Social Media Rules

A few nights ago while flipping through channels I came across a late night talk show where an actress, Anna Kendrick, was talking about some of her social media rules. One of the big ones and the one that stood out to me was about promotions. She said that she believes for every promotional post you create and share that you should also post a few funny posts and pictures. It is important to be well rounded and to make sure that it isn't about promoting yourself and your work all the time.

It struck me because I know it is most definitely a rule that I can understand but have violated almost constantly. I find it difficult to follow others that are continuously sharing their own things without trying to connect and yet here I have been doing the same thing. It is a major point I need to work on. Both with my author page as well as my charity series I want to find a way to reach out more. I am just not sure how exactly to do that.

I am going to try and include more pictures of the animals for Rescue Me and that should not be a difficult task. I am hoping people will interact more with the page so that I can learn more about them and I have extended the offer from my publisher to be a featured author of the week through them. The hardest part is that I am such a social media novice. Yes I know how to post but I do not know how to create teasers or do any graphic art. I am still learning how to even create interesting content with just the words.

I feel like there is a generational gap because so many of the people I talk to in the writing community are between teenagers and early twenties which gives them at least a decade of technological immersion ahead of me. That is not to say that there are not hundreds or thousands of people my age and older that have pursued the writing and designing dream for years and are still leaps and bounds ahead of where I am even aiming to get one day. It can be overwhelming. I am trying however.

I am better with live events. Shaking hands and making conversation, public speaking as well as demonstrating my work have always been a stronger point for me. Online events are the norm now but I am still clinging to the face to face time hoping to grow through the physical audience I encounter along with learning each and every day how to improve my online visibility and personality. I guess the next step will be working with a web designer to create a website for everything and then I can keep taking small steps as I learn about them. What are the rules you use and the parts you struggle with?