New Year’s Resolutions

Ever make a resolution on things you’ll do differently in the coming year?  Well, 2019 is upon us and it is time to make mine.  Since this blog is supposed to be about the author experience, there are three on my list and all are about improving my social media presence.

The process started a long time ago when my website was unveiled back in 2012 and then updated in 2016.  It will get a mild facelift this year based on what books are coming out. And, my blog will continue appearing on Sunday mornings 

What’s left?  LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are the subject of resolutions one, two and three.

Already, on Sundays or Mondays, this blog gets posted on LinkedIn and for the most part, if you want to connect with me, I’m o.k. with it.  Yeah, yeah, LinkedIn is about reaching people primarily for commercial purposes, but it is a way to tell folks about my books.  What I have to do is figure out how to leverage my LinkedIn presence to generate speaking events.

Number two is Facebook.  To me, Facebook is a mystery.  Not the why, but the how?  For GenXrs and Millennials, doing stuff on the site may be intuitive, but to this baby boomer, it is frustrating.  For reasons known only to Mark Zuckerberg and his cohorts who founded the company, to have an “author” page, one needs a “personal” page.  What you’ll see after the first of the year is a big notice on my personal page that is not “active” and to go to my “author” page that will have “stuff” on it.  That is, once I figure it out.

Then there number three – Twitter.  I’ve talked to many authors about the value of Twitter and Facebook.  Most say it is tough to get a direct correlation between the Facebook, Twitter and book sales.  They’re viewed as a necessary evil to make oneself known.

I’ve made New Year’s resolutions before and failed to carry them out.  However, I now have a Hootsuite account to help manage my Twitter activities and send out tweets.  The goal is one tweet a day.  So, we’ll see.

Here’s my real issue with social media.  They take time to keep up with, post “stuff,” etc.  So, with a limited amount of time, do I write, edit and/or book a speaking engagement, or do I send out a tweet, put a picture on Facebook, etc. etc. etc.?

What about Instagram? I don’t have a clue.

Right now, I’m focused on my website/blog, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  The first two are well on their way of being executed, the other two will take that precious commodity called time.  Two out of four isn’t bad, but that’s where I’ve been and its not good enough.  Warning, warning, warning .  Watch out, Twitter and Facebook here I come!

Marc Liebman

December 2018