@SocialSprite 's Weekly Tip @NWCreativeUnion

Pinning for Authors

Last week you learned how to get started on Pinterest. This week I’ll focus on some creative ways authors can use Pinterest in their marketing efforts. If you missed the first week’s Pinterest post read it here.

Create a board for each book. This way you can tell the story of how each book came to be. You can also share your journey after publication. If you do book tours share scenic shots of the places you’ve visited. Try not to pin too many pictures of yourself, that’s what Facebook is for. Keep in mind that people repin pictures they can relate to and unless you’re really famous, pictures of you won’t travel far on Pinterest.

Create a board for each current project. Are you working on a new book or series? A board for this new project can create excitement for a book before it comes out. Pin pictures of things that capture the feel of this new story. Share images that inspired you take this new journey.

Create a “behind the scenes” board. Pin pictures of your workspace or the places you write and that inspire you. You can also pin images that best depict your creative process.

Create a board on which your fans can pin images. It can be a board for one book or a book series on which fans can pin images of how they imagine your stories. Also your fans can pin creative pictures of themselves with your book. If they are worldwide you could get some great shots pinned on the board. To keep it interesting and pinable ask fans to take pictures of your book in scenic areas from their hometowns or regions. This is a great way to interact. You can do this by going to a current board and clicking “Edit Board.” Look for “Who can pin?” In the space you add the names of people whose boards you follow. When creating a new board especially for this just add the names of fans during the creation process.

Create a board for the images that inspire you. These can be images you find online, your friend’s artwork or photographs or pieces of art you created yourself.

Post your pins to Facebook. Go to your settings on Pinterest. Scroll down to the Facebook section and turn on “Publish activity to Facebook Timeline.” This is an easy way to share with your Facebook fans that may not be on Pinterest. It’s always great to keep everyone in the loop.

Create boards for all of your other interests. Share who you are with your fans. If you have a passion for Italy share pictures of your favorite areas, delicious foods, beautiful clothes, etc. Remember to have fun, but don’t get so addicted that you forget to write.

Always give credit where credit is due. All images you share on Pinterest should always link back to the original site and be sure to name the artist in the description.

For more information on what I do, please check out my New World Creative Union profile.

@SocialSprite 's Tip of the Week ~ 25.06.12

Social Sprite Media Marketing Tip of the Week

Some say they don’t need a marketing strategy that they do fine without it. They do their social media posts and maybe advertise, but they have no interest in strategy.

Strategy requires you to step back and paint that larger vision; it is a plan of the steps you need to take to realize your vision.

Strategy creation begins with these steps:

·         Get clear on your vision for your work and career.

·         Discover your objectives for a particular creation.

·         Know who your audience is and learn all you can about them.

·         Know your objectives for each promotional tool (online social networks, print advertising, etc.). 

This process does take some time and effort, but it can also save you time. For example, let’s say you spend months on Facebook promoting a young adult fantasy novel to no avail. With a clear picture of your target audience and a little research you might have found that 12-16 year olds spend more time on Tumblr. With that information you would not have wasted time on Facebook.

Even if you’ve been promoting your work for a while without a strategy you can always step back and put one in place. It’s also a good idea to revisit parts of this process on a regular basis.

If part of your vision is for others to enjoy your work, marketing will have to permeate all you do.

Visit Joanne's profile to connect and learn more about taking your strategy to the next level!

@SocialSprite 's Social Media Tip of the Week 18.06.12

Social Sprite’s Social Media Tip of the Week

In last week’s post I talked a little about LinkedIn Groups and how LinkedIn is the professional social network. It’s not just for business professionals, but for creative professionals as well.

This week I’ll talk a bit about the other aspects of LinkedIn that can help you get connected and build up your LinkedIn resume.

Ask for recommendations. This is a great way to promote your work. You do this by clicking Profile and going down the menu to Recommendations. Click on this and up comes a list of the jobs you had or have. Pick which one you want an endorsement for and you’ll be sent to a form to fill out and email. Choose which of your connections know you via this particular work and be sure to personalize the message.

Answer questions. LinkedIn has an “Answers” section. It’s a place where you can share your knowledge and become known as the go to person for certain topics. You can find it by clicking “More” near the top of the page. And if you want to learn something about a topic you can always ask questions.

This part of LinkedIn is especially good for writers because under the topic Marketing and Sales there is a Writing and Editing section. The Professional Development topic is a great one to learn more about developing yourself and your business as well as sharing what you’ve learned with others. Want more information about sales? You can ask some questions under Sales.

Personalize you LinkedIn URL. This is a great way to make sure people have found the right Jan Smith. It is also easier to use than a bunch of numbers when telling people how to find you on LinkedIn.

Move your cursor over Profile at the top of your home page and click Edit Profile. In the profile overview box near the top of your profile, scroll down until you see a line for Public Profile. It’s usually the last thing in that box. Click the Edit link and there you’ll see a long box with lots of things in it. Near the bottom of that is where you can personalize your URL.

Visit Joanne's profile to learn more about her and how she can help you take your networking to the next level!

Libithina ~ @Libithina

Libithina
Poet, Author

As a published Writer/Poet/Spiritual Astrologer some of Libithina’s writings can be found here http://libithinafae.blogspot.com/.. and here www.allpoetry.com/libithina ~ regularly featuring on the Froude faery artists website and for the Unicorn Centre’s Inspirational Magazine. She is the Faery Horoscope writer for FAE Magazine http://www.faemagazine.com/shop/fae-issue-13-winter-2010/ .. and has written for children with her stories called ‘Through the Whispering Forest’ and adults in several fantasy magazines. Her poetry was recently published in 'Inspiration Speaks' for ArtPlatform. Limited editions of her own hand tied silk finished book for a childrens charity is now in its tenth year. A book on local history is currently under collation/production.

Follow her on twitter: @Libithina.
Visit her blog :http://libithinafae.blogspot.com
Visit her website: www.allpoetry.com/libithina

@SoulSprite 's Social Media Tip of the Week ~07.05.12

Social Sprite’s Social Media Tip of the Week

What you share on your social media platforms matters. When you share is a key factor in your success as well.

Last week I talked about finding that sweet spot, that balance between sharing your own material and things from a third party on your social media profiles. Studies came up with a 60-40 split, 60% third party and 40% original material.

This week I’ll share some ideas about when to share.

This great infographic by KISSmetrics gives you the best times to post on Facebook and Twitter based on a recent study. It looks at where the population is densest and that in turn gives you an idea of what time zones you might want to cater to. The findings also say that you can get a higher click through rate when you tweet between 1-4 times per hour. They also show that on Facebook the most sharing occurs on Saturday and that peak times of any day are a little after noon and after 7 p.m.

Be sure to check out the infographic for more great ideas, but you will need to take your particular audience into account. Facebook Insights are great for getting a handle on who is following your posts. But having some idea’s in general about your fans or followers will also help. Do they stay up late? Are they busy parents? What time zone are the majority of them likely to be in?

Having access to all this information can help you reach more people. Now try it out on your particular audience by setting up a schedule of times to post. After a week or two take note of your Facebook Insights or on Twitter how many RTs or follows you get. If you don’t like what you see reconfigure your times. Keep working on it. Soon you’ll find the best times to reach your audience.

Visit Joanne's profile to learn more about her and Social Sprite Media Services and how she can help you take your networking to the next level!

SocialSprite 's Social Media Tip of the Week ~ 30.04.2012

Social Sprite’s Social Media Tip of the Week

As we saw last week, just being on the social media networks can increase exposure and traffic. But if you’re there and not seeing any increase maybe you need to experiment with what you’re sharing.

I know you want to share your art or your books and so you should. One of your objectives for social media is probably to get exposure for your work. What you share and how often you share is going to depend on your audience.

“Curated sites that have between 16-30 percent original generate the most pageviews.” From the B2B Marketing Trends 2011 Survey Report generated by HiveFire Inc. You’ll notice the low percentage of original content shared.

Similar findings come from an analysis by from a sample of Argyle Social’s customer activity. The balanced category they speak of is a company or organization whose content consists of linking to third-party websites 50 to 70 % of the time. The sweet spot seems to be a 40% sharing of your own content and 60% third-party.

It’s clear from the data that companies in the Balanced category achieve the best results overall. They generate 20% fewer clicks per post than Curators, but their conversion rate is 10X higher.

From http://www.convinceandconvert.com (share this quote)

What all this means is that it’s ok to share and get the word out, but keep it balanced. You can use these numbers as a starting place. Just remember you’ll most likely have to find your own sweet spot.

Next week I’ll talk about how often you should post to your social media accounts.

Visit Joanne's profile to learn more about her and Social Sprite Media Services and how she can help you take your networking to the next level!

River Urke ~ @ziibi_river

River Urke
Poet, Artist, Author

River has the heart of a poet and the eyes of an artist. She lives in the US along the St Croix Valley in the state of Minnesota with her daughter Willow, her boyfriend Tommy, and all their pets. A cat burglar named Brownie, their omega dog Odie, and Mister Big Balls, the rat. River is a published poet, writer, and the Senior Editor of the monthly journal, The River. Her adventurous spirit carries her writings through genres while her necessity to create blends with many mediums. River’s writings and artistic touches reflect her Ojibwe and Celtic heritages along with her life as a mother, an abstract thinker, and a woman disabled from Multiple Sclerosis. She believes life without laughter is no life at all.

Executive Editor:  The River Journal
Website:  RiverUrke
Follow her blog:  A Pocket of Agates
Publications/Body of Work:  Stumbled & Standing
                                           Woman's Obsession with Shoes

Social Sprite's Social Media Tips 23~04~23

Social Sprite’s Social Media Tip of the Week

The data is in!

About three weeks ago the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner came out. There are a few things I’d like you to take note of.

1. 85% of marketers said they had increased exposure even with a minimal time investment using social media.

2. 74% of participants in this study found they had an increase in traffic even with as little as six hours a week on social media.

3. For those using social media for at least a year, 65% found it useful in building loyal fan base. The more time invested did make a difference here. Those using social media six or more hours a week had better results opposed to those using it for five or less hours a week.

What these numbers tell you is that social media is a useful tool to get your name and product out there, to increase traffic and build your fan base.

Some of you may have already experienced these outcomes. If you haven’t then you may want to evaluate what you are doing.

Ask yourself these questions:

How much time am I spending each week on social media for my business, book, art…?

I’m spending more than six hours a week. Ask: How am I using those hours? (Really take a look at how those hours are spent. Keep a log for a week and track what you do. You may find your answers to why it isn’t working in that log.)

I’m spending less than six hours a week. Ask: Can I afford to spend more time? If not, can I get help?

If you’re spending too much time and it’s time you can’t afford to spend then you need to ask: What platforms am I using and do I need to use them all? (You may not need to be on every social media network. Find out where your fans live and do that one well.)

It’s a good idea to revisit your efforts every few months and use reports like this one every year to reevaluate your strategy.

Good luck! And if you have any questions just ask.

Visit Joanne's profile to learn more about her and Social Sprite Media Services and how she can help you take your networking to the next level!

Susie Clevenger ~ @wingsobutterfly

Susie Clevenger
Poet

Susie Clevenger describes herself as “much like the butterfly she loves, going through a metamorphosis in her life and letting imagination be her guide.”  She began writing poetry in high school, but for much of her adult life her pen was silent. Life took a dramatic turn for her in2006 when she was injured in a car accident. The resulting trauma reawakened the poet in her and in 2009 she began the journey of giving a written voice to the inspirations surrounding her. Susie has had her poetry featured in the online publications The Brinks Gallery, The New Writers, and Poetry & Prose Magazine.

Blog: http://confessionsofalaundrygoddess.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @wingsobutterfly

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susie.clevenger

Facebook Poetry:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Butterfly-Poet/175223425851394?ref=tn_tnmn

It's the Launch of The New World Creative Union

We were born creators. We were born as equals. We are here together to share, to encourage, to support and to grow.  The world is desperate for a new voice, a new song, a new awakening. We believe, that together, we can bring that change about.  Welcome to the New World Creative Union. 

Our mission is simple. We intend to build a community dedicated to the support of artists of all mediums. One where work can be shared in an open and nonjudgmental environment, where we can gather to share our faces and places with the world.