The thunder of somber organ chords resounded, lightning flashed and I quaked as I finally faced my nemesis- marking and promoting my book.
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.
Time to do it!
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.
Along the way, I acquired useful tools and I have developed a social media toolbox. Disclaimer- I am featuring the programs listed below because these are solid performers that work for me. No compensation received, just the glow of sharing good info with my friends.
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!
Easy to share this fun post I found on PromoRepublic!
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.
I made this promo 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.
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