What do you like to post on your professional social media?

[T.K.]

Social media counts as a blog, right?

I thought maybe we could have a thread where we share our ideas for fun social media posts! In trying to be more active on social media, I Googled ideas for social media posts for authors, but I couldn't find much inspiration for specifically speculative fiction authors.

What have you been doing that you find works for you and your followers?

Here's some posts I've been enjoying composing for my Facebook page:

- Book trivia--share interesting facts about one of my books
- Worldbuilding trivia--share little-noticed world details from the fantasy worlds of my books, or even ideas I had for them that either never made it into the final product or aren't fully developed within the text
- Character introductions--give a short biography for a book character and explain their role in the book, how I developed their character, and why I enjoyed writing them

Also, when I'm working on a new book cover, I like to post regular screencaps of the work-in-progress so readers can see how it's coming along and get an idea of how I put my covers together.

Does anybody have any ideas for Instagram posts? I'm very new to Instagram, and I'd love some ideas for things I can post other than concept art and photos of my cat. :)

[Anna]

I've avoided FB, Twit, and Inst - I just don't have the time to spend on them if I also want to write. Sorry. Others may be able to help.

[T.K.]

That's okay! I know everybody has different preferences for social media. I'm actually not super active on social media myself, but my readers seem to like hearing from me on FB and Instagram.

[C.S.]

Your ideas sound good. Keeping readers/potential readers engaged is important. Graphics and videos draw readers' eyes more so than just print. More than that, I can't say because I'm not very good at the whole social media thing. I do have a presence on FB, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and MeWe. Posting short pieces with a well done picture on Instagram is a good, simple way to create interest. If you blog, others who blog might be willing to do blog tours with you. I never blogged and now I'm feeling the bite of not doing so. And with so many established bloggers out there, I'm not certain it would be worth the effort of starting one now. It's something I ponder.

I've used Canva to make some posts, but I haven't upgraded to a level where I pay and so I've found that limited compared to the professional work others are doing with graphics.

My next step (hopefully by the beginning of January) is to try to increase my email list and attempt monthly newsletters through Mail Chimp.

This has been quite the experience for me because I'm rather a shy, awkward person who would rather be writing.

[T.K.]

Don't worry, I'm shy and awkward too, so I know how you feel. :) I hope your newsletters go well! I think your readers will love them.

I say, if you want to start a blog, go for it! Your voice is unique and deserves to be heard. I believe when it comes to blogs, there's never too much of a good thing! (I have been known to binge-read blogs I like until I have seen absolutely every post.)

I like your idea of blog tours! I should consider that sometime. I do have a blog on my author website (actually the website is my blog that I just added a few extra pages to), that I mostly use to post silly fanfiction and concept doodles. I'll have to keep an eye out for other authors who want to do blog tours!

[Anna]

(I have been known to binge-read blogs I like until I have seen absolutely every post.)

I'm laughing here as my blog is so new, it wouldn't take you long!

[T.K.]

Anna, what it lacks in quantity it makes up for in quality! :)

[Anna]

Thank you, T.K. - you'd make a good marketing manager, something I definitely need!

[T.K.]

You're too kind! I feel like I'm terrible at marketing and need a good marketing manager myself! But it's nice to know I sound like I could play one on TV. :)

[Nicole]

Definitely feel the shy and awkward part of this thread, and the part where I would rather be writing than engaging on social media. Lol. I barely make it on here from time to time, but I try to keep a more consistent social presence on Instagram. Which is hard and draining, and I struggle with it a lot. Any social media outside of that just isn't something I'm willing to invest a lot of time in right now, although like Goodreads I also occasionally get on Pinterest.

I don't run a blog on my website because in general I am not a blog reader at all. *shrugs* I've never cared about them much, but I have browsed a few out of curiosity - and then left never to return. So, the purpose of my website for now is just to advertise my books, but I do have a few other ideas that will take some time to implement if I do them. C.S.'s suggestions about constant interaction, moving graphics, and videos are on par with tips I've read. However, I've heard on videos and read in articles by other authors about one other thing:

You have to decide what type of "feed/blog" and content you will provide early on and stick with it as much as possible. Usually that's either a lifestyle type of post (I'm doing this/this is going on in my life/this is how my writing is going), or a bookish type post (I'm reading this/my book is about this/my thoughts on this book were, etc).

Professional opinions seem to deem it better to do bookish posts (as readers are book oriented) while occasionally promoting your own work unless you have a large reader base who cares about what you're doing in life. If an author does, congrats to them because they're doing better than a lot of us. :) However, in my opinion, it all comes down to personal preference of the author, really. Just try to stay consistent with posting and whatever your "feed/blog" is about.

All of your ideas are good, T.K., and it sounds like you are on a social media track that works for you. :) Those are the types of ideas I'm pondering for my website, but I want my social media to be different. That way there is always something interesting and varying for readers to find on each one.

On Instagram, my followers enjoy the pictures I post about books I've read or am reading or want to read, and I ask a lot of bookish questions that would be interesting for readers to answer. I've found I get a lot more engagement that way because these are readers who don't know me or my work, so they would be less interested in a bunch of posts about it. However, I do intersperse my feed with quotes from my books and also add occasional pictures of my books. Especially if I will be having a sale or a book will be launching or something special like that. I find that this is a more "organic" way for readers to be introduced to my books rather than just making my entire page about them. It's less pushy, in a way, which as a reader is what I would want to find on another author's social media account. But that is just me. Other authors do different things, and those work out really well for them. :)

[Nicole]

C.S. wrote: "Your ideas sound good. Keeping readers/potential readers engaged is important. Graphics and videos draw readers' eyes more so than just print. More than that, I can't say because I'm not very good ..."

I've been interested in MeWe, and I've contemplated using it. But it seems to be more of a private messenger and chat type app. Something that is more like texting, and that makes me wonder why I should bother with it. Is that the case, C.S., or is it something else entirely?

[T.K.]

Thanks for your input, Nicole! You're right, everybody has different ways to experience and use social media, and I think it's very important to make sure one's professional social media experience is as enjoyable, suitable for them, and non-stressful as possible. For example, I don't use Twitter at all - despite how popular and ubiquitous it is - because I'm not a fan of its frenetic pace and character limit, not to mention the stress of having to learn and then regularly post to yet another new site. But I really love finding things to post daily on FB, and IG has even found a niche in my life as something I can do when I'm waiting for something with little do but play around on my phone. I'd rather do a couple of social media sites well than try to juggle all of them and burn myself out.

I also appreciate you mentioning personal versus bookish type posts. I stick exclusively to bookish posts on my professional social media because I am a very private person, and I also think my personal life is really uninteresting (like that of most humans, it unsurprisingly revolves around working, eating, sleeping, and taking care of my family, not necessarily in that order). And as a reader, I would much rather see social media posts about, say, the author's thought process and background research behind a book's fictional antigravity technology than what the author bought at the mall that day. (I have made an exception this past week when I've been participating in a gratitude challenge, but I've been posting pictures of pretty scenery that I take while I walk the dog, so there is not really much to go on as far as identifying information.)

It bothers me when I see blog posts and websites that purport to give good tips for writers using social media, and then say that posting about your personal life is a "must", because I don't think that's true, or how many writers and their followers actually feel. It's one thing if you actually like posting about your personal life on your professional social media, but I don't feel like more private authors should feel pressured to open up to the public like that.

Something that I've been enjoying doing on FB is posting and using the hashtags for "holidays" that are relevant to my work, and explaining how they tie in. I think it's a fun way to celebrate various aspects of my work and my career, and potentially introduce my page to people who are browsing the hashtag. There are online lists of named days that you can use to build up your own list of days you want to observe on your social media.

For example, some of the days I observe via FB posts are: National Robotics Week (I write a lot about robots), Museum Day (one of my novels starts off in the American Museum of Natural History in NYC), Hispanic Heritage Month (I am Hispanic and one of my novels has Hispanic protagonists), World Introvert Day (many of my characters are introverts), National Fossil Day (one of my novels has to do with fossils), and International Animation Day (I went to college for animation).

[T.K.]

Nicole wrote: "Definitely feel the shy and awkward part of this thread, and the part where I would rather be writing than engaging on social media. Lol. I barely make it on here from time to time, but I try to ke..."

Do you have a list of questions that you like to ask your followers, or do you know any good resources for such lists? I'd like to try engaging with my followers more by asking them questions, but I feel like I'm not quite sure what to ask.

[C.S.]

Nicole wrote: "C.S. wrote: "Your ideas sound good. Keeping readers/potential readers engaged is important. Graphics and videos draw readers' eyes more so than just print. More than that, I can't say because I'm n..."

I signed up for MeWe about a year ago then just let the account languish until a couple weeks ago. A year ago, nothing was happening. Now, there are groups and a lot more people. I like MeWe. It's sort of a cross between FB and Twitter. I found a Writer-Author group I'm really enjoying. Today I had a question about using a particular weapon and one of the other writers was familiar with it. I asked if he minded reading my fight scene. He agreed, read it, and offered some excellent feedback. At this point, its no where near as large as FB or Twitter, but you might want to pop in from time to time to have a feel for it as it grows larger.

[Nicole]

Thank you so much for that information, C.S.! I couldn't get a feel for what it was like in the app description with the visuals offered. It seemed more like a texting app than a social media app despite the description. I will definitely check it out now, though!