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
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