Two years before, I had found my Round Tuit and begun my dream of writing a book. Write, rewrite, edit, revise- I loved it all. I learned about cover design and publishing, and I enjoyed that part of the process as well.
Then it was time to market and promote. Yikes! I took the plunge into social media- and I learned to love this new world as well. I have spent the past year, engaging four to eight hours per day developing my “platform”, primarily Facebook, Twitter and my website. I have gained beautiful friendships, support, encouragement, and knowledge about the writing business.
I use Hootsuite many times, every day. I can schedule tweets and posts tool my accounts . I can follow live chats and target other streams to follow. The best part? Hootsuite gives me suggested posts and tweets, based on my interests. THE VERY BESTEST- the Hootsuite mobile app with Suggestions! Yay! Easy to find content to share with my readers, along with my own phenomenal tweets and posts. Scroll to the right to share, scroll left to schedule. (Does that sound familiar?)
A new favorite of mine is PromoRepublic. Yes, I can now create good-looking content. This software gives me backgrounds, text and many other design elements. Many post ideas are relevant to a particular day or timely event and ready to go. They are fun and easy to use. The most amazing feature that I use daily is the Calendar. I click and share social media posts based on holidays, trends, events. Want something snappy for National Tequila Day or an eye-catching post about wine- just click and schedule!
Canva was the first design software that I played with. Canva makes design simple for everyone, especially me. You can create designs for Web or print: blog graphics, presentations, Facebook covers, flyers, posters, invitations, all sized just right. You will find a cornucopia of tools and designs to use. I create my book promos with Canva.
Please bear in mind that I am not a Monet or Van Gogh. I am an ordinary Sexagenarian who loves social media and wants to share helpful content. I use these tools everyday. You should also know… there are free versions to all of these programs, but I have upgraded them to the next level for a small monthly fee. Free was fine, but I wanted all of the snappy options.
I am a writer, blogger, book reviewer, and bon vivant and encourager. I have lived my entire life in Tropical Ohio. My goal is to make friends with everyone in the world. I wrote a fiction series, The Golden Age of Charli, that presents the problems and praises, and the love and laughter of family life and retirement. My passions are blogging, reading and reviewing, and writing. My life is a WIP.
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