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An Author’s guide to Social Media – P02 Content, Sharing, Hash Tags and Fun.

  • Writer: Robyn Weightman
    Robyn Weightman
  • Oct 16, 2018
  • 4 min read

For P01 on Site, Categories, Consistency and Timing, go to;

https://crystalclearwritingonline.com/2018/10/17/an-authors-guide-to-social-media-by-robyn-weightman/

No.5; Content

The above post, by Crystal Reavis, uses a big and eye-catching picture in its centre. The writing is kept short and sweet and asks the reader to get involved. This equals a good post.

The content on your social media, in your videos or in your blog, needs to be consistent with your categories, eye catching, relevant, and interesting. (Not much then? -_-)

This is easier to show with examples. Below are pictures of people’s social media pages. One is of a post that did well. And the other is one that didn’t.

Both posts are by romance author J.W.Roan and were posted on Twitter. One has been shared 7 times and liked 5; the other only liked 3 times. Why?

Both posts have positive content but which one draws the eye?

Post one is colourful with less writing. And, most importantly, it offers the reader something. It’s an advert for FREE stuff.

The second shows a great review but it’s small, mostly black and white and has a lot of writing. Perhaps if the picture had been cropped to just show the 4*’s, it might have gone better.

Another example.

Two of my own posts (always good to learn from yourself and improve.)

Picture one is clear, crisp and precise. Picture two has a typing error. (:’( ) Though the picture in two is still eye catching, it’s not the best quality.

Picture one offers something to the reader, advice. Where as picture two suggests that the reader go outside. Assertiveness is a powerful thing, be confident in yourself.

And finally, another little difference.

The first picture has a small black heart on it. This puts the suggestion of liking the image into the reader’s head before they’ve even really seen the post. Subliminal messaging.

Lets head over to Facebook now, and we’re going to look at something outside of the book world. Music. (Different substance but same marketing techniques.)

Here are two posts from Acoustic duet, Wooden Elephants.

131 reach compared to 51. 8 engagements compared to 0. And 47 clicks compared to 1. The difference?

Picture one is better quality.

Picture one is a big advertisement.

But, picture two asks the reader a question and they go for it.

In conclusion, getting the reader involved is one of the most important things you can do in a post.

On all social media platforms picture two did brilliantly.

Admittedly, picture one is also a shared post and the original post did extremely well, it just didn’t share great.

And for the final example we shall head over to the photography monster that is Instagram.

One thing that could be taken into account is that picture one is my first ever Instagram post, so there was less of an audience anyway. But there are still some very obvious differences.

Photo quality. Obviously photo two is prettier.

Hash tags. In photo one I hadn’t discovered them yet, (duh moment.)

And, most importantly, number two has a cat. All posts are struggling without a cat. It’s so obvious. (Not really, but also… kind of.)

To sum up, when posting to any social media site, bare in mind post quality (if it uses a video or a picture,) audience participation, KISS (Keep it short & sweet,) and stick to your categories, (if your category involves animals get them in on the action.)

No. 6; Hash Tags

Something we touched on slightly with the big mistake in my first ever Instagram post. You need to Hash Tag your posts.

Hash Tags work almost like a contents page for the Internet browser. If you tag your work with ‘author’ and someone searches ‘author’ your work may come up. If you don’t tag it won’t show.

Likewise, some tags work better than others. Though I always use it, (habit,) ‘author’ is not necessarily a great tag because LOTS of people will use it. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t; always have as many tags as you can. But you need to be precise. Again, going back to wix, your blog site might tell you what your most common clicks are.

Try to tag as specifically as you can.

Another technique that can work is tagging other bloggers, authors, etc. That way, when people search their name your work might also come up. But only do this when your work is relevant to them. Otherwise you will annoy your audience and lose them.

No. 7; Sharing is… spreading?

Keep an eye on where you’re being shared the most and where you get the most notice. Utilise it.

Are people finding you by an accident? Being referred? Going straight to your website or are they being linked to you through other social media sights?

Keep an eye on these trends and check out what you need to work on. For example, my ‘Direct’ hits are a lot more now than when I first started, but this is due to persistent shares in order to get subscribers. Commenting and helping in writer’s groups can also make your name more regularly used and searched as people you help out tend to return to favour, (good karma J ).

No. 8; Most Importantly

Have fun and keep going. Every little helps and you’re already doing a great job J

In conclusion;

The various different social media sites work very differently from each other and are useful in various ways.

In my opinion this is what the different sites I personally use are good for: (I can’t use ALL social media. Only 24hrs in a day!)

Facebook is good for sharing and sending people to your other content. It’s also good for joining writing groups and getting your name out there.

Youtube is great for gathering the largest audience.

Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr for consistency and advertising.

Keep your social media posts consistent, precise, relevant and true to yourself.

Remember, site, category, consistency, timing, content, hash tags and share.

:)

Thank you everyone for reading!

If you have your own tips on Social Media, suggestions, things I ‘ve missed out or could research, please comment and let us know!

To return to P01 click on the link below.

https://crystalclearwritingonline.com/2018/10/17/an-authors-guide-to-social-media-by-robyn-weightman/

Links to those mentioned or shown in this blog:

J.W.Roan- https://jwroan32.wixsite.com/website

Wooden Elephants- https://www.facebook.com/wooden.elephants.we/

Crystal Reavis- http://crystalclearwritingonline.com/

Jenna Moreci- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS_fcv9kBpDN4WWrfcbCrgw

Vivien Reis- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmBw2VslVxiCHZHMCKWSJpQ

Ellen Brock- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvu0q49l3BfsMyp9WSTQLw

Kristen Martin- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYyy_hiZRaSLGLOn62Nc4AA

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©2018 by Author Robyn Weightman. Proudly created with Wix.com

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