Tag: marketing

Darn that Social Media #MFRWauthor

Marketing on social mediaI’m not quite a Luddite, but close to it. I wasn’t always this way. Time was, I was considered a leader in computer and Internet usage. I posted on Yahoo groups with the best of them to promote my books, and could make Outlook, Word and Excel sing. Then I took a break.

When I came back into writing and using the computer had changed. I prefer email, but really, does anyone use email any more? It seems that everyone is DMing (it took me a heck of a long time to figure out what DM meant. Use your words, people!) on Twitter, Messaging on Facebook, and whatever they call it on LinkedIn. Ironically, I receive a message in my Outlook Inbox telling me I have a message on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Couldn’t people just email me to begin with??

How to receive messages was only the beginning. In order to promote our work, we now need to post daily—more often would be infinitely better, I’m told—on all of those. I don’t have Instagram or Pinterest accounts or I Social mediawould be spending even more time at the keyboard. And that doesn’t include blogging or managing a newsletter. By the time I create blog posts, both for those appearing on the Nomad Authors blog and for when I appear on the blog sites of others, I’m pooped.

Hubby used to complain that I spent so much time posting on Yahoo that I decreased my writing time significantly. He could say the same now about social media promoting. Truthfully, I never noticed any changes in sales when I used Yahoo, and I wonder if there are sales changes with all of this other promoting. I have been told point blank that we can promote 24×7 on social media and there would be no difference in sales or exposure. But who is willing to take that chance? Not me.

So is social media a friend or foe? Like most things in life, we have to do whatever we think works as well as what we enjoy, plus a bit of what we don’t enjoy, just because…well, because. I really enjoy Twitter and I don’t mind LinkedIn. I’m not a fan of Facebook but recognize that it’s expected for us to use. And I have to admit, I really enjoy blogging and our newsletter, Aussie to Yank (subscribe here). So I will keep on and hope you will keep on reading, retweeting, commenting.

Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.

Dee
Mystic Desire: A collection of supernatural tales sure to keep you up at night, peering into the shadows! Or just wide awake, reading.
Only a Good Man Will Do
Naval Maneuvers

Bragging Ain’t Marketing (and vice versa) #MFRWauthor

Well, that tile isn’t exactly right. There is a certain amount of bragging involved in marketing—if you consider talking about your talent and works as bragging. Someone has to do it, right? If you can’t, some credibility is lost. And we can’t always count on others to do the heavy lifting or promoting and supporting our work. So… It’s either share your accomplishments with the world or face the possibility that they won’t be shared at all. The way you share can make all the difference.

Bragging man“I just won a big award!” Said one way, it’s bragging. Said another way, it’s marketing. Here are a few ways marketing and bragging differ.

  • Bragging is all in the words, which serve are the total value. Marketing uses the words with substantiation to add value.
  • Bragging is fodder for the ego. Marketing is for consumers, or those outside yourself.
  • Bragging has no purpose except to make yourself feel better. Marketing serves a purpose with a tangible outcome.
  • Bragging irritates those around you with an “I, I, I” attitude. Marketing educates and entices others to learn more about you.
  • Bragging tends to make others think less of you. Marketing serves to establish your credibility and make others feel good about you.
  • Bragging can make people want to avoid you. Marketing (done right) will make people want to find more about you—and your work.

No one really enjoys being around a braggart, and after a while, their words tend to lose attention and value. Marketing adds value to words with proof. In the case of a book, “I just won a big award!” means more when teamedMarketing isn't all about you with a graphic of the award, review snippets that prove the award was deserved, and a plea to buy the book so that you, too, can enjoy this really great book—great because someone else determined it, not you. Sometimes there is a thin line between bragging and marketing, but other times they miss by a mile.

Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.

Dee
Only a Good Man Will Do: Seriously ambitious man seeks woman to encourage his goals, support his (hopeful) position as Headmaster of Westover Academy, and be purer than Caesar’s wife. Good luck with that!

Naval Maneuvers: When a woman requires an earth-shattering crush of pleasure to carry her away, she can’t do better than to call on the US Navy. Sorry, Marines!