The day after retuning from a weekend writer’s conference I find my inbox full of invitations to connect with the wonderful people I interacted with throughout the weekend. While this is wonderful, it also causes a tiny bit of fear – as in Oh dear, I’ve been slacking in my social media obligations and I haven’t updated those profiles in years, so today was the day. I spent the morning not walking the beach as I intended, letting the inspiration from the conference take hold, but sitting at the computer rebuilding an ancient LinkedIn profile that didn’t even contain a profile photo.
Why do I let these things get out of hand? Because I hate social media just as much as you do. By “hate” I don’t mean I dislike spending time reading all the recent news about my friends and family. I do. In fact, my morning coffee time is spent browsing my Facebook newsfeed. I really do like knowing what’s going on with both personal and professional connections. What I DO mean about “hate” is the time it takes to learn to use each platform quickly and efficiently. I literally just spent two hours updating LinkedIn and trying to figure out how to thank two people for retweeting and favoriting yesterday’s blog post. And I couldn’t figure that out so thanks Jim Hill and Devon Ellington .
When you spend three days at a writer’s conference you are told over and over how important social media is to promote your work. As a beginning writer I thought I had years to worry about building a network and what they call a “platform”. Not so. Now, for a writer, the time to start building this platform is two years before you even write your first word. At first I was taken aback by this concept. Over the weekend I’ve come to adjust my perspective. If you are a beginning writer – or a beginning anything – what better way to establish belief in yourself than to begin to build your audience two years before you even accomplish anything.
The network you build is your greatest teacher. Watching people you idolize do what they do keeps you focused on your goal and constantly fuels your passion. Also when you get stuck you have a plethora of help just a message away. So if you’re like me and “hate” the time and effort it takes to build your social media platform and tend it like a garden, try adjusting your perspective.
And so, as another day goes by, sometimes putting a new frame around an old picture creates an enhanced portrait, and…I have written.
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