Thursday 5 July 2012

How to Publish eBooks: Twitter and Linkedin. The Personal vs the Professional


Last week Twitter announced an end to a significant part of its near three year relationship with Linkedin (many news links on this include http://mashable.com/2012/06/29/twitter-drops-linkedin-partnership/ and http://allthingsd.com/20120629/twitter-cuts-off-linkedin-whos-next/). Some of these stories are pretty technical and for self-publishers might seem rather abstruse, but they reveal an essential truth: the need to think carefully about how you use social media to develop your self-publishing brand. Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest can all be employed for different facets of your life and control the interaction between these different services.

On the basis that both self and traditionally published authors use social media to promote their work, at least for some of the time, it is important to think it through:
  1. All forms of social media are instant. You can post a blog and receive an instant reply, you can see an interesting tweet and immediately respond. No waiting for the post office to open, no irritation over early closing, weekend shutdowns, or 1970s style communications. BUT, keeping control is the key to making social media work for you, not the other way round.
  2. Personal contacts with true friends are different to even the most subtle forms of promotion for your ebook, or writing projects. Being true to your personaility and writing heartfelt social media posts are not the same as telling a friend what you had for breakfast, or whether your children are ill, or what your 5K running time was this afternoon. Real friends are forgiving and affectionate so you can be relaxed with them. 
  3. Professional contacts can be addressed in a relaxed way as well, but some caution is required. A visit to the bank manager requires a little preparation, slightly smarter clothes perhaps, carefully formulated sentences in discussion. Online, even a chance encounter with any professional contact can be loaded with significance.
  4. Twitter is used for both personal and professional reasons by millions of people. Generally though it's a swift form of interaction, reaching out to a global community of like-minded individuals. You can choose how to make it work best for you and mold it  accordingly. Some people have two accounts, one for their work, one for personal contact. The distinction forces you to be clear about what you say, when and to whom.
  5. Some also make a distinction between their use of different social media: Facebook feels more personal for instance, Linkedin is clearly professional, Google+ can be both, Twitter can be both. It is worth having a view about this. Once you’ve posted online your words live forever as part of your slowly accumulating digital identity
So, the separation of Twitter and Linked in interesting because Linkedin is a dedicated professional network, while Twitter is used for both the personal and the professional. Twitter will have their own commercial reasons for their recent action but it highlights the need to be clear about the nature of your posts. Twitter feeds will no longer be sent automatically onto Linkedin, but you can send your Linkedin status to Twitter. For self-publishers this can be used as part of the build for your author brand, because when you use Linkedin as the starting point, there is no confusion in your mind about how to approach what to say - it’ll be focused and professional, clear-headed and targeted to your market. 

By the way, you do have a Linked in account don’t you?

Coming Soon: More Twitter Hints and Tips and Why I chose Indie Publishing.

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