Social Media Monday—The Basics for Building a Strong Platform through Social Media

by Edie Melson

Anyone who reads this blog knows I believe it’s possible to build a strong platform through social media. I should, I did it. Beyond that, I’ve helped hundreds of other writers do the same things.

But with all the posts I’ve shared over the years, I haven’t lately laid out the basic building blocks, all in one place. Today I’m going to do just that.

Basic Building Blocks

• Blogging
• Facebook
• Twitter

That’s all there are, just three. But when you work them together you can capitalize on the synchronicity that results, here’s how:

Blogging

You need to be blogging regularly somewhere. Your interactions on Facebook and Twitter are brief, because of the nature of the sights. Think of them as place to gather for short, casual conversations. On the other hand, blogging is a place where your readers get to know you better. They can sit and have a cup of coffee with you. You choose one of two places to blog regularly:

• Your own personal site.
• A group blog.

If you’re blogging on your own site, you need to be posting a minimum of once a week. And that once a week needs to be a regular schedule. If you expect readers to visit your site regularly, then you must be there when you say you will. Think about it. How many times will you visit a business if you aren’t sure whether they’re open when they say they will be. It’s the same thing with a blog.

If you’re a part of a group blog, you must be blogging there a minimum of twice a month. Again this needs to be on a regular schedule.

Facebook

At this point in time, unless you already have a thriving professional page, I strongly urge you to stick with a personal profile. If you want to know the reasons I recommend this, I did a post on How to Use YourFacebook Profile Professionally as well as Personally 

So how often should you post to FB? I recommend posting a minimum of 4 – 5 updates a day, 4 – 5 days a week. I also recommend commenting on a minimum of 2 posts a day, 4 – 5 days a week.

Twitter

This one’s a bit easier. I recommend a minimum of 5 tweets a day, 4 – 5 days a week.

Beyond that, I haven’t relented on my single hard-and-fast rule for social media:

Edie’s 5 to 1 Rule

For every 5 social media updates on a given network, you may only send out 1 about yourself or your product. Your product would be an article, blog post, book for sale (or offered for free), etc.

Updates that aren’t about you include favorite quotes you share (as long as they’re not yours), Bible verses, questions, or general comments.

You may add other networks to your social media plan, but these are the three I believe fall in the  have-to-do category.

Now it’s your turn. What questions do you have about building an online platform? Be sure to leave them below.

And don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

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