December 8, 2023: More Social Media Experiments
This should have gone up on the 6th. Apologies.
I’ve settled into several platforms pretty regularly, and I’m sharing my experiences. This is the third post of the year about these various platforms. I’ll probably do it annually moving forward, but this year was such a year of social media tumult, it made sense to update the experiments.
Again, this is my experience with my own work, not for clients.
The blunt truth is that, unless a site drives traffic and results in sales of my work, I can’t put the time into it. Hanging out and being social is fine, but it also has to drive traffic to my sites and result in sales.
Bluesky: This has become the platform on which I am most active. It took a bit of time to acclimate, but as more and more writers, artists, publishers, agents, etc. migrate over, it makes sense to be there. I have some great conversations, there’s support for the work, it drives traffic back to the work, and I’ve had two short stories published in publications whose submission calls I originally found on the site. I’m strict about curating my feed and quick to block. There are bullies and shitposters, and I have not time or patience for that. Immediate blocks are my best tool. I reconnected with some former colleagues from Twitter, and have met up with a bunch of new people who I really enjoy. It’s getting to be the site where I can post a question about something and get viable answers, as it continues to grow.
Bookbub: Still haven’t spent enough quality time there to make it work. It’s not a typical social media platform, but it could be a good marketing tool, if I would make the time to use it properly.
Cohost: Have not been on it since March, don’t intend to go back. It did not meet my needs; its user base is not my target audience.
Counter Social: I’ve been on there less frequently. The garden posts and inks to short story publications and articles get traction. The serials get nothing. The conversations aren’t as varied as they were a few months ago, but I figure it’s cyclical.
Creative Ground: I keep my profile updated over there, and I’ve started using it to find organizations to work with, or individual artists for collaborative projects. It is New England-centric, but I like it. One of their offshoots, Arts Hub of Western MA, boosted our Boiler House Poets Collective Reading to their audience in autumn, and, through them, I found a submission call for an ekphrastic poem at an Easthampton Gallery. My piece was one of those chosen, and I attended the exhibit opening to read my piece with my fellow poets, and met others there with whom I’m still in contact. Setting up the profile was a PITA, but it was worth it.
Ello: Sadly, this site tanked in June. It was one of my favorites, and drove a lot of traffic that resulted in sales in its heyday, a few years back.
Facebook: The Vella author groups make it a necessity. I use it for that, for ads to promote my work, and to keep up with friends who aren’t on other social media sites. Not one of my favorite platforms. The reality is that Facebook ads result in sales, so whatever I feel about the platform, it is a necessity for my income.
Hive: No longer try to use it (it was clunky) and don’t miss it.
Instagram: I’ve upped my Instagram use a lot since summer. In addition to it being my “fun” account for posting photos of cooking, reading, sewing, decorations, cats, it’s also a solid promotional tool.
Ko-fi: Haven’t used it in months. Am re-thinking how I want to use it.
Linked In: Tired of skeezy “businessmen” looking for sex pretending they’re hiring for a legitimate job. Tired of recruiters wasting my time, not wanting to give out basic information such as salary and job parameters, and contacting me for positions that have nothing to do with my actual profession. I’m a writer. Don’t contact me about a practical nurse vacancy. Total waste of time.
Mastodon: Hit and miss. Slowly building connections. It’s difficult to find people. Sometimes it drives traffic, sometimes it does not. There are writing games that are fun (provided no one asks for snippets of WIP – posting unpublished WIP on ANY site, thereby blowing first rights, is a nonstarter for me).
Pinterest: Haven’t finished implementing the changes I want to on my account. But it’s on the list for next year, so I can utilize its potential better, especially in terms of the serials.
Post: I use it more to read news than for interaction. I do post promos.
Ravelry: Haven’t been on it in months, although I will probably spend some time there over the winter, when I do more crocheting.
Spoutible: Some interesting people and good information/conversations. But it’s skewed more to politics and music than writing and other arts, so I spend less time there than I did initially. I like it, most of the time; there just aren’t enough artists on it, and it doesn’t drive enough traffic to my sites.
Substack: I like it, and enjoy the Notes feature, but the growth is much slower than I would like. I don’t like the hidden tiered system they use, where they pay some of their writers, but expect others to generate their own followings/income. I am unhappy that they allow right wing misinformation outlets to monetize the platform in the name of “free speech.” The amount of reading material is overwhelming. I’m in the process of unsubscribing from a lot of my subscriptions, especially if it’s not mutual.
T2: They changed their name to Pebble and then went out of business a few weeks later.
Threads: Have not tried it. I have friends who love it. I’m not sure why I’m so reluctant, except that it’s overwhelming to add One More Thing. Maybe once I clean up my Substack, I’ll have the spoons for it, but I don’t right now.
TikTok: Probably the best platform resulting in sales, even without ad buys. There’s no way I could afford an ad buy on TikTok. Just in regular views, it grows exponentially, week to week, and results in sales. It takes me about an hour to do the week’s episode videos for the serials, now that I have a template. It takes longer to do individual project videos. But they get results. I am not on camera, and it’s not that hard to create videos without being on camera.
Tribel: Haven’t been on it in months; don’t miss the screaming.
Tumblr: Decent at driving traffic to the sites, although conversion to sales is lower than TikTok or Facebook. I hear rumors that it’s in trouble and may close soon; that would be a shame.
Twitter: Twitter is dead, intentionally destroyed by Yegads Muskrat. I do not acknowledge the site known as X. I locked my account in August and have not been back. I do miss it, and I miss the reach, the traffic it drove to my sites, the conversion rates, but that’s what rebuilding is all about. That’s why it’s so important to have a website one OWNS, and not rely on social media platforms owned by others.
There are several other dozens of sites out there, such as Spill, Minds, Reddit, etc., which I don’t use. Most I haven’t tried. If it’s only app-based, with no desktop/laptop option, I’m out. I don’t like Reddit because its brand is bullying, as far as I can see. Besides, the above list keeps me quite busy enough!
I’m also frustrated that there’s not an affordable scheduling tool that goes across all the platforms I need. I could budget in paying for a tool, if it did what I needed it to do. But none of them – Buffer, Hootsuite, and the like – give me all I need, and I won’t pay for partials.
What are your favorite social media tools? What do you find drives traffic best to your sites? Which tools give you the best conversions? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.