Today I’m a contributor over at Writer Unboxed, discussing how social media can be used more effectively. My suggestions rely, in part, on categorizing your activity within distinct stages (though they certainly overlap with one another).
Here’s a bit of what I have to say:
Regardless of your stage of activity—but especially during marketing campaigns—you should measure traffic to your website from social media. Does it make up a high or meaningful percentage of visits? If you don’t know, this is a significant gap in your knowledge that is preventing you from really answering the question: How do I make it worth my time?
Here, my assumption is that the author website is the most important online presence of all, where the most valuable or interested readers end up. If you’re seeing a lot of readers reach your site through a particular social media outlet—and those referral numbers are increasing month-on-month or year-on-year—it is indeed worth your time.
I go on to show a website traffic snapshot from Google Analytics and how I would modify social media activity based on the numbers.
Click here to read the full post: How to Make Social Media Worth Your Time: When Is Enough Enough?
Jane Friedman (@JaneFriedman) has nearly 25 years of experience in the media & publishing industry. She is the publisher of The Hot Sheet, the essential newsletter on the publishing industry for authors, and was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World in 2019.
In addition to being a professor with The Great Courses (How to Publish Your Book), she is the author of The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), which received a starred review from Library Journal.
Jane speaks regularly at conferences and industry events such as Digital Book World and Frankfurt Book Fair, and has served on panels with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund. Find out more.