Saturday, June 29, 2013

10 Ways to Turn the Social Media Odds in Your Favor!

10 Ways to Turn the Social Media Odds in Your Favor


1. Start Slow

One Social Media platform at a time! Once you are comfortable with your first choice, then add another. Otherwise, you will completely overwhelm yourself and your platforms will be unprofessional creating a bad "reputation" for you online. Remember: anyone can search your name and see everything you have done online!!!

2. Reputation

You cannot change what you said or did in the past. (Just ask Paula Deen) One moment of weakness or stupidity will follow you for the rest of your online life! AND could possibly cost you everything you worked for. You need to decide NOW what type of reputation you want and need to accomplish your goals online.

3. Goals

If you don't know where you are going, then you will never get there! Take a moment to consider why you are online. Is it to meet new people, to network, to build a platform, etc.? Now, think about your ideal world - what does your online presence look like? (I have 10,000 real people Twitter friends that love me, I have built a solid network on LinkedIn that is providing job opportunities, I have over 20,000 likes on my FB Page and now have a publisher? dreaming) Okay, now we are getting somewhere. Prioritize your goals and tackle them ONE at a time. *Whatever your goal is determines where your focus is. Time to start researching!

4. Research

Choose your #1 Goal (Make money from my Blog) Go to a search engine and search key words. If you are just creating your first blog, search for "Create new blog". If you want it to be free, add the word "free". The more specific you are with your search, the more specific your results will be. The Internet is HUGE and has many, many resources. Know what you are looking for and be specific. Also, make sure the web pages you find are credible. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet or you will end up dating a French model with a redneck accent!

5. One Step at a Time

When researching, you might find a hundred things to do and get very overwhelmed at how hard it appears. Take a deep breath and start with #1! You will learn as you go and one day reach #100 on your to-do list. If #1 is create a blog, the do it. #2 is to add widgets to your blog. So, AFTER you created the blog, start researching and playing around with new widgets. You can always delete and change your blog if you don't like something. You cannot start at the end!

6. Schedule

If you are irregular, you will get backed up! (Yes I am still referring to social media) Social media will suck all the fun out of you if you are online 24/7 "working". Stop! Step back from the computer! You need a schedule. Evaluate your goals and progress. If you are posting on Twitter, FB, and Goodreads all day, then when are you having time for friends, family, and fun? There is an amazing thing called Hootesuite. It allows you to type out your posts and schedule a date to post without you having to be there! WOW time to be me!?!

7. Create Interest

To attract people you have to be interesting and valuable. No one wants to waste their time reading a blog that does not help them or interest them. As you have found out, social media is vast and there is not enough time in the day to sort through it all. Therefore, you need to be the Oprah of television hosts. She was/is real, caring, and provides current topics of interest. Smart lady! She rose to become the queen of television and is a huge influence on people everywhere. Basically, all you need to do is be Oprah. haha

8. Be Real and Caring

Social media is a peculiar outlet for people. Many are here to network and build their platform. The other half are here because they are looking for fun and friends. They are "the platform" that consists of real people with real feelings. You may be the only person they "talk" to each day. Do you care? If not, shame on you. If you do, then be real. Mingle, chat, follow back, check on people that said they are sick, etc. I think business minded people forget that they are talking to REAL people who want a friend not a salesman.

9. Current Topics

Let's give them something to talk about! Google Alerts allows you to receive emails about current topics in your niche. Use these to post your opinion or to just inform your audience. If you are current and interesting, they will follow!

10. Find your Niche

This should probably be #1 because this is where you fit in to the vast online world. This is who you are and why anyone should read your stuff. This requires a LOT of self reflection and goal mapping. Who are you? Why are you online? What do you care about? What message do you want to scream out to the world? What topic do you care about the most in your world? For me, it is bullying and suicide. I am a teacher and author. So, my niche could even get more specific to include secondary schools and students. That is one niche I have. Oh yes, you can have more than one!
My second niche is in the author world. Discovering online presence, platforms, social media, marketing, and not drowning under all of the items on my to-do list. Why do I care about all of this? Reflect back to my niche #1. I want to scream from the mountain tops for kids to STOP the BS! (bullying and suicide) I am passionate and believe that together we can STOP bullying and suicide. I have an easy plan that will work. I want to speak at every school and tell every child, teen, college kid, and adult that WE are the reason bullying exists. People bully others that are different or do not agree with the way we are. It is wrong and easily stopped. *deep breath* See, my passion came out and I started rambling. This is my niche! I want to help you find your niche and reach your platform so that you can scream out too!

Next week I will post 10 Things My Mother Taught Me About Social Media. Beware: it might make you laugh or cry. Hopefully, you will find your niche and a new found passion for social media!

If you like my post, please share it with your friends!
If you want another real friend, find me on:
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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Top Ten Adult Twitter Steps

Top Ten Adult Twitter Steps


1. Don't neglect Twitter! You think you are all grown up and have other things to do but NO; you cannot ignore your nest or it will be taken over by vultures!!!

2. Try Hootsuite! This will help organize all of your online social media which will help make TIME for Twitter! YAY!

3. Keep following back! I cannot say it enough... You are never too big to stop following back real people. Even Justin Bieber should follow back! Imagine how ecstatic all of those teen followers would be after a simple follow from Bieber?! Think about the influence he could have on such impressionable kids' self-esteem!

4. BEWARE of DM's that say "funny pic of you" or "nasty blog about you" etc. It is a lie to get you to open the link for a virus! Don't do it!

5. Start attaching pics or videos to your Tweets. People love to SEE... We are all window shoppers at heart!

6. Smile when typing your Tweet. This will make you feel better and sound a lot nicer! Try it...

7. RT - Be a pal! If you see a request for a retweet and you think it is interesting, then, by all means, RETWEET it! It will make you feel like you did your good deed for the day, and it will make the lucky bird happy!

8. Don't Tweet at the table. (I had to learn this one the hard way when my family, including my 2 teens, manhandled me to take my phone one evening. Twitter Intervention LOL) For goodness sake, Twitter can wait while you spend real time with your family and friends talking face-to-face without constant interruption from your social media. Seriously, get a life or save the one you have in the real world. What good is 10,000 friends on Twitter if you neglect the ones you have in person?

9. The best time to Tweet is 5pm!

10. Lighten up and have fun! Life doesn't have to be serious all of the time. Learn to fly!

You are an adult bird now. You should be able to take care of yourself and help others around you. I am so proud of the bird you have become. Next week, I will post the Top Ten Senior Citizen Twitter Steps! hmmm curious? Watch out for the cat!

Have a lovely week!


Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Top 10 "I already know it all!" Twitter Teen Steps

Top 10 "I already know it all!" Twitter Teen Steps


1. Follow Back! (Authors should NEVER think they are so big that they don't need to follow back. Who wants to buy a book from someone who is stuck on themselves?)

2. Twitters Golden Rule: Tweet as you would want to be tweeted. (Nuff said)

3. Don't tweet constant advertisements...
Buy my book.
Buy my book.
Buy my book.
Oh, did I say BUY MY BOOK? (Seriously: 1P2K comes out this fall!!! Check out my links on the side bar! ...sorry couldn't resist plugging mine lol)

Seriously? Twitter is not a place for constant harassment to buy your book! We all have ulterior motives to promote ourselves and we all want to be famous, successful artists but this is NOT how you do it. If I run across someone who only posts sales adds for themselves, I fly away and you will miss me! Don't say I didn't warn you!

4. Unfollowers are evil. Okay, maybe not evil but at minimum RUDE. I have the Follow Tool App on my IPhone which allows me to see who unfollowed me and I repay the favor. :) Don't think I didn't notice your little flight off to never never land!

5. Angry Birds need to stay inside the game app where you can catapult them AWAY. It is no fun to run across mean, angry birds who are insulting or griping about others. Be nice birdies or change apps!

6. Grammar Rules for Twitter: Ain't nun cuz we only get 140 characterz woohoo!!! Up2U 2read thru the lines!

7. Stalkers love Twitter! hehe I know firsthand. This is the only world where stalking is absolutely permitted! Have fun and stalk on!!!

8. Don't worry, be happy! We need more happy, free spirited tweets! Be random; tweet what you think.

9. No one cares what you ate!

10. Don't be a user! I know you have goals and want to find someone who will grab your hand and lead you to success. (If you find someone please DM me their @twitter) Anyways, we are here to meet cool birds and hang out among the trees. Don't harass or hit up people, like agents or publishers, for help in being the next star! They are people too and just want to have fun meeting people. Maybe they will actually like you (if you aren't constantly begging) and decide to extend their hand or wing... Check your motives at the door!

Mature Tweeters know how to relax, have FUN, and socialize versus being rude, demanding, tweet to tweet salesmen! Once you advance passed this adolescent Twitter stage, you are ready for 10 Adult Twitter Steps! Check back next Wednesday for my next top 10!

You will always be MY baby Twitterers no matter how much you grow.

Tweet On my (sniff sniff) grown up birdies.