Over-Exposure? On Social Media? Nah, you must be kidding. In fact, whatever I do, it doesn’t seem to be enough.
Haven’t we all heard this and felt this way? Most marketing books today suggest you should be doing more. Tweet twice an hour every hour, schedule your posts on Instagram, get more people to like your facebook page, sign onto snapchat and tumblr because that’s where your YA crowd hangs out (YA authors I hear ya), and so on and so forth. It’s a vicious circle that sucks the time and energy that you could divert into writing.
But is all this over-exposure worth it? Here I talk about how you need to size up your risk on social media.
Over-exposure on Social Media
Curated Content
I’ve now reached saturation point with what I glean from social media. A year ago I was looking at it for entertainment. Now with all the self promotion, buy me culture, constant whining from some, and oversharing I don’t even bother going through those tweets. I hate seeing vindictive people shaming other people and the cyber-bullying that it has become.
I prefer seeing curated content, that can help people, build a better society, offer hope and educate the community at large. Social media is such a big platform. Ask yourself? Am I oversharing; about my work life, my family, my relationships, my pals, my medical history, my history in general. I see people who’re posting continuously and don’t realize that business partners, readers, potential employers are simultaneously building a profile of you as you share on social media. I used to share a lot on Twitter, when I got caught in the marketing scheme to make the whole world know about my book. Be careful people will find out less about your book and more about you than necessary. So curate content. Send what will build you and the people you serve up. I do share silly stuff too like huskies and Catholic feasts, but I have started to weigh quality versus quantity.
Pick One Social Media
It’s very easy to sign up for everything and be visible everywhere. But are you really visible? Over-exposure to me is when you’re everywhere but nowhere significant. I can’t seem to do Facebook at all. I don’t get it and probably never will. It’s got too many bells and whistles for my liking. But I do Twitter really well. I’m not into gaining a million followers. I like my author community and I like to learn and pick up advice from other writers, doctors and hosts. So I picked the one social media that I liked and decided to get good with it.
Don’ stretch yourself out. Social Media takes time. You can’t do everything everyday. Especially since social media requires a few posts to target audiences in different time zones, pick the one you do well. For me Twitter, made sense because it was the least time consuming. I could come up with 140 characters and a few times a day without busting my schedule. Others may find Instagram easier if they’re big on images. So pick one social media and do it well.
Long Term Thinking
Things long term. Five years from now can you still fit Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook, and whatever new social media comes along? Over-exposure will probably not leave you with much time for the next big thing. You’re too busy building a profile and then kabaam, something happens and it’s not popular anymore, then what? I have a three year plan and I think Twitter will survive, maybe evolve into something that I won’t like, so I’m looking at other social media. I see Pinterest growing and I’m considering that, but there are so many new things happening out there. LinkedIn is doing its best to keep intellectuals glued to it’s growing site and so social media is evolving. You need to think long term. Since Facebook is too unpredictable I don’t see myself building a platform there, and I don’t know what it will be in the near future let alone distant future.
Marketing is Not a Department
I recently read “Rework” and this is what I picked up. I loved Jason’s statement that marketing is not a department. Every time you answer the phone, you’re marketing, or emailing you’re marketing, every time you add a connection on LinkedIn you’re marketing, it’s all you.
I see so many people say they believe in teamwork, but I see them one-upping a colleague on social media. They think they’re giving themselves a pat on the back, but what others are thinking, my goodness this person’s a backstabber. I’m guilty of this myself. I may resent my current government but that doesn’t give the right to demean someone on social media and say things that I probably wouldn’t say to someone’s face. It’s hard but think twice. Think about marketing.
Fans or Readers don’t need Everything
When I first started reading Ree Drummond online way back, the pioneer woman was just a blog with wonderful home cooked recipes and Ree shared only what was necessary in relation to her kitchen. When I saw her show, I realized by the end of each episode I knew just as much about her as I did from reading her blog. Nothing more. Plenty of authors today share their every living, breathing moment online. How they have the time is beyond me, but the overexposure is overkill. I don’t want to know how many wine glasses you had to write a scene as much as it doesn’t matter to me if Jane Austen drank wine while she wrote as long as I read the best version of Emma.
Social Media is Saturated
Over-exposure has saturated social media. Why will weary people, share your link or post or books if their fed up with the millions of posts you’ve already shared with them? Better image? Better colour? Better discount?
Over-exposure is saturating our senses. Are you guilty of it? Ask yourself if over-exposure has led to measurable sales of your books or products. If it hasn’t how can you justify sharing so much online? If you’re being paid as an influencer kudos to you, but there’s a cost to that. (Point 1)
If not, what is the reason you’ve decided to be a social media jack of all trades? I’d like to know.