About a month or so ago, I decided it was time to update all of my social media sites and website, underestimating the work involved. I mean, I learned HTML over 20 years ago, back when you actually had to code a website. I was ready for the task, especially since websites are point and click WYSIWYG these days.
The information that needed updating and all of the images links to my books were many. OH MY.
I concluded it would be much easier to delete the old accounts and create new ones. At least for most of the project.
So I began deleting all of my old social media sites, except for my Author Facebook Page. The reason? That was where I started the updating. By the time I had everything up to date, I had realized I did not want to do that again for all of the other accounts. It was here I made the decision to re-boot.
After deleting all of the accounts and the website, I started to rebuild. The social media accounts were the fastest and easiest to do. Then I spent the last 3 weeks on the website, finishing it today.
The most challenging part of the whole social media thing is keeping all the different sites lined up with each other. Trying to keep all of them updated with the same information as it happens to be released.
I know everyone has their favorite social site, and each serves its purpose, so I want to be there on all of them.
At first, I only posted on my Author Facebook Page. I then used IFTTT to share my posts to other media sites. This time though, I wanted to take a different route, mostly because I travel and love taking pictures, so I use Instagram.
Now Instagram has its faults. You can't post links in the post or comment section, which makes sharing a little awkward. However, I love that the app is on my phone and wherever I go, and I can post whenever I want.
My Instagram post shoots to my Tumblr page and to my Author Facebook Page. From there, IFTTT picks up the Author Facebook Page post and sends it to Twitter and Pinterest.
I stopped using Pinterest a while back, but I get a few thousand visits a month there, so I re-introduced it to the mix.
There are still a couple of manual shares I have to do. I have to manually share the Author Facebook Page post with my personal family & friend's Facebook page. When I want to share a blog post (like this one), I manually transfer it to LinkedIn, Tumblr, my Author Page on Facebook. It is a pain.
I know they have services out there that will take care of all of this for you, but I worked IT for over 20 years, and I cannot stand the thought of paying someone to do something I can do. This is why I manage all of my Social Media and build my own website.
If I can find (or write) a good RSS script that will take my blog feed and properly post it, then my entire social networking posting system will be automatic. I would simply write a blog or post on Instagram, and all the sites would stay up to date.
That's another side project.
For now, I am working on finishing the rough draft of Losing Dani Strumm and working on a book cover.
That will be my next blog, creating a book cover. I have probably blogged about it before, but maybe not.
Here is a breakdown of all my social media accounts, in the order of how often I actually use it as opposed to auto-posting to it.
And of course, my website - www.BruceShields.us
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And when I give away things, I mean really give away. I don't charge for shipping; there's never a handling fee. It's always FREE!
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