As freelancer writers, we know the importance of social networking in self promotion. Most of us use Facebook and Twitter on a regular basis, and our stats show that we do get clicks from those sources.
Each time we see our links shared by Facebook friends or retweeted by Twitter followers, we imagine the extra clicks we may get as a result of the additional exposure.
Why, you might wonder, with hundreds of friends and followers, are so few people sharing your links?
It's true that freelance writers are a tight group of people who promote other writers by sharing links and tweets. But look up the meaning of the word share. It is implied that you will also share.
You are free to use social media in any way that suits you. So is everyone else. Sharing of links is not a requirement. But those of us who consider the time spent clicking, reading, commenting and sharing as part of our daily business routine soon have a list of people who promote us. We will go out of our way to promote them.
We can't share everything that comes across our page, of course. Not only will links to our own content be lost in the sheer number of updates, but we may run the risk of alienating the friends and followers we have accumulated as simply readers of the topics we write about.
During writing challenges and toward the end of the month, writers can publish and post links to a lot of articles. If we promoted them all, even with being choosy and only promoting those writers who promote us the most, we could be sharing hundreds of links a day. Sometimes we have to choose which posts to share, which posts to simply click, tweet and comment on, and occasionally, when time is really limited, which links to simply click on and allow to open in a separate window. Luckily, Twitter followers are less likely to be offended by the number of links we promote and will often RT our RT's.
So, if you notice that one of your freelance writer friends is no longer sharing your articles or retweeting you, stop and examine your sharing behavior. Reestablish relationships by taking the time to be a friend and start sharing. It's never too late. Freelance writers are a forgiving group of supporting friends. For some of us, social networking is the only social life we have.
So, how important do you think it is to promote other writers, and how do you manage it with your busy schedule. Please share by commenting.
4 comments:
This post will definitely get shared! It is hard to manage to promote not only yourself but also all of the great writer friends you have. My biggest fear is that someone will share something of mine and I won't see it and therefore will miss the opportunity to thank them. I know that most of my links are passed on by several of my friends and it can be even harder to make sure to thank everyone while still sharing their links and my own.
I so agree with this, although I used to feel the opposite. I think it was you who pointed out the error of my thinking awhile back. I will definitely share this.
I like to share a lot of things. I read a lot of my writer friends posts and articles and I like the fact that I can easily find them by browsing through my Facebook news feed. However, lately, I am one who has been sharing less and less, and there are two reasons for this. One, as you pointed out, is that we can't share everything. I have recently accumulated a lot more non-writer friends, and the sheer volume of friends and followers gives me a great opportunity to reach out and connect with more people in order to promote my own work as well as the work of others. However, I have also recently found that non-writer friends get eaily frustrated with too many shared links and updates in one day. I found that I was alienating people very easily and people began to block me. For this reason, I now try to limit my updates on Facebook each day. However, like you said, Twitter followers are less scrutinizing. Another factor has to do with just being busy myself. I know that sharing the work of others is a great tool for not only promoting great articles and information but also for getting reciprocal "shares," but I now have so many friends that it is difficult to be able to share something for everyone. I may soon have a different solution for this, though. I have recently started usin other social networking and social bookmarking sites to promote my work as well, and I have had very good results. It is just as easy to help promote a friend's article or site on social bookmarking sites as it is to post them to Facebook, with the help of browser tool bar bookmarklets. Perhaps in the future I will begin to share other people's great articles and information with these sites as well. The only problem that I see with this is that it would be difficult for friends to notice that this is being done. Do other writers use Google Analytics for tracking backlinks as well? Would others be able to tell if this is being done? More importantly, how likely do you think others would be to reciprocate? This is an issue that I have been turning over in my head for a couple of weeks now.
The writers who have already commented are great sharers and commentors. Fortunately, they are also great writers who create factual, informative content. I enjoy sharing their work, not only because they share mine, but it enhances the credibility of web content and freelance online writers, including me.
I've never met these writers in person, but by reading their work and comments, I feel that each is a personal friend. Networking can help you form a supportive group who seem to always be there when you need them Thanks, writer friends.
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