I need to get over being kind of backward when it comes to social media.
Did your mother admonish "Don't be pushy!"? Mine did.
Today Pushy is good, says Randi. Push your ideas, your merchandise, your art. Shy people lose!
Accept anyone who wants to be your Facebook friend. Like. Comment. Share. Video your technique. Dare your friends. Ask audacious questions. Climb onto today's bandwagon. Don't hold back.
I have some friends and cousins who refuse to do Facebook. They're afraid of people snooping on them. Or they say it feels like work, and they've had enough of That! OK for them. Peace be to them.
I love communicating, and want to use what's available. But I do remember a nice clackety-clack typewriter. Love that sound!
Straddling two worlds, I went to Randi's workshop hoping to learn why (after seven or eight years doing it) I don't write my blog more often. Should I? What good is it? Also, I wanted to know if I should post the same pictures of my art on Instagram and Facebook. Isn't that overkill? How do Facebook and Instagram differ?
I found out that social media is good for selling: myself, my pictures, my ideas.
I'm kind of programmed to step back, not forward. So this is a stretch. But I'm doing it. Thanks, Randi!
Randi is the future. The future is now. Here are some highlights:
- "Blogs are not social media," OK, Randi! I get it -- My blog doesn't offer the immediate give-and-take that defines social media. So I should say how a blog can help me, and then decide whether to keep it up or not. (I'm keeping it, obviously.) And really, one reason I don't write my blog more is that I love my iPad, but the blog works best if I create on my Mac. Got to keep the Mac handy. I'm not really selling anything, which is a big reason for blogs. However, I like to assimilate my thoughts in writing. I like to record my techniques: which paint did I use? ... details that make it easier next time. Also, recipes I love! Maybe album-style family events. I love to make things, and not just for me. Mostly, I love to share: my thrills, creations, food. I'll let the blog work for me.
- Don't use all the venues -- Concentrate on a couple-- say Instagram and Facebook -- and get really good. You shouldn't be on everything. bye-bye, Twitter!
- Don't be boring. social media is a conversation, not an annual report. (Or maybe not a news story either, which is what I seem to write. Or poems.) Write like you talk. Chat.
- Social media is all about give and take. It's a conversation, remember? Someone says something, someone else responds. I thought writing was to read. Wrong! Your thoughts will live! Maybe come back to haunt you.
- Randi says don't use exclamation marks in excess. Or maybe never, if you want to look really grown up.
- Facebook loves algorithms (Didn't I get A's in college math? Then why am I so blank about this? Oh, years have passed, you say?). Anyway, algorithms determine who gets to see your posts. Algorithms like videos best. They eat up videos and spit them out everywhere. Next, the Algorithm Monster likes pictures and comments. And Shares, of course. If you get lots of Shares, Facebook loves you. In other words, the farther you make your posts spread, the farther Facebook makes them spread. So make an effort. Respond to people. Ask them to respond to you. Beg them even.
- And if you're marketing something -- the Orchid Show say -- you should know about Boosting. My techno-friend Randi recommends it. Strongly. Look into Boosting. It means you pay a little -- say, $20 -- and get to tell Facebook where to go. Literally. Facebook will send your post to whoever you say. It takes a little work. Look it up. Google it: Boosting.
There's more, but that'll do for now."At'll do" ... as Grandma Frey used to say when we'd had just enough of this for now.
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