I was in the middle of feeling sorry for myself one day when I got a message from Susan Ahearn, one of my former students. She had sighted my book, Black Lives Matter, at her local library. It was part of a display at the checkout desk and she wanted me to see it. Her photo made my day!

This made me think. What about other writers? I bet they’d like to know where their books have been sighted and who is reading them. I decided that the rest of my tweets for the week would focus on sightings, found books, and my local library.

First I tweeted about Prudence the Part Time Cow by fellow Missouri author Jody Jensen Shaffer. I tagged Jody, my library system, and our region of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. The tweet received 155 interactions in a day. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Later in the week, I tweeted about International Literacy Day. I explained that I planned to celebrate by going to my library. I included a photo of a boy sitting on a stack of books reading and tagged the library system and #LiteracyDay. This time, I got 655 interactions in a day including two retweets. Why such a great response? My thought is that #LiteracyDay had broad appeal.

A second tweet on this topic came after my actual trip to the library. In this tweet, I focused on sighting books by Linda Sue Park and a whole bin featuring Jane Yolen’s How Do Dinosaurs books. This tweet included photos of the books. I again tagged my library, #LiteracyDay, and both authors. This time tweet got 565 interactions in one day.

When you post on social media, it is easy to get caught up in your own work. Sure, your friends care, your family cares, and your fellow writers care. If you can find a way to go beyond your work and your readers by holding up other writers and reading in general, you too might pull in more interactions. Social media is a lot more fun when you know your words are having an impact.

--SueBE

To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards' writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey.  Sue is also the instructor for Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins October 9th.

Read More »

5 comments Facebook, promoting other writers, social media, twitter

The Top 3 Social Media No-Nos

by Karen Cioffi

At this point in time, most everyone knows the importance of using social media marketing. It’s a powerful strategy that has the ability to bring traffic to your website, boost authority, and build your business.

But, there are certain things you should watch out for. Some of these No-Nos will help you avoid harming your credibility and authority, others will help you boost your visibility.

Here are the top three social media No-Nos:

1. Not using social media as part of your marketing.

I’d be surprised if you’re not already doing this, but if not, you must be a part of social media networks in order to create and broaden your visibility and bring traffic to your website.

Join the biggies, like Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, Pinterest, and so on. I also use StumbleUpon and LinkedIn. There are lots and lots of them. Find a few that work for you and start sharing on them.

Then find the one or two networks that work best for you and ‘work’ them by posting to them more and engaging with other users more.

Be sure to use social sharing buttons on your blog posts. As you publish each post, share it to your networks. And, be sure to share the posts of other users. This helps create the engagement I mentioned above.

2. Promoting too much.

If you’re primarily promoting your products or services, this is a NO-NO. People want to be informed, they want you to help them. They don’t want to be sold to.

There’s a 80/20 marketing rule: Provide your audience with 80% useable information and 20% promotional content.

In fact, there’s so much information online that I think a better rule would be the 85/15 or 90/10 rule. Make yourself the go-to person for the information your audience is looking for. Then slip in the promo for the product or service that will help ease their pain, build their business, get them healthier, make them money or other solution to their problem.

Make it about your audience.

3. Using link-bait.

Okay, first let me explain what link-baiting is: It’s the practice of creating titles and links that are used specifically to get traffic to your website.

If the content (website) you’re sending the traffic to isn’t relevant to the ‘hyped up’ title, this is a NO-NO. Or, you may be sending people to outdated content or to fluff pieces (no substance or value).

People don’t like this and it will affect your social standing and authority.

Use these tips to help boost your results.

***

Karen Cioffi is a former accountant who is now a multi-award-winning author, ghostwriter, freelance writer, editor, and author-writer online platform marketing instructor. She founded and manages Writers on the Move (a marketing group), and presents online writing and marketing workshops and webinars.

Karen has published 12 writing and marketing eBooks, the most recent, Article Marketing: Increase Website Traffic with Properly Formatted and Search Engine Optimized Content.

In addition to this, Karen’s website, Karen Cioffi Writing and Marketing, was named Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012.

>>>Want to get more traffic to you and your website? Check out Karen's online class, GIVE YOUR AUTHOR/WRITER BUSINESS A BOOST WITH INBOUND MARKETING. Visit our classroom page for details and enrollment.

Read More »

1 comment audience, Facebook, Google +, Karen Cioffi, link bait, marketing advice for writers, no-no's, online class, Pinterest for writers, social media, twitter, WOW class, WOW instructor

The Facebook Page Post Boost Experiment

Before two weeks ago, I had been completely lacking in my social media marketing. Call it a bad attitude, rough spot in life, or thinking no amount of marketing mattered unless I was J. K. Rowling--my Facebook page, Twitter account, and Instagram were sorely lacking. I was still active on Facebook and Twitter thanks to my job with WOW! as social media manager, but my personal accounts were a mess.

While recovering from being sick and thinking about a blog idea I'd had for a couple months, I decided to get out of my self-induced rut and focus on these three social media accounts. And here's the great thing: the social media world is very forgiving. As soon as I was active again, so were my followers, friends, and page fans. And best of all, I was having fun! It was bringing back a spark for my writing life that had been missing for months (over 12 months actually). 

Okay, okay, so you probably decided to read this post because of the title--so yes, during this resurrection, I also decided to boost (for $$) a Facebook post on my professional page. (And you could LIKE it right now and join in the fun--no pressure--it would just make this little author writing this blog post so happy.) On a whim, I had asked my Facebook  fans (the people who like your professional page are called fans) what is some advice they follow day to day to make it through--do they have a saying or inspirational quote that helps them? The response was more than I could have hoped for. 

Facebook in all its wisdom also noticed that this post was getting more attention than most of mine do; and in my notifications, I was informed I could boost this post and reach a much greater number of people. I started thinking: What would it hurt to spend $20 to boost this post and try to get more likes on my page? I am getting ready to start a new project, and I need all the support I can get. So, I did. I spent $20 and boosted the post, which shows up as a SPONSORED post in people's newsfeed. You can also target whom you want to see this sponsored post, and I chose my friends and their friends. I did it this way because I was thinking two things: 1. new people might see their own friend answered my question so I would have a connection already  2. there might be people I know, but have not connected with yet on Facebook. 

I also decided to run a contest with this post. For the week the post was sponsored, if someone commented on a different post OR liked my page, they were entered to win one of my books or $20 toward editing. I put this contest announcement IN THE COMMENTS of the sponsored post, so people sharing their day-to-day inspirational advice would see the contest. I also put it on my private Facebook profile and on Twitter.

I am extremely happy with the results. I have 32 new fans (which I had been stuck on 939 for MONTHS), and the woman who won my book was a NEW FAN--one I did not know before this boost experiment. I don't have to tell you how every new person who will read your book is an opportunity.

Also I learned, people like to share advice and be asked their opinion. I don't think I would have gotten the same results if I would have simply said in my sponsored post: Like my page. Win a book. 

But best of all, I have my marketing passion back--and I'm planning more marketing ideas all the time. I'm sure if my publishers are reading this, they're saying: "Well, thank goodness for that!" If you have any questions about Twitter or Facebook pages or boosting posts, just ask in the comments below. 

Margo L. Dill is the author of three books for children and teaches classes for WOW! Women On Writing.

Are you a fan of WOW!'s page on Facebook? You can join it here! 

Read More »

7 comments Facebook, Instagram, Margo L. Dill, marketing, social media marketing, twitter