The Fear of Social Media
Social Media. You either love it or hate it right? Or like me, you have a love/hate relationship with it. Like a lot of writers, I’m a bit of an introvert. While you’d think hiding behind my computer would make sharing on social media easier for me, it doesn’t.
I’m not used to sharing my life with total strangers. In real life, I’m really good at talking to people I’ve never met before. My kids would tell you that I never leave a public place without getting, at least, one person’s life story. I’m going to tell you a secret. I’m pretty sneaky. Instead of chatting about me, I ask them about themselves. Everybody loves that. We have a conversation. They’ve told me all kinds of details about their lives, and they never realize I’ve shared almost nothing about mine.
Okay, so I guess I’m more of an ambivert. I like to talk to people. I just don’t like to tell them about me. So sharing on Social Media can be approached a bit like this as well. Once I figured this out I got on many of the different platforms and got to work, Facebook Personal and Pages, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest (My fave), Instagram and Blab.
Here are some of my best tips to get over the fear of social media and make it work for your writing career:
- Take it slow. Do some research. Talk to your author friends about the platforms they like best and why. Decide which one might be the easiest and most intriguing for you.
- Lurk. I admit it, I’m a lurker. That sounds bad, I know, but I don’t like to jump in and try something before I know the rules. When I was a kid, I would stand on the sidelines and watch a new game being played before I’d join in. Same rules apply here. I don’t do anything on a new platform until I see how it’s done. Reading rules and articles can help, but nothing works better than actually seeing it.
- Follow. Once you’ve joined, follow other authors. Check out what they’re up to on a platform. How are they using it for their business? If that author is in your genre, follow the people that follow them. Look at what they’re doing, what interests them.
- Take time. Figure out how to make the platform work. All the little ins and outs. How to post a picture, a video, a quote. Is there a function to help you schedule a post? If you can’t figure something out, check out the help. Search for it. Look on YouTube (there are videos there on how to do everything).
- Fight the Overwhelm. The only person you are in a race with is yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’re on one or one hundred social media platforms (It seems like there are that many now). You don’t have to race to keep up. Work at your pace. Push yourself a little but when that little voice pops into your head whispering, “You’ll never catch up”, slap it down and move on to the next thing on your list. Slow and steady gets the job done. Just like writing a book. =)
I started this blog to share what I know about social media, indie publishing, and the writing world with other authors. I get asked a lot of questions, and I love to help, teach and inform. I’m an information junkie so there’s a lot of stuff floating around in my head that might help someone else. Have a question about any of that stuff? I may have an answer. If I don’t, I’ll find someone who does. Ask it in the comments!
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Write On!
Elena
