Social Media Tips You Need to Know

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From time to time, I collect a variety of social media tips for writers that I think are helpful. Today’s post details social media tips you need to know.

I cover a variety of topics:

• Twitter bios
• Why you need to get rid of Twitter bots and fraud followers
• The best time to post on Facebook
• How to detect your best-performing Instagram hashtags

Let’s get started.

Social Media Tips You Need to Know: Twitter Bios

Twitter allows you to have up to 160 characters in your bio. Use these characters well.

Think about what you want your audience to know about you and how you can further your brand in 160 or fewer characters. 

If possible, include keywords and a link to your recently published book or Author Central page on Amazon. If you have any giveaways, provide the link here.

You can also use your bio to show your personality, insert keywords and a hashtag, and include a call to action. 

Toss in an emoji of a stack of books or paw prints if you love dogs or cats. It’s okay to have a bit of fun with your Twitter bio.

For example, look at this bio:

While @sixthformpoet has a fun bio and the status to afford one, I wouldn’t recommend a “buy my book” bio for an indie author just starting out.

Emulate These Twitter Bio Examples

Jane Friedman

I report on the publishing industry and help writers understand the business they’re entering. Publisher of @HotSheetPub, previously at @VQR @WritersDigest

TIP: Indicating her previous relationship with the Virginia Quarterly Review and Writers Digest establishes her publishing authority.

Susanne Lakin

Author of 18 novels and 6 writing craft books. A writing coach, copyeditor and blogger 

@LiveWriteThrive. Get a free ebook for writers at http://LiveWriteThrive.com.

TIP: Susanne’s inclusion of a link to a giveaway document is an excellent strategy to emulate.

Isabel Allende

Cuenta cuentos, escritora, activista y bajita. Storyteller, writer, activist and vertically challenged. IsabelAllende.com IsabelAllende.org

TIP: Note the use of both English and Spanish. This makes sense for Allende since she publishes in both languages.

Lisa Tener

I help visionaries, experts, entrepreneurs: Write / Publish / Be Creative: Get Your “Inspired Author” course: http://lisatener.com.

TIP: It’s smart for Lisa to include her target audiences in her Twitter bio.

Joanna Penn

NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Thriller Author http://JFPenn.com. Podcaster. INFJ. Travel junkie. http://BooksAndTravel.page Also @jfpennwriter

TIP: Joanna has a reputation in two worlds: as a nonfiction publishing authority and a thriller author. She’s smart to include her other Twitter handle in this bio.

Mark Dawson

The author of the John Milton and Beatrix/Isabella Rose series. For the free Starter Library, go to http://markjdawson.com.

TIP: Mark Dawson is an excellent marketer. He’s smart to include a link to a free starter library.

Sharon Hamilton

Romantic Suspense Author of Hot Navy SEALs and paranormal romance. Amazon and Goodreads best sellers: Accidental SEAL, Fallen SEAL Legacy, Honeymoon Bite.

Get Rid of Fraud Twitter Followers

Have you checked your Twitter followers lately?

I am assertive — no, make that aggressive — in deleting bot and fraud accounts as well as spammers from my clients’ Twitter accounts.

Fraud followers make you like bad. Sure, you may have 2,000 or 20,000 followers, but if a good number of those are bots and spammers, your integrity drops.

And they don’t help you with your book marketing.

I am also vigilant over my own account. Below you’ll see the results from a Twitter app I recently used to analyze my followers. It felt great to learn that my eagle-eyed approach paid off. See the results below:

How to Spot a Fraud Account

Bots and spam and fraud accounts are easy to identify.

They typically have a long string of numbers after their usernames.

Or they will be pornographic sites with revealing images of women.

Narcissists are rampant on Twitter as well. They are so easy to recognize. They use pictures of themselves for their avatars, Twitter headers, and in their tweets.

To learn more about Twitter, sign up for my no-cost social media course and receive Twitter Just for Writers for free.

Report and Block These Accounts

To block an account:

• Go to the user’s profile. 
• Click the three dots to the left of the follow button.
• A box will open. The last two options will give you the options to report and block the user.

I report most fraud accounts. Some I just block, primarily if they use foul language.

Stay Safe on Twitter with These Tips

Follow these tips to stay safe on Twitter:

• Use a strong password. Use letters, symbols, and numbers.
• Beware of direct messages from people you don’t know, especially if they promise to help you “immediately” get thousands of followers.
• Be suspicious if you are followed by someone posing as a celebrity. Well-known Twitter users often have Verified Accounts (signified by a blue checkmark next to their profile name).
• If you don’t know someone following you, don’t click on links in their profile.
• If you encounter abusive and/or annoying behavior on Twitter, report the account to Twitter and block the user.
• My final tip is to never buy Twitter followers. You need authentic followers who either love your books or your genre or want to learn more about you and your books. And you want to connect with real authors in your genre — so you can collaborate — and thought leaders you can learn from.

Social Media Tips You Need to Know: Facebook

Do you know when to post on Facebook?

There are plenty of blog posts on the internet advising you when to post on Facebook.

But what do they know about your readers?

The only way to determine the best times to post on Facebook is to study Insights, Facebook’s free and fabulous analytics.

Before posting my clients’ Facebook updates, I always check Facebook’s Insights dates and times for the highest amount of activity of their pages. Armed with this information, I schedule their status updates.

Let’s look at my account. If you use Safari, start by clicking Insights at the top of Facebook’s taskbar. If you use Chrome, you’ll find Insights on the left column.

Once you are in Insights, go to Posts. You’ll find posts on the left column in both browsers.

When I click Monday, the best time to post is at 7:30 am. You don’t want to post at the peak of engagement, but as you build up to it.

But on Wednesdays, my fans are most active on Facebook at noon. So, I want to post around 11:30 am. The yellow column next to the date, image, caption, and reach displays graphically how well each post performed.

While you’re here, study the reach on your updates. You’ll see a graph with the date of each update along with the image, caption, and reach.

Reach is graphically displayed in a yellow column. Study the column and try to emulate those posts that achieved the highest level of reach and engagement.

Social Media Tips You Need to Know: Instagram Hashtags

Do you know which of your hashtags performs the best? You should.

I use Later, an Instagram scheduling app. I love it.

On Later, you can access your analytics from the left column of your dashboard. Note: Analytics is only available for business accounts.)

Once I am in analytics, my profile summary provides data on growth and discovery, follower growth, impressions, and reach.

It also provides data on profile interactions. Finally, it includes information about my best performing posts.

Finally, the top taskbar provides information on the performance of my audience, posts, Instagram stories, and hashtags. Let’s look at hashtags.

I post quotes and pictures that I take. Lately, I’ve mixed it up and have been posting images of flowers I encounter on my neighborhood walks and the flowering cacti and succulents I grow.

To the far right of my hashtags is a details box. Click it, and a window pops up with more detailed information.

Facebook’s Creator Studio Analytics

If you don’t use Later, go to Facebook’s Creator Studio. To arrive here, open Facebook to the Home tab and at the very top type Creator Studio.

The URL will be https://Facebook.com/CreatorStudio. This is where you can schedule your posts for your Facebook and Instagram business accounts. (Note: You can also use Publishing Tools on your Facebook page.)

At the top taskbar, click the icon for Instagram. Then click Insights on the left column.

Facebook’s Insights for Instagram details:

• Website visits
• Profile visits
• Calls
• Texts
• Emails
• Accounts reached
• Impressions
• Age and gender of your followers
• Times when your followers are on Instagram
• The countries and cities where your follower reside

Facebook provides a lot of great information for free about your Instagram business account. Unfortunately, it does not provide data on your best-performing hashtags.

To learn more about Instagram, check out this post I wrote: 7 Simple Secrets to Totall Rock Your Instagram Account.

I am an author and social media consultant for writers. My focus is on helping writers like you surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online and building their platform. I also provide content writing and email marketing services. Be sure to download my ebook on Twitter. You can get it now for free!