Twitter/Instagram Tutorial?

Segija

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Just started a Twitter and Instagram account. Didn't wanna, because a) I'd rather spend my time writing and b) I don't have anything published yet. But everyone and their dog told me (yes, people's dogs told me. With their eyes) that I HAD to have a social media presence IMMEDIATELY. Or I might as well light my WIP on fire and attach it to a bottle rocket.

Starting out wasn't too hard, and I gathered a handful of followers pretty quickly just by following others and making a few plucky comments here and there. =) But now I need to know how to increase interest in me and my writing - how to get past that first batch of easy followers.

I'm thinking I need to create a hashtag unique to my novel (still in revision) and post interesting tidbits including quotes and images - although there's no guarantee anyone will care, right? Getting them to care - that's the trick, innit?

I'm thinking I need to start doing day-of-the-week hashtags and genre hashtags to try and engage people who like teasers and who like to read/write the same kinda stuff I do.

I... don't know if I'm ready yet for the poll/question engagement hashtags. I see people doing stuff like, "what are you reading right now?" or "what's your protagonist's biggest flaw?" and people - because by nature, we love to talk about ourselves - seem more than happy to respond. Buuuuut, I'm so newbie/lowbie that when I tried it ("I'd love to know what you're working on! Hit me with the logline for your work in progress!") I got two likes and ZERO responses. Womp womp.

I just read something that said that Instagram posts with 11+ hashtags get the most engagement, and that I ought to be using 20-30 per post. This seems annoyingly excessive, no?

Obviously it's easier to build a fanbase if you actually have something for people to be fans of (my original objection!) but nevertheless, he persisted. =) Any suggestions for me on how I can more effectively get attention to my pages and gather followers? Without using bots, LOL?

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with a newbie! It's appreciated. #thankyou #ihatehashtagging #olddognewtricks
 

Albedo

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FWIW, I was skeptical that participating in social media when I'm not even published was anything other than a giant waste of time, so I tried it out and found that for me, yes, it was a gigantic waste of time when I could be writing. Mileage may vary, but I wouldn't worry too much about a lack of Twitter torpedoing a not-yet-existent writing career. Most overrated social network, IMO. I deleted mine, and now I just write. I'll make another if *hypothetical future publisher* demands it.

I don't know anything about Instagram.

#ymmv #sorrynohelp
 

cornflake

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Just started a Twitter and Instagram account. Didn't wanna, because a) I'd rather spend my time writing and b) I don't have anything published yet. But everyone and their dog told me (yes, people's dogs told me. With their eyes) that I HAD to have a social media presence IMMEDIATELY. Or I might as well light my WIP on fire and attach it to a bottle rocket.

Starting out wasn't too hard, and I gathered a handful of followers pretty quickly just by following others and making a few plucky comments here and there. =) But now I need to know how to increase interest in me and my writing - how to get past that first batch of easy followers.

I'm thinking I need to create a hashtag unique to my novel (still in revision) and post interesting tidbits including quotes and images - although there's no guarantee anyone will care, right? Getting them to care - that's the trick, innit?

I'm thinking I need to start doing day-of-the-week hashtags and genre hashtags to try and engage people who like teasers and who like to read/write the same kinda stuff I do.

I... don't know if I'm ready yet for the poll/question engagement hashtags. I see people doing stuff like, "what are you reading right now?" or "what's your protagonist's biggest flaw?" and people - because by nature, we love to talk about ourselves - seem more than happy to respond. Buuuuut, I'm so newbie/lowbie that when I tried it ("I'd love to know what you're working on! Hit me with the logline for your work in progress!") I got two likes and ZERO responses. Womp womp.

I just read something that said that Instagram posts with 11+ hashtags get the most engagement, and that I ought to be using 20-30 per post. This seems annoyingly excessive, no?

Obviously it's easier to build a fanbase if you actually have something for people to be fans of (my original objection!) but nevertheless, he persisted. =) Any suggestions for me on how I can more effectively get attention to my pages and gather followers? Without using bots, LOL?

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with a newbie! It's appreciated. #thankyou #ihatehashtagging #olddognewtricks

I would NOT start promoting stuff you haven't even finished, nevermind that isn't going to print anytime soon. First, you have no idea what the finished product will end up being. Second, because it can annoy someone who actually does get interested -- 'oh, this book sounds cool, can I get it on Amazon?' 'uh, no... maybe in three years if I'm lucky?'

Also, accounts made to 'promote' stuff don't tend to go over well, especially from an unknown quantity, but even if you look at like, S. King's twitter feed, it's not about 'buy my new book/reprint/this is the thing I'm working on' -- people just use it for regular stuff. If you don't want to use it for regular stuff, don't use it, imo. No point.
 

newsincerity

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The younger generations are SO SO good at the Instagram and Twitter game, and the people who seem to succeed the most on those platforms are the people who genuinely love them and are "addicted" to using them. So I think it would be a waste to try and casually learn it on the fly and force out arbitrary content.

Some of these social media platforms really are like an art, so unless you're famous for other stuff, you have to really produce engaging and meaningful and unique content in order to organically accumulate a following.

Also, it may very well be that if you yourself don't gravitate toward Instagram/Twitter in your actual life, perhaps your target readers/audience are not very active there anyway.
 

tnlandis

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I recommend using at least 10 hashtags on Instagram. Just hit "enter" a few time after your caption so you can't see the hashtags unless you click "read more"
 

godzillachild

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Speaking as a "young person" (im 22) I love social media. Social media is probably the easiest way to market yourself, or at least connect with other writers. I am an artist and I promote my art via instagram and twitter and it's really hard to get followers, but the ones I do have seem to enjoy seeing my progress on my work. I think it's okay to not have a finished novel or anything, as long as you have some examples of your work that you can share (like a blog or a website) that people can get a taste of what you do.

But yeah finding a balance between work and promotion is really tricky!