The People’s Republic of Twitter

POSTED BY tolly ON April 28, 2010

I read an interesting article on the interwebs last week titled “Social Media in the Contact Center: The bus leaves at noon.” Appropriately enough, I heard about it on Twitter.

The most thought-provoking facts from the article are these:

• As of March 31, 2010, Facebook surpassed Google as the most-visited website in the world.
• If Facebook were a country, its 411+ million users would be the third largest country in the world, after China and India.
• Twitter’s 105+ million users would make it 12th largest country in the world.
• 50 million Tweets are sent every day (up 1100% over the past year).

Photo credit: Crefun.com, via Flickr.com

Needless to say, social media is making an impact. And it is here to stay.

On top of these staggering figures, I attended a publishing panel at SXSW this year here in Austin called: “A Brave New Future for Book Publishing.”  And do you know what one of those panelists – an in-house publishing exec – said?

“If you are a new author, we care less about your manuscript, and more about your platform.”

Wha-wha-what? Publishers, not caring about manuscripts??  Read on:

“When deciding whether or not to bring on new talent, we ask: How many Twitter followers do you have? How many fans do you have on Facebook? Are you blogging?”

And that’s really what I want to talk about today. The fact that yes, when you publish your book, it is indeed important to get involved in social media – but you’ll find the process much more organic, and likely more enjoyable, if you jump in before you get a book deal.

Think of the person who works out and diets solely for their high school reunion, and the person who works out and diets because it makes them feel like a rockstar. I’m willing to bet that the first person feels drudgery, while the second is not only pumped to get their runner’s high, their results last longer.  (And, while we’re comparing exercise to social media, I’m reminded of a publicist and social media guru of mine who just sold a book deal because of his ninja social media skills).

So, how do you muster the motivation and jump in, before a magical book deal is even at hand?  First, think in terms of platform:

• What’s my expertise? Cooking? Green living? Fiction writing?
• Do I want to be national, or local, in reach?
• Is my advice applicable to men? Women? Senior citizens? Teens?

Second, take a look around the internet and applicable blogs, and see what’s working, and what isn’t. (I’m of the opinion that a blog, or a personal website, is the first place to get your social media party started).  We like the poetry blog My Soul is a Butterfly, and as you can see, blogger Hannah Miet gets a sizeable number of comments per post. You’ll also notice she posts many times a week, and tries different approaches to get her readers’ attention – video poetry posts, maintains a monthly reading list, and intersperses her verse with abundant visuals. Her blog is so well-developed, as a matter of fact, that it won Blogger’s “Blog of Note” distinction last year, and now, her readers are begging her to publish.

Third, set up your Twitter account, and start interacting with individuals who both share your expertise, and individuals who seek the advice you have to offer.  If I were blogger Hannah in the example above, I would seek out creative writers, literary magazines, book media, etc. to fill out my Twitter “follow” roster.

The final step is a Facebook fan page, but alas, I shall discuss this in a future post – so stay tuned on that one.

As a final note, keep in mind that social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) aren’t crowding out the likes of traditional media (TODAY Show, Wall Street Journal, etc.). Rather, these two realms are merging. Journalists get story ideas from their Twitter accounts. Producers seek out experts with huge Facebook fan pages. As the Millenial Generation – who’ve grown up with the internet – take the reins of media, all news will start to look more like social media. So let’s get your passport stamped to Twitter.

Tags: book publicity, Facebook, social media tips, Twitter

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