Getting the message out there

Last weekend I attended a brilliant workshop on social media run by Sarah Cheverton of Star and Crescent Pompey, the hyper local news site.

Sarah took us through the basics of using Facebook and Twitter, and gave us a whole list of  do's and dont's for using social media.  One of her headlines was "it's called SOCIAL media not MARKETING media."  She was talking about those annoying people who turn up on social media whose only posts amount to "buy my book".  I know a self-published writer who does that all the time.

So how do we get the message out there?  How do we let the world know we exist without annoying people?  As Sarah said, every writer's approach will be different, but there are several reasons for using social media.  These include exposure for you as a writer, networking with other writers/editors/agents, putting out requests for information, and yes, selling your work.  But social media is primarily about audience engagement.

As Sarah pointed out, your main selling point is you.  This means you could talk about your writing process, like I do in this blog, your interests, and let your personality show through.  If the audience is interested in you, it will be interested in your writing.  She suggests that a good balance is spending 80% of your time talking about writing, and only 20% on selling your work.

What we're trying to do is engage with people.  So comment on other people's posts, reply to tweets, champion other writers' work.  And don't forget to write some original posts of your own too.

The key to all this is to think through the message you want to put out there.  How much of yourself are you prepared to make public?  Apart from one exception, there is nothing really personal about my background on the Internet.  I talk about writing, I share posts on wildlife and ecology, feminist comments, and interesting scientific advances.  And I share a lot of content from SF writers.  That mix of things sums up my interests.   My writing also explores those areas of interest.

So get the message out there, and let the world know you exist.  But what you say, and how you say it, matters just as much.  Be selective about what you share.  Remember another rule of the Internet - everything you put  on it is there for ever.  Make sure that your lasting record is one you're happy with.