Deciding On My Social Media Strategy

Of all the pre-writing promotional tactics at my beck and call, deciding on my social media strategy tops the list. Which for me is kind of a shame, since I’m not thrilled about the constant self-boasting – and artificially polished imagery – that saturates the web.

Is this something of a blasphemous statement given the necessity of having an “author platform” as a wannabe self-published novelist? I do want to find a way to interact with potential readers, stoke their interest in issues my novel will cover, and ultimately, organically, want to buy and recommend the novel(s) I write.

A quick update: I’ve been dormant online for the better part of a year, and before that an additional year of radio silence. Life intervened. Prior thereto I was pretty active in my postings and Tweets, having set up HootSuite as my distribution tool several years back.

Till now I’ve focused on my Twitter page (1,842 Followers, though I’m following 2,071 at present); my Facebook profile (1,007 people have friended me, but just 49 people are following me) and Mark D Swartz – Author Page on Facebook (344 followers, but that took a harrowing month of effort doing mutual Likes through an author promotional group called ASMSG, a.k.a. Author Social Media Support Group).

Then there’s my underutilized GoodReads author account – thank goodness I qualified as a bona fide author because of a non-fiction book I’d written that was published by a major house back in 1998! (1,192 friends, yet a mere 27 followers). Of course this Blog you’re reading from is the cornerstone of all my Internet marketing activities.

This past week I updated my YouTube author page, but there’s nothing on it yet so I won’t bother linking you there. I eventually want to point to a bunch of videos relating to the four key themes/issues in this first novel of mine that I’m dying to start drafting:

• Down Syndrome and medical advances that pose a potential threat to those who have the condition
• Intersex and the spectrum of human sexual biology as it affects identity
• Rights and fundamental freedoms in an age of religious freedom vs. modern mores and legal decisions
• Geopolitical shifts, in particular the evolving relationship between the U.S. and non-democratic countries of influence

I’ll follow up soon with some tactics I intend to employ in approaching people and groups that I consider to be “influencers” in their respective arenas. Now back to customizing my Bit.ly link shortener. Then, hopefully, some time to consider a grand unified strategy for creating awareness while I don my Scribner hat.