How do you use social media to expand your blogging/writing horizons? Â Social Media is all about networking and connections, and utilizing today’s technology to the fullest. Â Make sure you mention your own social media pages. Do you have another blog, maybe a Tumblr? Have a Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook? Or maybe there’s an underrated social media program that you like.
I try to keep my blog separate from my real life. I think that is a product of the times when I started blogging. Everyone was anonymous back that. That was the appeal. You could write anything because no one who knew you was reading it. I still like that. I didn’t feel like I needed to censor myself because I didn’t have to worry about anyone’s feelings. Now I know that there is one person I know in real life who sees this and it has completely changed what I write about.
Since my blog is separate from my public life, my social media accounts are also somewhat separated. My Facebook is totally just for people I really know and a few old time blog readers who crossed over.
Twitter – @dvmheather
I resisted Twitter for a long time. Now I really like it. I post to Twitter when I publish on the blog. I follow other bloggers and some authors there. I also post links to articles I like that aren’t necessarily things I discuss on the blog.
Instagram – @dvmheather
I always forget about Instagram. This account started out as a real life account. I don’t have any blog links on it.  I wish I was better at getting interesting book pictures. It seems simple on other people’s accounts but I never like mine. Tips?
In the last few weeks though, I’ve discovered the Latergramme app. You can schedule posts – sort of. You can crop the picture and write the caption and set a time to post. At that time Latergram messages you and you go to Instagram to post it. The terms of service of Instagram doesn’t allow third party services to legally post for you.
This works for me because:
- I can preload a week’s worth of pictures and it takes a few seconds to post them on the day. Right now I’m posting a vacation picture everyday. I wouldn’t have taken the time to do that if I had to start from scratch every day.
- I can do it from my desktop. That means I can post pictures from my real camera instead of my phone. I never took the time to email photos to my phone to post on Instagram. Also on the desktop version you can post rectangular pictures without cropping! Love! (You can also use the NoCrop app to do this in mobile.)
Pinterest – BasedOnATrueStory
I had a real life board and never did any blog stuff on it. A few months ago I added a blog account. I also took the Pinning Perfect online class mostly for fun to see how people use Pinterest to drive blog traffic. Since then I’ve had more fun with Pinterest but haven’t seen it help blog traffic at all.
- I’ve starting making pinnable images on blog posts that are Pinterest friendly.
- I’m using a trial version of the Tailwind App to post automatically throughout the day. There are a lot of apps you can get to drive Pinterest traffic and it can get expensive quickly. I’m not trying to make money off this blog so I’m not going to be dropping a lot of money on these apps.
What social media sites do you use most? Do you have any tips?
Never heard of those apps, have to check them out.
I mostly keep my Facebook separate from my blog, but there has started to be a little overlap, and I occasionally share a blog post on Facebook now, if it seems of fairly general interest, but I like having the book blogging community as a separate group from real life so I can escape into it sometimes! I have two Twitter accounts, one for me as a librarian and one for my blogger-self, but I only use Twitter in spurts, it seems. Instagram and Pinterest are very sporadic, too. And I’ve been absent from G+ pretty much, too. Real life is intruding too much into my online time!
I haven’t done G+. I think I’m at my limit.
When I started out, blogging was pretty anonymous and most of us kept our private lives separate. Things have changed and I’m slowly getting used to sharing more details of my life. It’s funny because I love hearing about other people’s lives, but never think to share my own.
I don’t spend much time of Twitter, but love Facebook and Pinterest! I took a pinning class, but too much effort for me so I stick to pinning when and what I want.
I still do a lot of pinning just when I’m browsing. It seems more authentic that way.
Some really great tips here. I love the Latergramme app tip. I take most of my pictures from my camera and not my phone. This makes it so much easier!! Ashley at Chronicles
Hi, Heather. I try to keep things separate too, but it does get meshed from time to time. I have some very opinionated views on social media as it pertains to book blogging. It has to be a genuine social experience or nothing for me.
My blog life has to be separate from my personal/real life, because I have a professional job which has nothing to do with books and a pretty unusual name–I don’t really want my clients finding my blog and getting in touch with me through that. I have a personal Pinterest–do you think it’s worth taking a class like Pinning Perfect to get better at using it/using it for blog purposes?
I don’t think I’ll see a financial return on investment from the Pinning Perfect course but it made me more interested in Pinterest. I’m using some of the techniques and am just now starting to see a few hits a day from Pinterest. I took the course in March. I haven’t been as hard core as other people so that might be part of the issue.
I was the same way with Twitter! Now I think it’s great!
I try to keep my personal life separate from my blog life for the most part, but over the years they have started to intertwine. I have a Facebook Page for the blog so that my personal profile is just people I know, but I still get the benefits of the interaction of FB for my blog. Girl Who Reads