How To Alienate Yourself on Social Media

Photo credit: Sarah Ann Loreth
As I've become more assimilated on social media, I feel that I am decently more knowledgeable about how to build an author platform, make worthwhile friends/readers, and ... how to alienate yourself in those forums.
Before I jump into my personal experiences on social media however, I'd like to say that I only need ONE more subscriber to my newsletter for the YouTube horrible kiss video to happen. So if you haven't already signed up and you want that to happen, then please subscribe by September 1st.

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Now here is my list of ways to alienate yourself in social media, or what NOT to do:
1. Add someone's Twitter handle to the ends of your posts.
What does this mean, you ask? Well, I've had it done to me, so let me explain. Someone I met briefly was tweeting numerous times a night (writing tips, so it was somewhat relevant) and would add my name onto the end. I didn't know why, and they explained that it was so that I would "re-tweet" them.
Now, I definitely appreciate being included in certain conversations/posts that pertain to me personally. However, adding my handle to your numerous nightly posts simply as a way to "nudge" me to re-tweet them seems a little heavy-handed. I will re-tweet something that I find relevant on my own, thank you very much. This individual was adding other authors as well, and I am curious to know how they felt about it. 

I HAVE done this in certain instances when I found a post or person who might be of interest to a Twitter friend of mine, for example: Jenny Bravo is self-publishing, and I found this incredible self-publishing author, Tiana Warner, through The Book Designer's blog. So I tweeted Tiana to compliment her, and included Jenny at the end. Jenny's done the same for me, and it's a great way to meet other authors and learn stuff I might've never found otherwise.

2. Spam someone's Twitter because they said a "keyword."
This is another thing that happened to me recently; someone included my handle in their tweets about "speculative fiction workshops." I had no knowledge of who they were or what this workshop was, and didn't understand why I had been included in their tweet. When asked about it, they stated it was because I had mentioned "speculative fiction" at some point. Um...what? I don't even really know what that is.
Again, this is something that I think is personal preference. Some people might like to be included in a tweet and get the tiny bit of "reach" it may provide. Personally, it turned me off. I don't appreciate being "associated" with something I have no knowledge of, or actual involvement in. So yeah, don't do that.

3. Write an author's name wrong.
Mistakes happen. People forget middle initials; I get it (it's Ashley "R." Carlson! I know, annoying). But keep this in mind when you are reaching out to or sharing what other authors have written: OUR NAME IS OUR BRAND. If you are going to share a blog post someone wrote, or compliment them on their work, please for the love of God spell their name right. Seriously. Do they have a middle initial? USE IT. Do they have two last names? USE THEM BOTH. Otherwise you are potentially cutting them out from the awesome recognition you are trying to give because their name is wrongly spelled. Not to mention, it comes off as insensitive and uncaring.

4. Lie about being a bestseller.
This one is pretty self-explanatory. If you're actively telling people that you are debuting your first novel ever, then how can you be a bestseller? By all means tell us where your books have become bestsellers; it's absolutely something to share.
But if you're not actually a bestseller yet, don't say you are. Readers are not idiots. They don't appreciate being lied to, myself included. And once they sense the stink of dishonesty surrounding you and your work, I highly doubt they'll want to support it with their hard-earned cash.

5. Recommend YOUR OWN BOOK to people on Goodreads.
This is another one that I think would be pretty self-explanatory, though it's happened to me a couple of times. This is something that I think can be handled correctly, and not correctly.
-Are you part of a YA paranormal reading group and that's the genre you just wrote a book in? SHARE IT.
-Do you have a friend on Goodreads who said they want to read your book, and to send it to them for easier retrieval? SHARE IT.
However, when you are a stranger, it comes off as pretty slimy to recommend your own book to me when we've never communicated in any way previously, and your book is not even in the genre I've said I like.
As you can see, most (okay, ALL) of this is from my personal experiences over the last nine months. If any of you have other tips of what NOT to do, please share in the comments. I think a lot of social media interaction is pretty self-explanatory; be a nice person, don't spam people, don't lie about yourself, and be fun!
I know that I love to read the posts of my friends like Jenny Bravo, Marissa Fuller, Lilly Raines, and Christine H. of Better Novel Project; because they are REAL, informative, and entertaining. Want some more tips on what not to do with Twitter? Read Ksenia Anske's post here.

Until next time, keep writing and keep dreaming!
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