Professional Social Media Accounts: The Essential Secret

When I started out as a writer/contributor for Comic Booked.com, I was briefed on the importance of social media networks for online businesses. We needed to publicize ourselves, our articles, and the site as a whole--and the more sharing, the better. We had to build our follower bases as much as possible and then tweet/share/+1 everything we wrote on as many platforms as possible. That makes sense, of course... but then people lost interest in everything I had to say. I started losing friends and followers that were people I knew and cared about, because as far as they were concerned I was just spamming them with the latest comic book news. Ouch.

I've mentioned this before on this blog, and I have to say that it's one of the trickier dilemmas I've had to face as an online professional. I found a solution to the social media problem soon after I started writing this blog by opening up a separate Twitter account for E.O.I.P. (@onlineincome19), where I focus exclusively on tips relevant to my business and this blog. My followers here are not my personal friends, and neither are those I follow. Instead, I use this account as a way to connect solely with professionals and information sources who can help me and/or hopefully benefit from what I have to say. I have only experienced growth from this account, and only positive reactions from others who have found it. Why? It's targeted. I'm sharing information with people who actually want to hear it, while at the same time preserving my other social accounts for my personal life.

Three questions that come up regarding professional social media accounts are when, why and how. I've already tackled a lot of the why. The timing depends on your business. You should open new social media accounts as soon as you're ready to start seriously promoting whatever you have to offer. "How" is a bit trickier. I want to stay as far from spamming others as I can, and I also want my updates to be regular and consistent. There's a super easy way to manage a professional Twitter account: find good sources of information and subscribe to them. Every blog has an RSS feed that you can find if you look around a bit, and if you go to your new Twitter account information, you'll find a place where you can input the RSS feed. That way, whenever the blog updates, the new article will show up on your Twitter account without your having to do anything. This has helped build my following and establish my reputation even though it took only a few minutes to set up.

If you run or are heavily involved with an online business, a professional social media account is essential to your success. It's also something that takes only moments to start on and no time at all to monitor, and will bring you traffic and popularity in a way that nothing else can.

Day 11.3: Social Media: Acceptable for Business?

My most recent entrepreneurial endeavor was joining an interesting service I just learned about that uses Facebook and Twitter to advertise. You don't advertise your own link--you go with someone else's instead, and then someone else will advertise yours. I'm curious to see how it works out in a while. I'm using my personal Twitter account, which has a bit over 300 followers, almost all of whom are total strangers. I feel kind of bad about it, though. When I first got Twitter about a year ago, I posted tiny short stories on it or cheerful thoughts. After I joined Comic Booked, I used Twitter almost exclusively to advertise for it, and then now I'm using it to advertise some links. I still post something more personal once in a while, but there's no question that my personal Twitter feed is nothing fun to read. Just a list of ads. Is that ok?

One of my big fears about running an online business is that I'll start abusing social media. I've said before that I hate spam and I don't want any association with it. I've also said that I'm a horrible advertiser, and so anything I post promoting anything winds up just like an annoying ad. How far is too far?

One of the most common advice given to those who want to promote anything, online or offline, is to tell friends and family! Get the word out! Post about it on Facebook or Twitter! My big question is... will anyone still want to be friends with me if I do?

I don't know the answer. My current views are that if you're going to use social media for business, then get a separate business account for it, just as I've done with Twitter. But I don't want to have a dozen Twitter accounts and five Facebook accounts just to get my point across to the right audience. I want to advertise, but not spam. How can I do that? How can I get my notices to people who actually want to sign up instead of just shouting out to everyone? I guess I still have a lot to learn.

Day 6.1: Am I a Spammer?

I hate getting spam. I hate the idea of spam. I especially hate the idea of my being associated with spam, with those creeps who sit behind their computers sending out mass emails every day. I prefer to think of myself as a young entrepreneur, trying to see if I can make it big time on the internet--or at least, trying to see if I can make it small time with a decent income. I use methods that I have learned from experience or that have been advised to people in my predicament. I try not to go too overboard with my advertising... but have I already blown it?

Ok, let's see what's happened. Reddit is awesome. I got an account only a few days ago, and it's a fun site to explore and get a good laugh out of the latest meme. Really. It's also a good place to get your voice heard on the internet and to share your views with others... isn't it? I've been told before to take advantage of Reddit. Honestly, I thought half the point of Reddit was to share your thoughts... but I guess I was wrong. I was banned from one of my favorite groups, Writing. No reason was given, but the only one I could think of was "blogspamming." Is that what I was doing? I only submitted each link once, and for the most part, they've been positively reviewed if anything. And only one or two were even addressed to writing. But two have also been voted down, and my views dropped substantially yesterday. I've lost my favorite audience. Why?

What constitutes spam? I usually think of it in terms of junk mail or excess "newsletters" that no one wants to read, or annoying tweets by robots. On the internet, I think of it as posting the same thing over and over again on forums and sites. On Reddit, I would have thought that submitting the same link two or three different times would count as spam. I didn't think there was any problem with "harmlessly" promoting my own work, my own thoughts and ideas. I only wanted to engage a community of interested readers.

I was almost in tears as I went to bed last night, thinking about the ban. Why couldn't it have been just a warning instead? I had no idea I was doing anything at all wrong! But apparently, the misunderstanding was on my part. I have decided that until further notice, I will not post anything I write to Reddit. Of course, I'd be honored if someone else did, but that will be left to the readers. I never intended to bother anyone at all with this blog, and I can take a hint if I'm not wanted.

Will I keep blogging? Of course! Will I keep trying to engage online communities? Yes, if I can. Will it be a success? I'm very doubtful right now. Losing Reddit means losing most of my publicity, and without publicity a blog dies. I don't want it to die. Help me, Internet! Please... just keep reading. And I'd love if you could follow me on Twitter or join me on Clixsense or Swagbucks while you're at it!