Monday, July 30, 2012

Social Media: Love It or Hate it?



It's the last week of the Buccaneer Blogfest and I've had a blast meeting everyone.

Many thanks to Sharon Bayliss and Courtney Young for hosting this month long get-together.


Free Photo From Flickr
Today's topic is social media: Do you love it or hate it?

I don't want to bore you with all the pros and cons of social media. We all know what they are. We all know what a time-sucker it is.

I've read that social media is a must for authors trying to build their platform. I could, and have, spent all day going from blogging to Facebook and GoodReads and LinkedIn and YouTube. I've recently joined Twitter (but have yet to really figure it out) and Pinterest.

But social media is not the most important part of building your author platform. After all, your work has to be good in the first place for any of this media to work. You have to give your readers and followers a good product to begin with. You have to be interesting. And of course free stuff is always welcome. So in essence, social media is only a small part of building your platform.

And frankly, I'm not there yet. Sure, I have some faithful followers. I appreciate them/you so much! I love rubbing elbows with other writers and authors, and really, I take a lot of pride in it - sinful, I know. It's just that I never dreamed that I'd be in the same league. But why not? Most of us writing bloggers are on the same path, just different locations on the trail.

The reason I know all of you is due to social media.

I want you all to know how much I appreciate you for so many reasons.

Even after all the books about writing I've studied, I've learned the most about the craft from you, in bits and pieces, through following your blogs. Then of course there's the endless support, encouragement and friendship. I have friends all over the world! England, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, India. That's right, I'm cosmopolitan. A world traveler. A citizen of the world.

And it's all due to knowing you through social media.

Yep, gotta love it!

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION OF SOCIAL MEDIA?

15 comments:

  1. It's opened up a whole world of new friends for me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good point. All the marketing in the world won't help you unless you have a product to sell, which, for us, is good solid writing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Story, yep, it's gotta be good. Now if I could stay off FB...

      Delete
  3. Social media certainly helps sell books:)
    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nutschell, and it's the quickest way to get the word out:)

      Delete
  4. It's got the good and it's got the bad. Find the balance and you get "goad" right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ink, or "bood?" No, that's not right..."bago?"

      Delete
  5. I live in a small, remote mountain town, up in the mountains of that town with no cell phone connections (in a crooked little house?). And although my dog keeps me good company, he sometimes smells and seldom provides me with good critiques (he's afraid I'll withhold kibbles). So while I try to manage my social media time (I don't tweet yet), I am grateful for the connection and interaction that blogs etc provide. But yes, it is a balance!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the Donut bulletin board : ) Yup, keeping it all in balance is tricky, I've yet to get it perfected, but someday...

    ReplyDelete
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