Monday, August 1, 2016

Managing Social Media

A popular post from April 2010

By Josi S. Kilpack

Some people love it, some people hate it, but everyone can agree that when it comes to marketing and connecting with people, Social Media is a powerful tool. But how do you keep it managable and not end up spending all your writing time trying to keep up? I have a few tricks that work for me, but would love your suggestions as well. This post is not a "How to" or a "Why you should" it's simply a "How to use your time wisely." I am also not technical by any stretch, each of these things I have learned from someone else and have eventually become comfortable with it.

1--Schedule blogs. I have found it very helpful to set up specific times to post my blog. I know many people blog daily or multiple times a week. I have been unable to keep up with this both due to time and to content--I'm just not that clever. But I like to put my thoughts down. Fridays are a good day for me, but I rarely write anything on Friday. Instead, I write sometime during the week and schedule the blog through the 'post options' link at the bottom of my blog post. I assume other blogging programs have the same option. If I for some reason have a lot of ideas, I write several posts but schedule them to post on Fridays so that if I end up brain dead three weeks from now, I'm covered. I can always go in and change the posting times if I want to but at least I know the content is there. I am working on setting aside a specific time to write blogs during the week but so far haven't found that extra hour so I just take the time when I can.

2--Management programs. The one I use is Tweetdeck, but there are several others. Since I'm only familiar with Tweetdeck, however, it's the only one I can relate experience for. What Tweetdeck does is combine social media like Twitter, My Space, Facebook, etc. You basically have Tweetdeck sign you in to all those programs and it keeps a column for each one. It opens a window that hangs out behind everything else I'm working on and I get alerts when people update their statuses, send me a message etc. I don't have to log into Twitter through a browser window or keep facebook up--they are always open unless I close Tweetdeck. When I first downloaded the program I was overwhelmed and felt sure I would hate it. I made myself use it through the weekend and fell in love. I'm often the first person who posts on someones update because I spend a lot of time on the computer and I get updated immediately. I can pop over, post a comment, and get back to work in mere seconds. You can get more info at TWEETDECK and if you want more information on some of the other programs as well as Twitter info check out Jaime Theler's blog, BOOKMOM'S MUSINGS she's a twitter pro, but uses small words.

3--Linking media. I have my twitter linked to facebook so if I post to twitter it automatically posts to facebook. I can text from my phone to twitter too, which, again, posts to facebook. I also linked my blog so that it automatically posts to my twitter... which posts to my facebook. I know it sounds all technical, but it really isn't. As to how to do these things, I went to google and typed in what I wanted to do and someone far smarter than myself told me how to do it. Saves me a lot of time. Additionally, in Tweetdeck I can choose if I want to just post to facebook. Twitter is limited to 140 spaces so if I want to say something longer, I can choose just facebook for that update and twitter isn't affected. I can also google how to undo this if I want to. In regard to blogging you can also set up your blog so that you can write it as an e-mail and send it to your 'blog' e-mail address and have it post automatically.

4--Google Reader. Google Reader is web based, so you have to have a browser window open, however what it allows you to do is 'follow' blogs without having to go to them individually. It keeps a 'roll' of all the blogs you follow and you can scroll through them at leisure. If there's one you want to comment on you click on it and it takes you right there. Very handy way to keep and eye on blogs. Granted I haven't logged in for about 3 months so I probably have 2,000 blog posts but you can click on 'mark all as read' and you get back to zero. I can't imagine following blogs any other way--it really brings it all to a 'glance'.

5--Delicious. Delicious is a kind of online bookmark. Similar to the 'bookmark' option on your toolbar it allows you to enter websites into 'folders'. Then you simply put it in your toolbar and it acts as a drop down menu, allowing you to quickly go to some of your favorite sites. I use it for banking, online shopping, and social media sites so that I can get to them fast. The other benefit is that it's online, so if your on a different computer, you can log in and have your favorite sites at your fingertips. You can find out more about it at their WEBSITE

6--E-mail folders. This is elementary for some people, but many people don't realize how to best utilize this feature of their e-mail program. I have about 40 files in my e-mail and recieve well over 200 e-mails a day. I set up 'rules' that sends e-mails to their folder. for instance I have a folder for "Blogger" anytime an e-mail comes through that says 'blogger' in the 'from' field, it goes to my blogger folder. I belong to about 18 yahoo groups, each of them have their own 'folder' and rule so that they also go directly to the right place. I might not have time to read all my e-mail, but I can check in on specific folders that might have more pressing information than others. Take a little time to poke around, consider making some of your folders into sub-folders of a larger one (such as I have GROUPS, which all my yahoo groups fall underneath) and really streamline your e-mail. Consider setting up an e-mail for "Facebook" and one for "Registration Information". You'll not only get things organized, but you'll save yourself a lot of time when you go looking for something specific.

So these are my tricks, what are yours?

8 comments:

Susan said...

I don't have any tricks, I just wanted to tell you that this was very helpful. Thanks, Josi! I hope I get to meet you at Storymakers.

Heather Moore said...

I guess I could do more email folders. I have a couple of different emails. My yahoo account I use for "Groups". So it keeps hundreds of emails out of my "business" email which is a hotmail account.

I also have facebook loaded on my blackberry and that saves tons of time of actually logging into facebook on my computer. If I get a message, it takes a few seconds to check and maybe reply. I don't have to get on my computer and get sucked into the facebook world.

I've pre-posted blogs before, but if I don't have time to blog, I don't blog. But I do like the blog reader--I only check it about once a week, but I've been glad whenever I did so that I don't miss something major--like a friend's new book cover.

I also love Google Alerts. Especially if when I have a new book out and want to know who is reviewing it. I'll get an email once a day that lists the places my name combined with the title of my book show up. I've discovered many reviews this way.

Heather Moore said...

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Goodreads. I love that site because I love to read. I've discovered a lot of new authors through book recommendations from friends. When I finish a book, I look forward to posting it on Goodreads. Also, I set up an author page that links to my author blog and updates automatically. You can "follow" a favorite author and their blogs are automatically emailed to you when they post something new. Also, it's great to see all the reviews and rating coming in on your books. It's fun to compare with a friend or other author how you each rated certain books.

Anonymous said...

Great stuff, Josi! I love tweetdeck. I don't know how I managed without it! =D And over 200 emails a day? How do you survive?!

Anonymous said...

I've had google reader since I really started getting into blogs. I don't do a whole lot of other social networking. I mean, I have facebook and twitter and all that, but I almost never post on facebook or reply to statuses and all that, because I'd never get any writing done. It's hard enough just to keep up with the thirty or so blogs I follow. I use Twitter mainly to say I've done a new blog post, or also to throw out short thoughts I feel like sharing.

I might pick up tweetdeck, since it would save me from having to log into all the less-used sites to check for changes.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Shari said...

Great suggestions. Thanks for sharing!

Krista said...

Thanks for the great ways to organize! I will look into these. I am slowly figuring this stuff out.

Christy said...

Great info Josi! I have been intimidated by Tweetdeck, but I will try it out, thanks to your recommendation. I plan on meeting you this weekend!