Sally Murphy's Blog, page 42
July 24, 2016
Five Minute Promo: Day 25
Welcome to the twenty-fifth day of my five minute promo challenge, something I set up to encourage myself to promote my new book, Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape and, to a lesser extent, my older and future books.
Yesterday I had you set up a Feedly account. Assuming you’ve done that, then today’s task will be simple. Here it is.
5 Min Promo #25
An info-graphic like this can be great for Pinterest.
Go and check your new Feed on Feedly and choose at least 3 items to share on your social media accounts. If you want to be really clever, try to share one on Twitter, one on Facebook and Pin one to your Pinterest Page. It’s always good to remember that people may follow you on more than one platform, and will enjoy seeing different content on each site. Some content also lends itself more readily to one platform above the others – for example, a good info-graphic or quote is wonderful for Pinterest.
Nothing interesting in your Feed? Then add some more search terms, so that next time you check there’s more to choose from.
As always, I’d love if you’d leave me a comment or send me a Tweet.
Five Minute Promotion: Day 24
Welcome back. We are on the home stretch now, with less than a week to go in this month-long promo-fest. Today’s task is something new to the challenge, in case you are starting to feel too comfortable with all the blogging, tweeting, pinning and instagramming I’ve had you doing. Today’s task, like the one on Day 9 where I had you set up a Google Alert, is about sourcing content for your social media posts. You ready?
5 Min Promo #24
Feedly will help you find content even while you sleep.
Open a Feedly account. Feedly is an awesome tool that you can use on your computer or your tablet or phone (as an app), and, as the name suggests, it feeds you content. All you have to do is set up a free account and then choose search terms you want Feedly to find on websites, blogs and news services across the web. You can also use it to follow specific blog or web feeds. Then, every day (or every week, depending on your time and interests), you read the content it has gathered for you. As you find something you think your followers will also enjoy you can tweet about it, add a link to your Facebook page, or pin it. New content at the click of a mouse or a press of your finger.
It should take you less than five minutes to get this set up – but a warning that reading your feed can become so pleasurable and informative that you may find yourself using more than five minutes a day.
Of course, if you are following this challenge and already have a Feedly account, there is still something you can do today: use the five minutes to visit your account, make sure it is up to date, and revisit your search terms. A good spring clean might be just what your Feedly needs.
See you tomorrow.
July 22, 2016
Five Minute Promo: Day 23
Yesterday I had you Tweeting about the weather. Today’s task should be just as easy, and I’m going to get straight to the point:
5 Min Promo #23
A cute dog picture can appeal to lots of people.
Take a photo of something cute, then open your Instgram app and post it. Make sure you say a little something and use some hashtags.
Got nothing cute to photograph? What about one of those cats and dogs that fell down in yesterday’s rain? Or any of your longer-lasting pets. Maybe it’s an ornament or toy you own. Or your child/grandchild.
Why cute? Because it’s human nature that many people love cute photos – they see that fluffy duckling, or that furry lamb and they say awwwwww. And that’s engagement. They wonder what else you’ve posted, and this leads them to see images of your book in your other posts.
Five Minute Promo Day 23
Yesterday I had you Tweeting about the weather. Today’s task should be just as easy, and I’m going to get straight to the point:
5 Min Promo #23
Here’s something cute I photographed in Adelaide last week.
Take a photo of something cute, then open your Instgram app and post it. Make sure you say a little something and use some hashtags.
Got nothing cute to photograph? What about one of those cats and dogs that fell down in yesterday’s rain? Or any of your longer-lasting pets. Maybe it’s an ornament or toy you own. Or your child/grandchild.
Why cute? Because it’s human nature that many people love cute photos – they see that fluffy duckling, or that furry lamb and they say awwwwww. And that’s engagement. They wonder what else you’ve posted, and this leads them to see images of your book in your other posts.
5 minutes is what it takes. Go to it.
And see you tomorrow.
July 21, 2016
Five Minute Promo: Day 22
It’s July 22 which means it’s also Day 22 of the Five Minute Promo challenge. Before you get to today’s task, stop what you’re doing, head to the nearest window, and take a look outside (unless, of course, you already are outside, or have just been for a lovely morning walk before attending to your social media for the day).
You’re back? Good. Here’s the task.
5 Min Promo #22
Clouds building on my favourite beach: a good topic for a tweet.
Go to your Twitter account and compose and post a Tweet about the weather. You can be serious: Just looked out my window and it is raining.
Or Whiny:
Just looked outside and can’t believe it is raining. Again.
Or excited:
OMG!!! Can’t believe it’s actually raining.
Or just plain silly:
It’s raining cats and dogs. No wonder the mouse is hiding.
(Okay that wasn’t all that funny – am sure you can come up with something better).
Don’t forget to use a hashtag or two, and then you’re done.
How does talking about the weather promote your book? It doesn’t, directly (unless of course you’ve written a book about the weather), but it engages your followers, especially those who strongly agree or disagree with you, or who match your sense of humour. Talking about the weather is just as engaging online as it is off.
Go to it – five minutes to tweet, perhaps check what everyone else is tweeting about, and then head outside and enjoy that beautiful sunshine. Oh – I forgot: it’s raining.
See you tomorrow.
Poetry Friday: Yum!
It’s Poetry Friday and I have just a quick post today, as I’m having a really busy week.
Last week while I was in Adelaide I bought myself two magnet sets, including boards and magnets, to add to my collection of magnetic words for inspiring and creating poetry. Earlier this week I posted the first poem I created using the sets. If you missed it, here it is:
When I got the set out today, I was attracted to the picture magnets and wondered if I could use some of them to inspire a rhyme. Here’s my effort, written in whiteboard marker:
And, when I looked back through my poems I came across this one written on my old, more staid whiteboard with some of my many other magnet words:
I look forward to creating lots more poems – simple and more complex – with my new toys.
Have a great Poetry Friday. This week’s roundup is hosted by Books 4 Learning. Head there to see links to more poetry goodness.
July 20, 2016
Five Minute Promo: Day 21
Welcome to Day 21 of Five Minute Promo. It’s truly lovely to have you come back. Today’s task is another nice easy one, and I’m going to get right to it – after I’ve reminded you that I would love it if you left me a comment to let me know how you are finding these daily tasks. Are you doing them? Are you noticing more engagement with your followers?
Anyway, over to today’s task.
5 Min Promo #21
Head over to Pinterest
and pin five new images (and their links) to your board/s. If you haven’t already, I really recommend you add the Pinterest tool to your browser bar, so you can pin things you find more quickly and easily. Don’t know what to pin? Check those Google results for your book and pin those. Or, if you have a board on another topic, pin something to that. You can even repin other people’s pins – this is a wonderful element of Pinterest. The image to the right is an image I have pinned before, and might pin again to a different board today.
See you back here tomorrow for another easy peasy five minute tip.
