by Malle Vallik
Being effective in social media means having open and honest conversations. The experts state that in order to be successful you need to be authentic and genuine; you have to think more about other’s needs than your own; you should be everywhere everyday BUT you need to be careful that you are not obviously or shamelessly self promoting.
Whew! How do you become a social media super hero – and reap its rewards – without hurting yourself in the process (or the time you should be spending writing your novels?).
A great social media tool is the comment section of your blog or someone’s blog that you’ve identified as worth following. This someone else has already started the conversation and they are hoping, wanting a new friend to join in. Good commenting helps establish your online presence and builds your author brand.
Five tips on how to leverage this often overlooked and easy-to-use social media tool.
1. Comment back to readers who have commented on one of your blog posts. This is basic social media 101. Also, try to schedule some free time around a new blog post so that you can comment back in a very timely manner. (Set a google alert to remind yourself in you’re really busy)
2. Thank or acknowledge all reviewers who have reviewed your book, even if they didn’t like your book. The first part of the last sentence probably makes a lot of sense to you (you can find blog book reviews by setting up a google alert on your name (author brand) and book titles) but why in the world should you acknowledge someone who may have trashed your book?
Answer: because it is the smart thing to do.
Don’t defend your book or explain what the reviewer didn’t understand. The reviewer is entitled to her opinion and doesn’t need to defend herself. Instead, you need to take the opportunity to make a connection with both the reviewer and the reviewer’s readers. Politely thank the reviewer for taking the time and effort to read and review your novel and then add something more that will portray you in a positive light. You could cite books by other writers (list them with hyerlinks) that the reviewer may care for.
What you want to accomplish is to come across as a smart, nice, genuine person who likes readers and books.
You never know what might develop from such a reputation. Readers who read the review but then read your comment may decide they like you and want to try your book for themselves.
The Harlequin Digital Team considers the all-time best response to a challenging review to be that of the awesome Carla Cassidy’s response to the Smart Bitches review of her Harlequin Intrigue novel Pregnasia. Read it here; you will have to scroll half way through the comments to find Carla’s post. Carla is brilliant. Carla is witty. Carla is human and interesting. Carla has shown us all how to handle an awkward situation with wit, grace, charm and as a result, win over a great many readers.
We bow to the genius of Carla.
3. Comment on several blogs every day, if you can. Being in the social media space every day is a best practice but spending time on blogs three times a week is also good. Decide what works best for your schedule and be consistent. And then the secret is to offer useful advice and links.
4. When you comment do not use it as an opportunity to self promote. Do not mention your book. Instead observe tip number three. If you have offered 19 interesting or entertaining or useful comments then you may mention your novel if it fits the post and other comments in the thread. Ex. if someone is looking for or talking about romances set in Italy and you’ve written one, then it’s appropriate. But you may even do better by still holding back. Be seen as interesting and gracious rather than a self-promoter (oh, she’s only here to flog her book).
5. Just because you have written a comment doesn’t mean you have to hit publish. If you are following tips one through four, you most likely have not written a comment while your blood is stirred and your desire to tell others just how right you are is OVERTAKING YOUR BODY. Stop. Breathe. Consider and hit delete. One of my colleagues uses this tip in all of her social media: Amy’s patented built-in censor! Strangers, my coworkers/bosses (and authors, who are kinda my coworkers), and my MOM follow me so I never post anything I wouldn’t want any of those people to know…
Do you consider commenting part of your social media strategy?
And for my final note, humor from The New Yorker about book marketing.
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Some authors are good at this and some are not. You should come off as a natural even if you have to agonize over what to say. Just use your imagination and pretend you’re at a party and you can see all those faces. You’re standing around, sipping your favorite drink and yapping.
You’d be having a good time while at the same time being careful not to offend because, hey, you want to be invited to this really great party again, right? You don’t want to get too personal because, you know, that really cute guy standing over there just might be Jack the Ripper. 
Honestly? Comment on somebody else’s blog if you have something to say and if you want to interact with them. Come over to mine because you’re interested in what else I talk about when I’m not commenting on your blog, hang around because you like what you see, comment because I’ve said something comment-worthy.
If you only write something because you feel compelled to, our interactions are likely to remain brief and overly polite in that work colleage ‘I need to interact with this person but we don’t really have anything to say to each other’ way. And quite frankly, that’s a waste of your time and mine.
I just like commenting on blogs if I liked the post or I have something to say. I’m more likely to post a brief comment with less content if the blogger is someone whom I’ve had a lot of contact with, online or off. I don’t suffer through reading blogs I don’t enjoy. So, I do comment, but it seems iffy to me to do so against your own will.
I would hope most writers quickly learn that endless self-promotion is boring for all concerned.
I agree that it’s polite to thank someone for a review, whether they liked the book or not. After all, they took time out of their life both to read and to write about the book.
Thanks for stressing that your commenting needs to be genuine. When I state that you should comment x# of times a day or week what I was trying to say is that you should try to make commenting a habit (it takes training) and the only way to make it a habit is through practice. BUT these authors are right that you should only comment on blogs that appeal to you.
Thanks for the great tips, Malle! Social networking sites are my water cooler. I spend so much time with my fictional characters, that I love getting out and hanging with real people, even if it’s not in person! LOL
Holly
This hits the nail on the head.
On some people’s blogs, if their content doesn’t always thrill me (I’m sure mine is boring at times also) if they make the effort to track back and comment on my blog, I’ll be sure to check theirs out consistently.
December,
Exactly. It’s about building a relationship.
Don’t you love that piece from the New Yorker linked at the end of the piece! It’s very funny… especially for those of us a little bewildered by the Twitter revolution, etc.
I respond, comment and blog as much as possible, but it all takes so much time and can overwhelm your day when you’re not looking!
Like right now, when I should be working on my next proposal!
I don’t always respond to the comments on my own blog. At first, I was like “Thanks for visiting!! Thanks for commenting!! OMG!!” to everyone. But now I tend to respond only when I have something to add.
I hope I’m not leaving people hanging…
Thank you so much for the information you have given us. I enjoy reading the many blogs I get. There is so much interesting information and people out there. But it is so hard to comment on a book that I haven’t read. If I can filter out a subject I try to comment. The part that I don’t get is how do I get some one to review my books?
Generally you get reviews by asking. You are more likely to receive a positive response to your request if you have spent time on the blogs. It’s a circle of life/making connections/networking kind of thing.
Jill, for the vast majority of posts I don’t think every comment needs a reply, or you’ll end in an endless spiral of acknowledgements. It’s perfectly acceptable to pick up on several comments at once, or to carry over comments into the next blog post. I disengage if a writer _never_ replies to anything I say – in that case, my effort to talk to them is clearly not appreciated – but I don’t expect a reply every time. In fact, people who feel they have to reply to *every* comment can become quite a nuisance, because the signal-to-noise ratio of of the comment thread goes down.
[...]Authors, be proactive about marketing your books. Become a social media super hero![...]
I think you hit on a critical point about commenting. I comment on a regular basis but I try to focus on the issue at hand, rather than, hey my character blah blah blah, unless it’s relevant to the conversation. Being a regular on several blogs has paid off for me and I’ve also gotten more in tune with what’s going on in the writing world. Being informed is so much better than existing in a void.
Great post and by the way, I loved Carla’s response on Smartbitches. Classy and hysterical!
Yeah, Carla was genius.
People are challenged by the time commitment but like you, I have found being in space is more than worth while – I have had so many opportunities come my way as a result.
There are days at work that feel a little bit like the New Yorker article…
What’s somewhat ironic about the kudos from the Harlequin media team for Cassidy’s handling of the Pregnasia review on SBs … some (quite a bit?) of the criticism was directed at the ridiculous title. Am I correct in thinking that authors have little to no control over the naming of their books? I guess she did take it for the team?