GIRL POWER NOVEMBER 2013 | Page 7

Social Media for Authors Marianne de Pierres TW I T TER T IP S!! KEITH KELLER “Amid the clamour of social media, you must find your own voice. If you are enjoying yourself then you’ll quickly build a network.” Authors can take the work out of social media and still achieve visibility by simply choosing the right platforms for them. Here is a brief overview to get you started picking a path. Facebook: What’s it like? Facebook works well for the gregarious author who likes to share both their own thoughts and resources they’ve found. Simple rules will help you manage your time: What You Can Do? - Run competitions - Broaden your network by tagging bigger common interest groups - Have real time instant chats - Network with colleagues - Use paid for advertising - Chat, share links and pictures - Network - Twitter is one of the best professional networking platforms available - Secure your own hash tag on Twubs and build a whole tribe who are interested in talking about the same topic - Use adjunct platforms like Twylah to collect and aggregate your tweets for readers to find at a glance Twitter: What’s it like? GooglePlus: Twitter is quick to update, but not What’s it like? immediately visual. Phrase your posts in Google’s answer to Facebook is simple direct ways and learn the power of looking better and better all the time. the hash tag. Works well with all the Google apps. What You Can Do? What You Can Do? YouTube What You Can Do? By Marianne de Pierres - Direct author address to readers - Video reviews - Host competitions - Tag other vloggers in your videos to help create a community following Marianne de Pierres is a multi-award winning Australian author who publishes novels in the science fiction, fantasy, crime and young-adult genres Pinterest: What’s it like? A platform for sharing images with limited written interaction. A very connected “buy” orientated community with a strongly female user base. - Share posts and thoughts - Run simple competitions - Create a Google hangout - a videobased chat group - with other writers or readers - Google Huddles - chat with authors and readers using a phone app YouTube: What’s it like? YouTube’s video platform that has been around for a long time. make your own videos and upload. *Requires decent bandwidth and some basic equipment. What You Can Do? - Create a board with “buy” links for your books - Allow readers to get to know you by creating boards that show own personal taste - Find creative inspiration - Make free info-graphics about the industry or interest areas and share them - Find readers and writers with similar tastes Marianne de Pierres (Social Media Coaching for Writers and Artists)