How Authors Can Use Social Media to Save Time and Money
It was such an honor to speak at the Women’s National Book Association’s BookWoman Day in Los Angeles.
I was so inspired by the panelists who shared their information to help authors become successful in the ever-changing publishing marketplace.
If you missed the day, I have good news for you. I shared some of my best secrets with the group that I usually cover in a full day bootcamp which costs thousands of dollars. Now you’ll have the opportunity to learn these tips while saving $200!
Many of the authors expressed concern about how much time social media would take up and wanted to know what the next steps were. How could they use social media to become a bestselling author? How can they gain media attention through social media?
I know how very precious time is, especially for writers. We need to focus on making sure our manuscripts and book proposals are nothing short of perfect. We have the one moment to capture the attention of an editor or agent. Having the stress of tweeting, using Facebook, creating custom pages just wasn’t viable for many of the attendees.
As a result, I have offered registrants a $200 discount off of my Social Media 101 private coaching sessions. This will not only give you precious time but it will save you money that you can put towards creating a great book cover, going out to dinner, or just putting it in the bank. I’m extending this special offer through March 4th to those writers who didn’t have the opportunity to come to Los Angeles.
More time for you equals more time for writing.
More tips and social media secrets from me equals building a bigger platform faster and becoming a social media superstar.
At the recent Social Media Week in Los Angeles, the introduction of social media was compared to the introduction of black and white TV. It’s powerful and it’s here to stay. I know what it’s like to be an author who needs to build a platform. I was able to successfully use social media to extend the shelf life of my book as a bestseller and I can help do the same for you.
To take advantage of this offer, click here and we’ll schedule your session. But hurry. This offer expires on Friday, March 4th at 6pm/PST.
Social Media for Authors at LA BookWoman Day
There’s an amazing day scheduled for Los Angeles authors on Saturday, February 26, 2011 and you’re invited to attend.
LA BookWoman day is hosted by the Los Angeles chapter of the Women’s National Book Association. You’ll have the opportunity to meet agents, producers, and learn how to get published.
I’ll be there as a panelist to teach authors on how I used social media to not only help my first book, The Perils of Cyber-Dating become a bestseller on it’s launch date, but to extend it’s shelf life as a best-seller continuously for two years! My book helped catapult my career as a well-respected expert in my field, where I have now reached millions through media and speaking opportunities. I’m excited to share my tips with other authors on this fact-filled day.
I’ll be joined by Michelle Gilstrap, Ruth Klein, Teresa Moore, Jovita Jenkins, Julia Drake, and Joan Jackson in an all-day workshop. We’ll be talking about Facebook, Twitter, web interviews, TV interviews, how to pitch an agent, e books and more.
Is Twitter Essential for Your Business?
Julie Spira with Lisa Johnson Mandell, host of This Week in Careers on Twitter and business.
How to Get Your Facebook Email Address
Facebook has been slowly rolling out their custom email program, which was by invitation only. Yesterday, I finally was able to access their page to create my personalized email address of juliespira@facebook.com. I urge you to claim your name as soon as you can to protect your personal brand.
Here’s what you need to do.
1. Visit facebook.com/about/messages. A window will appear where your custom facebook url will be seen along with @facebook.com. Go and activate your optional email address.
2. Decide on your privacy settings.
3. Decide whether you want to accept text messages. You can change your settings later on.
If you are unable to automatically receive your personalized facebook email address, make sure you request an invitation to do so.
4. Take the time to read through your inbox and customize your look and feel.
5. Send an email to yourself at your new facebook email address to confirm that it works.
Using Social Media to Create Brand Loyalty
It was an honor to be a featured speaker at the 8th Annual Internet Dating Conference in Miami Beach.
My presentation, Dating 2.0: Using Social Media to Create Brand Loyalty shows examples of how online dating sites are successfully using social media. For more information on how Social Media and More can help your brand become more social, contact us at SocialMediaMore.com/contact
Amazon Wants You to Like Them
In an attempt to be more social media friendly to authors, Amazon has just added their own “like” button, very much similar to the Facebook like button.
As a published author and one who teaches social media marketing for authors, I’m trained to refresh my Amazon page daily to see if there are new reviews or the current status of my rank.
Today I was greeted with the like button close to the title of my book, The Perils of Cyber-Dating. Naturally, I decided to like myself. In addition to video reviews, author blogs, and the ability to post your own book trailer on your author page, Amazon does a great job keeping the social in social media.
In time we’ll see if would-be reviewers and book lovers decide to click the like button instead of taking the time to review your book. As this is a new feature, don’t worry if the amount of likes fits on one hand only.
Naturally if you’re reading this post, I hope you take the time to like it as well.
Why It’s Important to Use Twitter for Customer Service
Today, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Deepak Gupta on his terrific site, Marketing by Deepak. The question was posed to me about why businesses need to use Twitter for customer service.
Although I recommend it daily to my social media marketing clients, when you have a personal story to share, it becomes more meaningful.
In this particular case, I was one of many who were affected by the holiday snowstorm in New York. Unable to find out if my flight was canceled or not, and after being on hold for hours with the airlines, I reached out to Virgin America on their Twitter account.
Fortunately, someone on the other end responded to me. Situations like these will make the difference on whether you retain clients or they leave to go to your competitor.
The Jeanette Joy Show – Tweet Me Nice
❥ Tweet Me Nice: Jeanette Joy & Julie Spira from Jeanette Joy on Vimeo.
37 Tips on What Not to Do on Social Media Sites
Mike Michalowicz , on the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur blog curated a list of 37 social media experts with some of our best tips on how to avoid social media blunders.
Social Media and More is proud to be on this list as the number 11 entry with our tip, Tag, You’re Not It.
Many of us are enjoying roaming down memory lane as we reconnect with people from childhood to the present. In your enthusiasm of scanning photos onto Flickr and Facebook, remember don’t tag unappealing photos of people on Facebook or post on your favorite social media sites. The man who tagged a photo of a woman from 35 years ago where she was 50 pounds heavier, got de-friended in a New York minute. When in doubt, don’t.
Thanks to Julie Spira of Social Media And More
For a complete list, visit the TPE blog
The Facebook Facelift – A Review
Millions of people watched 60 Minutes last night to see Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg talk about the latest new look on your Facebook personal pages. Called the Facebook Facelift, I jumped on the social media bandwagon prior to the broadcast with enthusiasm on what the new site would look like.
To Update, or Not to Update
To start off with, if you haven’t updated it yet, don’t rush to the nearest computer to do so. Take some time to view other profiles to see how you like it during this transition period. As of now, I can’t push a button to revert to the profile with my preferences, not Facebook’s.
It’s All About Their Photos
Now that 24-hours has gone by, I miss the profile box where I could describe on my own, who I was and what I was about. Zuckerberg says it’s all about the photos. Sure we love exploiting our personal lives and uploading photos onto Facebook. Facebook claims that every day, 100 million photos are uploaded to their social networking site. Having tagged photos pre-selected by Facebook on the top of my page with the heads cut-off from my friends who tagged me is not that appealing. It’s like a game of mystery when you delete a photo, as you won’t know what the next picture will be from your various online photo albums. Perhaps I won’t like the new photo as much as the old one, but it’s deleted from the stream. You can’t bring it back as a featured photo.
Losing the Social in Social Networking
Gone are those wonderful hyperlinks to my personal websites, Google profile, Amazon page, Facebook business pages, and my twitter account. To “like” me or “follow” me, or anyone for that matter, will require some effort. One will have to click the info page on the left side bar under a profile photo if they really want to know more. It’s time consuming and very likely that you won’t get additional page views.
For many serial entrepreneurs like myself, I have several businesses that I run. Facebook only allows one to appear under my profile name. The previous version of Facebook listed all of them as I hand selected them to appear in the left sidebar. If I delete one business the other will appear. I can have more than one business, but Facebook will decide which one will be displayed on my home page.
Friendship vs. Money
Although Zuckerberg says Facebook is all about friends, why is the left side bar with your friends listed significantly smaller than the right sidebar with the advertisements? I guess it’s all about money and the price of friendship. I do like that you can see your friendship history with someone easily on the top right hand side of the profile. But wait. What if you just broke up? Do you really want to see his photo in your stream? You can take the time to change the privacy settings, but when you have a falling out with someone, there’s a digital memory book that you need to uncreate, or simply just ignore.
To Poke, or Not to Poke
In the several years that I’ve been on Facebook, I haven’t poked a soul. Sure, I’ve received a few pokes. I never poke back. I was stunned to see that Poking ended up as a prime piece of real estate in the game of Facebook. At the top right you can either send a message, chat, or poke. I don’t know why Facebook is encouraging poking. Will you poke more often? I’d like to know.
I wanted to love the new Facebook. As a social media expert, I spend hours on the site every day. With any change, it will take time to get used to. One can only hope that Facebook will allow me to decide which photos best represent me on my profile and will return the box that still appears on Pages so we can truly keep the “social” in social media and invite our friends to join us on the social networking site of our choice.
At the end of the day, Facebook will continue to grow and be the giant that keeps 500 million people company, every day of the week. The 60 Minutes segment stated that Facebook’s valuation is between 35-50 billion dollars. Facebook, please give us a choice to revert back to the old profile so we can better control the information we want our digital friends to know about us.
Julie Spira is a bestselling author and relationship and social media expert. Follow her at Twitter.com/JulieSpira. Like her pages at Facebook.com/SocialMediaAndMore and Facebook.com/RulesofNetiquette
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