5 Useful Social Media Tools for Authors

When many writers talk about social media, they mention all the obvious platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.  They’ll also talk about all the issues that they have with these.  Manual reposts across platforms, not enough time to work on all of them, and having to jump from one to the other to do anything as just a few examples.

I have some good news!

In this article, I’m going to discuss five tools to help writers with these problems plus a couple of other ones they might not have even have thought of yet to help improve their productivity with social media.

There’s an old saying, “When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” With regards to social media, this is very true because if you stay within a platform-specific tool it will be difficult to leverage it for any efficiencies.

That’s why using third party tools with the primary social media platforms is so helpful.

Now, every writer out there is probably asking themselves, “Why do I need yet another social media tool, let alone five, on top of all the other ones that I’m already struggling with?”

Here’s why.

Your time as a writer is precious.  You’re probably juggling a regular job plus family responsibilities on top of working on your manuscript.  Automating or eliminating those manual processes that you’re complaining about all the time would be big help wouldn’t it? Or how about that email list you’re always struggling with?  Are you familiar with the CAN-SPAM Act and what it could mean for you?  Trust me, falling afoul of this one is not fun. Avoiding risk is another reason to use third party social media tools.

Every writer I’ve ever met bemoans how little help they receive from their publishers in promoting their books.  A well-run social media program with the right tools will help you here and will make you look more professional which will help you when you’re looking for that new publisher or agent.  (To say nothing about your readers!)

Finally, your readership will expand using tools to help manage your social media platforms by staying on top of things.

 

Here’re the tools:

1. Hootsuite– a social media account allowing you to look at your social media channels on one screen, post to them, and follow activity; has a powerful free version with affordable tiers for more features
2. MailChimp– an email marketing service and a marketing automation platform; has a very useful free version with affordable tiers for more features and will help with compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act
3. it– a social media automation tool allowing for automatic postings across social media platforms; has a useful free version with affordable tiers for more features
4. Rafflecopter– enables launching and managing giveaways; has a useful free version with affordable tiers for more features
5. Feedly– is a news reader useful for content curation; has a useful free version with affordable tiers for more features.

 

My criteria for selection were the ability to work with main social media channels and WordPress, affordability, and a straightforward, easy-to-use interface.

A few caveats about using third party tools with social media:

1. Use depends on where you are in your journey as a writer and your use of social media
2. You don’t have to use them all
3. Have a plan
4. Start with free and only decide to spend money once you’ve exhausted the free potential.

I’ll be blogging here about writing and social media for the next several months and I’ll show you how you can develop your own successful social media program and how it can help you. I’ll also be happy to answer any questions that you may have.  In the meantime, please feel to check out my blog at someddi.com.

Or, feel free to contact me at my email address below and I’ll answer your questions or discuss social media impact on you as a writer.

Thanks for reading and best wishes for your writing!

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Con Patrick Sweeney is the Managing Director at Someddi LLC, a social media advisory practice, focusing on small and midsized organizations, and independent professionals. His website is http://someddi.com/ and he can be reached atconpsweeney@someddi.comHe welcomes queries about social media for writers!