Indie Author Weekly Tip - Embrace Social Media Platforms

Photo Courtesy of line25.com Happy Tuesday! Today’s indie author weekly tip is about embracing social media platforms.
 
As technology has evolved, societal communication has changed tremendously. The human interaction of picking up a telephone and talking has turned into Facebook Messaging or Skyping – just to name two of many 21st century modes of communicating with others.
 
Why is it important to embrace social media platforms as an indie author?
 
Simply, you have to reach your readers. The traditional means of communication has changed; therefore, you should be willing to adjust accordingly. Most of society have their electronic devices with them 24/7 thus they are using some type of social media application. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Periscope are just five of many that are being utilized consistently.
 
These applications have proven to be effective in reaching out to a variety and huge number of folks. For an indie author, this means that you have to be open to embracing the positive impact of using social media. Those impacts include but are not limited to increasing your number of readers or more importantly increasing the exposure and sales volume of your book(s).
 
According to the June 2017 statistics from the National Archives website, Facebook has 10,743,699 impressions with a monthly reach of 3,452,351. Now that’s pretty impressive for a social media application especially when you are able to connect with people outside of your immediate geographical area.
 
Three tips that I can share with you about using social media platforms are as follows:Be active and consistent – Someone is always watching! Remain diligent with posting on your social media platforms. Whether posting about your book, blogging, sharing quotes, retweeting or sharing posts, you should be consistent in doing so. Actively participate in relevant discussions because that shows people that you are engaged.Show your personality * Go Live! – Have you heard that saying “nobody is perfect?” Well, it’s true and once you come to grips with that then you can jump out of your comfort zone and start making live videos. One thing I’ve learned is that when you allow people to connect with you by going live on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Periscope then you can gain a following that way. Yes, you may have to ward off some Internet trolls but for the most part there are some great people who are looking to connect with an authentic person. Will that be you?Join Groups (i.e. Facebook) – Find a few groups (be selective) that you can become a member of where you are able to interact with other authors, book reviewers or genre readers. You will be surprised how many great relationships can come out of opening yourself up to meet new people virtually. Look at it like this – you can meet a stranger on the street and still have to get to know them so what’s really the difference with meeting them virtually?   
Until next time … Happy Writing!