I just spent a glorious weekend at the Berrett-Koehler Auhor Co-Op Book Marketing Workshop.
As part of the workshop, I presented a panel with Chris Edmonds: “Create Your Active Community with Social Media.”
We began by asking the group to write down their most pressing social media questions. Unfortunately, we were able to answer only a handful of the questions.
Instead, I made a commitment to answer several questions each of the next 4 Mondays. I hope you’ll come back on Mondays to read the questions and answers and add your thoughts in the comments, especially if you have a differing viewpoint or extra information.
How can someone who feels like they don’t have a funny personality create hilarious posts for social media?
I like this question because I am not a funny person either. My husband says I am only funny about once a quarter. Though it may seem like hilarious posts are most effective, don’t try to be someone else — just be YOU! People will follow or friend you because they see value in what you post, funny or not. Instead of trying to be funny, identify the differentiating value you bring to social media and let your unique personality and value shine through every post.
What can you do to erase any primitive/old/unflattering info out there about you?
Unfortunately, there is no sure fire way to remove old information about you from the internet. As I have often said, anything we write online is written in permanent ink. However, the best strategy is to share new, fresh, relevant content regularly. By sharing content regularly, you can highlight what you’re doing that’s new and highlight what’s wonderful about you. You may not be able to erase content, but you can likely bury it.
I don’t like cocktail parties in person. Why would I like Twitter?
The cocktail party analogy is only useful in that it describes the fact that lots of conversations happen on Twitter all the time and you can jump in and join any that you’d like. The analogy breaks down, though, because you can choose, by following hashtags or lists, to only browse certain conversations. So, you could view Twitter as a discussion group on a topic that you join when you feel like it. (Also: cocktail parties are noisy, audibly speaking. You can tweet and the only sound is your fingers on the keys.
I love Twitter because I can connect to people all over the world, based on common interests. It’s a great place to learn and share.
It’s possible, after you try it, that you’ll decide that Twitter is not for you, which is okay too. It may be that another social media site is more enjoyable to you.
Tell me something? How would you answer these questions?
I’ll be answering questions from the event on 3 more Mondays. I also want to make sure you know that all e-books at 12minutemedia.com are FREE now through July 5. Use the code BKMKTG13. You don’t need to have attended the marketing workshop to use the code. Happy Learning!
I am the founder/CEO of the Weaving Influence team, the author of Reach: Creating the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause, and the host of the Book Marketing Action Podcast. I’m a wife and mom of three kids, and I enjoy running, reading, writing, coffee, and dark chocolate.