Tomorrow, I’m moderating a panel at BEA’s uPublishU on Social Media 201, featuring:
This post offers a sneak preview of what we’ll have to say.
Jane’s Funnel
Very often, when people talk about strategies on Facebook or Twitter, they’re discussed as if they exist in a vacuum and didn’t form part of a cohesive effort involving blog or book content.
The following chart illustrates how social media commonly serves as a place for me to discuss and share content appearing on my blog (or elsewhere), but also helps (new) people discover my content. “True fan” engagement typically happens through email or paid services.
L.L. Barkat’s Portrait of an Author
L.L. Barkat will discuss two portraits of authors who have published through her publisher, T.S. Poetry Press. Here’s one.
Poetry at Work by Glynn Young
- 2009: Glynn Young and Barkat meet via a blogging network. A Twitter party later that year results in the site Tweetspeak Poetry; Glynn helps manage.
- 2012 T.S. Poetry Press acquires Tweetspeak website. Glynn is asked to write articles on the topic of poetry at work.
- 2013: Tweetspeak creates and celebrates Poetry at Work Day and Take Your Poet to Work Day in January & July via social media.
- 2013 and early 2014: The book Poetry at Work is published in December 2013, and promoted with Poetry at Work Day via social media. Celebration goes around the world, with participation of the Scottish Parliament and England’s Virgin Trains as well as ABC News.
- 2014: Recognize the strong benefit of going beyond the social media audience: now beginning to engage in more traditional media in a targeted way—direct contacts to life coaches, HR professionals, organizational conflict resolution professionals, business strategists via phone and US mail.
Porter Anderson’s Twitter-to-Article (and Back Again)
These slides from Porter Anderson illustrate his strategy in developing cross-platform content that builds on social-media interaction.
How Jeanne Bowerman Got Big on Twitter
Jeanne will discuss the role Twitter has played in her career, and what her strategy has been. Here’s a preview:
I created my Twitter account to help get attention to our adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Slavery by Another Name. While I do talk about the screenplay on Twitter, my account has a general “theme” of screenwriting, screenwriting advice, being motivational, inspiring and accessible. People are drawn to my account because I interact and treat Twitter as if it’s my water cooler. My suggestion would be to create a “theme” for what your tweets will be, similar to how you create a “theme” for your website. Be consistent, informative but also show your personality. I get more followers by being ME than by tweeting out news. Decide what you want to let the public see and be brave in how far you’re willing to go. And, I tweet about liquor. Unprofessional? Maybe, but that’s how I met Jane.
With over 28K followers, I can’t possibly follow everyone back, but I do “follow” almost 9K. But that doesn’t mean I pay attention to all of them. I use well-thought-out lists to categorize the important ones so I don’t miss the people who share great content.
If you’re at uPublishU, please say hello and introduce yourself—and consider live-tweeting the panel for those who can’t attend. I’ll try to capture a decent audio recording and post it here after the show.
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.