What's funny in and of itself is that the term "social media" is quite a misnomer if you think about it. Is there really anything social about it? Go into any coffee shop and just look around; people sitting at the same table, yet only paying attention to their device of choice. At times it seems very reminiscent of the scene in The Matrix where Neo wakes to everyone lined up close to each other, but isolated on their own support system.
Honestly, how long could YOU survive not "plugged in"?
This begs the question... if I am a beginning writer or illustrator just starting out, or even a more established writer looking to boost my self-promotion what kind of "platform" should I build for myself?
The answer is more straight-forward than you would imagine. It depends on where you are in the development of your craft/career.
For Beginners
If you are just starting out... do not worry about your social platform. It's tempting to set up a cool website with interactive features, and links, and do all these cool things, but really.... don't worry about that yet. The purpose of social media related to your craft is really to promote yourself, but more importantly-- your work. Therefore, if you do not have a body of work finished or that you would at least be comfortable using as a calling card - representative of what you can do - then you certainly do not want to try and draw attention to it yet. That seems obvious but many just starting out are doing it.
But, you say, "Don't I want to build a following before my work is ready for public consumption? That way there will be more people to gobble it up when it is ready?" In a word: No.
That doesn't mean you can't have a Twitter account, or Facebook page that identifies you by your craft, but right now you need to put all your extra energy into what you are creating. Take advice from Annie's Miss Hannigan and "Make it (your work) shine like the top of the Chrysler Building!" Make it the very best you possibly can. If you do this your popularity and social media platform can be built overnight! Moreover, it will be much more successfully than 10 years of plugging away at something - like this blog - for a scant number of followers.
Not to mention that the social media you create is like the outfit you wear to a job interview. if you miss punctuation, like capitalization at the beginning of a sentence, it stands out and you run the risk of people taking away a less than favorable view of your talents and abilities.
Are you familiar with JibJab.com? A couple of guys who were doing computer animation in their basement. All the sudden a parody they did caught on and in a late night interview they talked about how just 3 days earlier they were completely unknown and now they were on the Late Show and talking to major companies. It will happen just that fast, if your work is exceptional. But having exceptional work is not easy, and that is why you do not want to dilute you work by splitting the scant time that you probably have around your other commitments (family, job, yardwork, etc.) to building a social media platform. Building one at this point is simply making a gallow that may be very self-defeating by pushing the date you finish your work farther back because your time is split, and possibly turning people off by what your write, or how you write it.
Finally, a social platform does not self-perpetuate...that it, you have to keep at it or sign-off. You can't follow, nor do you want to follow anyone, that doesn't actually go somewhere. This blog is a perfect example, I started a year ago... and this is MY second post. Sad, but telling. (However, I have taken my own advice and rather than blogging I been working on my craft during that time. Time now will tell if that advice pays off. )
For More Those More Seasoned
So you have been around the block, toiled at your craft until your hair fell out, and now have a body of work you are happy putting out there but you are not sure about the best way to go about it.
At this point I find that K.I.S.S. is very helpful, the acronym...more than the band.
Keep It Simple Stupid
It really doesn't take a lot of work to develop a platform. Start with something you are familiar with. A Facebook account is pretty simple to set up. However, keep in mind that depending on how you set it up a lot of personal information can be shared unknowingly and also, people can and may post diatribes, inappropriate posts or even worse... inappropriate diatribes. For this reason, I personally am not a big fan of Facebook for professional representation of my work.
It often depends on if you are a writer, or illustrator, or both ...but some social media outlets are better than others.
If you are published you can actually add a bio to amazon, and other Internet sellers. This is minimally evasive and doesn't take too much time... just don't forget about it. It should be updated as appropriate.
Now I may come back to this post and update it, but honestly... the best platform, for authors, illustrators, or both is to build your own independent website. The reason I say "independent" is because, while many talent agencies, and publishers will showcase you with an online presence -- which is fine --- if you go separate ways down the road, you want to make sure you don't disappear from social media because it is so prevalent.
You can have a website professionally built for a few hundred dollars or, and this is what I recommend, you can utilize simple, user-friendly, designs programs for a small monthly fee though companies like www.godaddy.com. The advantage here is that doing so allows you to update your website at 1am in the morning-- if you want, and again, it's very economical. What is nice too, is that you can preview anything before it goes "live" to the Internet. You can also usually "save" pages you build without publishing them to the Internet. This allows you to really screen for typos, or for example, build a holiday page in your downtime in the summer, then post it in the winter when you may be busier.
Also, when you control the site you control the advertising (in most cases, some free website building programs will advertise on your page in exchange for it being free.) This way your book or illustration will not have a link to another author or illustrator that may take somebody away from your site.
It doesn't have to be super fancy either... research shows more distractions on websites makes them less appealing to viewers. Don't believe me, look at the google homepage... how "busy" is it.
To start your website, can be as simple as a page "about" yourself, they you can make a page with sample writing or illustrations. Then another page with your contact information. Sometimes the program will provide you with a way for people to send email. Otherwise you may want to get a free email account just for that. You don't want to use a phone number, or home address. You need to be aware of security of personal information at all times.
But that is really about it. Keep it updated and as you are updating you will usually learn how to do things like add links, etc... and most of those companies like GoDaddy will offer free tutorials or help to answer questions on how to make your online presence even better.
Good luck, and happy building/writing.
