Ramblings on Social Media

At least this captures the rambling part of the title. This is from my 90-minute "Story Time with Uncle Chuck" that was my farewell to my students and colleagues at Great Oak High in 2012. I retold the stories I've told in classes for years, since the 1970s in some cases.
Hmmm.  I'm about 15-pounds lighter now than in this photo.

Today’s blog is the first of some rambling posts on how I use Social Media and why. The reality in the self-publishing/indie publishing world is this: You need a presence on social media to be successful!

Although my feelings have mellowed over time, I don’t have much of a love affair with aspects of Twitter and Facebook. If you don’t use Twitter and Facebook, you should. If you do use Twitter and Facebooks and don’t have your Twitter and Facebook accounts linked to your Amazon author page, why not?

As of 10/1/2018, I have one blog, one active Twitter account, and I administer five Facebook pages. You know about the blog... you're here!

My Twitter account and my website are listed at the end of each blog post as is my professional author's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor/

The four remaining Facebook pages include a place to follow the award-winning time travel series, Traveler's HOT L --currently four volumes   https://www.facebook.com/TravelersHotl/ 

My personal page  https://www.facebook.com/chuck.downing.56

Two pages highlight my consulting opportunities 
https://www.facebook.com/EngageInScience/ targets teachers and anyone interested in science-related materials.
https://www.facebook.com/engageinthinking/ is designed for those whose interest is in improving learning in any situation.

To position myself in the social media world without driving myself crazy, I use a strategy for frontloading the nuts and bolts of each week's posts. To facilitate this, I use the free version of a service called Hootsuite.

Hootsuite allows me to schedule tweets,  Facebook posts, and LinkedIn post--up to three separate social media logins-- from one location. There is a restriction of only 30 posts scheduled at one time. Since I have more than 30 each week, I fill up my quota on Sunday night and refill the empty slots as the week progresses. I can customize times of delivery. I'm not posting regularly on LinkedIn right now.

Since I’m using only what Hootsuite provides as a free service, I am limited to three social media addresses. I also have no analytics available. But, the program does what I want it to do at this point in time. And, if I choose to upgrade to “Pro” at some point, features I now can’t access will be unlocked.

As is the case with most free service options like Hootsuite and Grammarly, the limits to what you can accomplish for FREE on these platforms eroded over time. Since something is still better than nothing in this area, I continue to carry on.

I divide my weekly social media interaction into days of the week. Mondays include   #ScienceFiction #Writers #Birthdays. Each week a sci-fi author with whom I’m familiar gets a shoutout. The birthday person listed celebrates her/his birthday on one of the seven days in that week. I post the name, the number of the birthday, something about the author’s work, and link to their website, Amazon author page, or some source of information about them that’s not Wikipedia. Here’s the post from 10/1/18: 
#ScienceFiction #Writers #Birthdays Donald A. Wollheim 104. Secret of the 9th Planet - hardcore sci-fi @SherryFrazier  http://ow.ly/hY6B30lYqdQ

Monday through Friday are all #SciFact days. I taught science for 39 years. I've written four textbooks three lab books, several laboratory oriented kits for student use, along with dozens of creative activities, I have an abundance of “golly gee whiz, Mr. Science” factoids from which to draw. Along with the information I try to provide a visual or link to more explanation. Here’s the post from 10/2/18 
#ScienceFact If sharks lose teeth, teeth in the row behind them move up/replace the missing teeth. http://ow.ly/7IPJ302kChc @SherryFrazier  

I include the Twitter handle of Sherry Frazier, my Public Relations professional. I recommend her services! She guides me through much of the writing, editing, marketing process. Adding her Twitter tag alerts her to my Tweets. She frequently re-tweets them. 

Retweeting is something that multiplies your impact on Twitter. More retweets lead to more exposure!

Enough rambling for this week.

Next blog: More Rambling through Social Media – Wednesday Tweets, other posts, and Etiquette Pointers

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com