VISUAL SOCIAL MEDIA YOU SHOULD BE USING NOW

JBo — so funny and sweet. How do you do that? I must take lessons.

One key to remember: pick your favorite and make that your Earth. The rest are just satellites.

xo

Hi Ciara — Instagram is a way cool visual pic app. You can like or leave comments for others. Kinda like easy Pinterest, w/o all the wedding stuff. Guys like it much mo bettah.

As for YouTube, bloggers and authors use it (or social media peeps like me) to leave brief teasers. For example, you could give a 1-minute synopsis of your latest post. Or talk about your latest chapter & the character or plot twists. People remember more of what they SEE than what they read or hear. #pictureisworthathousandwords

You create a channel (easy — you already have an account) and the tools are brilliantly easy. You can even watch a YouTube video about how to create a YouTube video!

Hope that helps. :))

As I told Justin, pick your center. What’s your fav? If it’s Twitter, stick with it. That’s where you’ve made your name. But it’s always good to pick something “new” that has a visual component. It’s not simply about self-promotion as you know, Raine. That’s why being an author is awesome for visual: book covers make for great content and engagement. I do enjoy Pinterest but find it’s too time consuming for me. Others have found ways to make money off it. I’m mostly sharing other people’s stuff on it — which is fine, too.

Again, it’s about engagement across channels and building an interactive following who want to know more about you and will eventually buy your books! Peace.

Thank you, Eden. It CAN be overwhelming. And as writers, we need to write. Choose a time in the day, plan your social media (as I know you do), and add even just one more channel a bit at a time. One pic on Instagram a day or even every other. A YouTube vid each week. Whatever works for you.

There is no right or wrong — you curate your own social media life.

Instagram rocks, D.C. It’s quick and easy.

I think people become overwhelmed by so many choices and as authors, we need to write! That’s why Instagram is so convenient — wherever you are, take a pic and share. Or share pics of others you admire. Stuff that makes you laugh. Whatev. Engagement is key.

Sweet, Jess! It IS awesome. I try to visit just once/day and with it being tied to Facebook, that makes it even easier to connect with more people and engage. That’s the whole point — engagement. I need to find out about more cool apps and stuff to do w/ pix — though not knowing is keeping me off, so that’s a good thing! xo

Thank you, Cezar — pleasure to have you here. I do try to balance the snark with the content :). I allow myself a little more snark latitude over on my RachelintheOC.com blog (shhh, don’t tell anyone).

As for the other sites, I got sidetracked this week by a request to write about engagement. So that’s this week’s post (up tomorrow –Thursday). But I’ll definitely be reviewing those other sites next week. For now, if you have a WP site, consider adding them to your plug-ins and open accounts. At least Digg and SU. Easier to use. Stay away from Reddit until you’re prepared to really learn is my best advice. It’s a culture unto itself, though valuable for sure.

All the best,

Rachel

Thank Genia — love hearing from you! It takes awhile to get used to the whole blog world, so gleaning bits and pieces is a good idea. I read and learn constantly, try things out, see what works. Do what feels right but remember to always think of your readers. Can’t go wrong there.