Recently, I had the great pleasure of participating in a social media webinar with social media expert, Amy Jo Martin. Not only is she a best-selling author but also the founder of Digital Royalty. More importantly, I listen to anyone who is not a celebrity and yet has nearly 1.2 million Twitter followers. Knowing how to effectively use social media is important and relevant information for writers–and for anyone in business. Here’s five things I learned:
1. We use our mobile devices roughly 150 times a day!
2. The future is Minority Report. Remember that sci fi flick starring Tom Cruise? Amy says we are entering that era now!
3. Selfless sells. If you provide good content via your website and social media (which she refers to as ‘social communication’) then you will see results. Social media is not about direct sales but about indirect sales that come as a result of the connections you have established and the relationships (trust) you have built. Social media is primarily about gaining exposure and then creating a relationship with the consumer.
4. Build Your Brand. Who are you? What are you trying to accomplish? What do you want to be known for or how do you want to be recognized? Evaluate your goals and then outline your objectives. For example, if you want to be known as an expert on vegan cooking, how should you go about it? Obviously, you would want to create a website and include information (such as recipes and health stats) and then build on that with social media. Since there isn’t time to address all forms of social media, where is the best use of your time? I would suggest Pinterest since that is the perfect forum for recipes and the like and is 82% women. You could then link it to your Twitter account and tweet every time you create a new pin or repin. See where I’m going with this?
5. Diversify. It is all well and good to educate your audience but it is equally important to shake things up. This means you also need to entertain, inspire, share, and inform (preferably something exclusive).
As if all of this wasn’t enough, she has graciously offered to share some free reports–and not just with webinar participants but she encouraged us to share with others, as well. See how she is gaining exposure and building relationships? Clever girl! To access these reports, go to www.digitalroyaltyuniversity.com and enter the code ‘humanize’. You can also follow me @terrancezepke or by subscribing to my weekly e-newsletter. I will continue to share all the information I find as I discover the best ways to utilize social media (and will also share helpful writing information too).
***In a couple of days I’ll be posting about Social Media for Writers and my 365-day experiment.
I’ll also be announcing my FREE TRIP CONTEST soon.
Stay tuned!
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