EDITING 101: 63 – Are you overwhelming your social media followers?

Posted on by Chris The Story Reading Ape

Are you overwhelming your social media followers?

Yes, yes—all authors are told to market. You need sales! You need reviews! You need readers! You need beta readers! You need to catch the eye of an agent or publisher! So off you scurry and spend as much time as possible reposting your blog articles or inserting links to them everywhere you can.

Unfortunately, there is something known as “too much of a good thing.” Even your most loyal followers may unsubscribe if they get tired of seeing the same posts everywhere. This is called “social media fatigue,” and you definitely want to avoid it! Think of any popular commercial that seems to play endlessly on several channels for months at a time. You may be able to quote it word for word, but how likely is it that you’ll actually purchase the item?

Linking all your accounts may be easy for you with the help of online scheduling programs or sites. Some of the ones available in 2017 are Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Seesmic, SocialPilot, DoShare, and Buffer. You only have to touch a button and your post gets distributed everywhere: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. However, this type of robo-posting can be annoying for your followers. Who wants to see the same thing everywhere they turn?

If you belong to multiple writers’ groups on LinkedIn, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Every group you enter on a certain day contains the same post from the same person. You get to see it over and over and over and over… (imagine Susan’s eyes glazing over here) Blah.

It’s a lot harder to individualize your postings, but you’ll gain more followers and keep the ones you already have! Try keeping a spreadsheet of your posting articles. Record on it when and where you’ve posted them. Like this:

Article A, June 15, posted to Instagram.

Article B, June 15, posted to Facebook.

Article C, June 15, posted to Pinterest

Article A, June 20, posted to Facebook

Article B, June 20, posted to Twitter

Article C, June 20, posted to LinkedIn

Article A, June 25, posted to LinkedIn

Article B, June 25, posted to Pinterest

Article C, June 25, posted to Facebook

Now when your followers tune into their multiple social media accounts on June 20 (and yes, we all know most people have at least two or three), they’ll see three posts from you—but all different. One post may stimulate their interest more than the others, but the next time they see one of the other posts, it may strike them as interesting on that day.

Yes, there will be some repeats for your followers—that’s practically unavoidable—but not on every platform all on the same day. Trust me, that approach is a real turn-off.

What do you think?

We’re Dun for today, so keep on Writin’!

Next week we’ll discuss ‘Story Organization’

Susan

To see the index and catch up with missed episodes of this series – CLICK HERE

49 thoughts on “EDITING 101: 63 – Are you overwhelming your social media followers?”

  5. Dear Susan, you finish off by asking What do you think? I think this is excellent advice.
    I am going to be honest now (never a good idea, I hasten to add).
    I always look forward to your posts on Chris’ Blog. I read them religiously and I read all the comments. Then I invariably comment. Not because I have to, but because I want to, because you have made me think. (Pardon me English)
    And there is also another certain psychologist lady present here (no names obviously: you know who you are!) whose posts I always look forward to as well and read the comments and comment because she stimulates my mind too.
    There is a huge amount of talent and a lot of good stuff to read. But I also, write which I don’t have to tell you is time consuming. When I know someone is offering thought provoking quality posts I like taking a break because it’s like chatting to a mate.
    But sometimes I feel others overload us with random thoughts from the top of their head, without any quality control, editing or even considering if it is worth posting (somewhat akin to what I am doing now!).
    As a writer I believe the old maxim: always leave them wanting more (NOT LESS).
    If you want the respect of your fellow writers then use your blog to showcase your talent and leave a legacy of quality. (Invariably this is less not more)
    And yes you have a book out… I understand you are excited. But so do the rest of us. If you want to catch your peers attention and earn their respect, offer something different: something new, strong and certainly well written otherwise people just might read the first paragraph and turn off. (Guilty as charged!)

    And that’s me banned from the bloggersphere for the next 5 years.

    Disclaimer: Please note these are the sole opinions of the (crazy) author of this comment. Susan Uttendorfsky does not condone or endorse any of the above.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    • Hi Eric! There aren’t a lot of good ones, and the notifications on LI are terrible. That said, if you really want to join some, I’d suggest these:

      Aspiring Writers (NO LINKS) (no spam, medium traffic, high post quality)
      Books and Writers (a fair amount of spam, high traffic, erratic good posts)
      Crime Fiction (occasional spam, low traffic, medium post quality)
      The Craft of Writing Fiction (no promotions) (no spam, low traffic, high post quality)
      THE WRITERS’ NETWORK (NO LINKS) (occasional spam, medium traffic, medium post quality)
      Writer’s Hangout (occasional spam, medium traffic, medium post quality)

      Liked by 5 people

      Reply

  10. Great idea to vary the message, but ALSO a great idea to slow down on the postings. Frequent posts are overwhelming too – and, since your name/identity is attached to every single one of them, you might well be tempting folks you’d like to reach to numb out to (or avoid) messages from you.

    Personally, I seek out, read and comment primarily the posts from bloggers who post only one or two times a week, scrolling past *many* of those who post multiple times a day, and find it exhausting even to keep up with those who post daily. And that’s JUST on one platform.

    If our goal is to collect more “likes” perhaps posting more often makes sense. If we want more *engagement* maybe not so much?
    xx,
    mgh
    (Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
    ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
    “It takes a village to transform a world!

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply

    • Madelyn, your point about blogging so well made! I’ve been guilty too, but at least my posts are short! I scroll by so many who post several times a day and anticipate so keenly those who drop by now and then. We both know a certain Cambridge lady who posts once a week; she is without doubt the perfect blogging treat. Eric.

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

      • There are some bloggers who feature content I do my best to read daily – but I find it difficult to keep up, even there.

        I’m not trying to makeanybody wrong or limit what others choose to do – especially if it lights them up to do it. I simply wanted to post another point of view for folks who think it’s somehow “better” to post more often. Not necessarily.
        xx,
        mgh
        xx,
        mgh

        Liked by 4 people

        Reply

      • Thanks, Susan, and let me say again how much I appreciated your article. We seem to be on the same page — also about the dubious value of LI anymore (except to pharm emails, it would seem grrrrrr). I tried to comment ON Chris’s page but an arrogant ad kept trying to FORCE me to view it by jumping me from the comment box to their ad. After moving my cursor back down a few times (after turning off the sound on my computer), I gave up in frustration. To quote Talluhah Bankhead, “What fresh hell is this?”

        If this is the way ads on WordPress.com are headed, it might also be good advice to pay the freight for the upgrade to the no-ads version — at least until the long-awaited announcement of a writer’s platform (similar to the way WordPress USED to be) becomes a reality and we can all jump ship.

        I enjoy the content on Chris’s blog and have followed him for a while now. I wouldn’t run away screaming since I already know his content, but it might have kept me from returning to a blog I didn’t already know. Who has time for this nonsense?
        xx,
        mgh

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

Leave a reply to Believing Sight Unseen Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.