Self-Promotion the Friendly Way

Have a book to sell? Always sending out tweets asking people to buy your book? You’re probably being ignored.

After a couple years of using social media to promote this blog, I have seen a trend. I have more than 3,000 followers on Twitter, and I get maybe two or three views per day from Twitter. That’s it. Promoting on Twitter doesn’t work. I have only 62 followers on my Facebook page, and more than 200 friends on my personal account, and I get up to ten views per day from Facebook. Much better percentage, but not amazing. I get nothing from Google+, nothing from Pinterest (except my Happy Little Cloud post keeps getting repinned), and very little from LinkedIn. So, why do people always say to market ourselves via social media? Well, I also see them say to tweet your blog posts multiple times per day, which to me is just spammy.

Where do I get most of my views? Through WordPress and Google search. My followers read my posts. I have a great group of followers who return all the time to read what I have to say and to interact with me. I think that’s one of the most important things. Interaction. Be real. Be friendly. Be yourself. If you are a genuinely friendly person who gives back and responds to comments, those followers will keep returning. I like to give back to those people with Commentition. Check out my last one.

With Google, I just make sure I tag my posts appropriately, use descriptive titles, and link to any post or website I reference (this helps increase search rankings).

But what about new readers? This is where you have to do a bit of reading and commenting. Go to other blogs and comment. Engage in conversation with the blogger and other commenters. They will likely visit your blog and follow yours. You’ve got another person who may comment. This is probably my weak point. I haven’t been doing this enough, and I really should. I keep telling myself to do it, but find that time is a major issue. But it’s something I will constantly work on.

So, what you need to do is to stop acting like an impersonal advertiser or marketer and start acting like a real person who interacts with everyone. Don’t just advertise on Twitter, talk to people there. Don’t just write posts that sound like essays or articles, write about what you think and feel. Don’t worry so much about making it sound polished. Just be you. If people like you, they’ll stick around and return often.

This is what works for me, and I’ve found I’m not alone. Many others say the same thing. What about you? What have you done that works for you?

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Evidence Grows for a New Ninth Planet

Astronomers at Caltech have announced that evidence for an undiscovered ninth planet in the Solar System is mounting. It would be larger than the Earth, but smaller than Neptune. It could be a Super-Earth or a Mini-Neptune. But it’s orbiting so far away, it would take 20,000 years for it to orbit the Sun. It’s ten times the distance from the Sun as Neptune.

So, why do they think there’s another planet out there? All of the larger bodies, such as Sedna, that are orbiting beyond Pluto seem to all stay together on one side of the Solar System. This is strange, because it is far more likely that they’d be more evenly spread around the Solar System. The most likely explanation is a large planet orbiting at an even larger distance with its aphelion at the opposite side of the Solar System as these other large objects. Watch this video for an explanation by the two astronomers who have been studying this.

This is actually a very serious study going on, and it’s being reported by many reputable science and news agencies. If this planet is real, they have a rough estimate of its location, so they can search for it. But with its great distance, it’s not quite like searching for a needle in a haystack, it’s more like searching for a grain of sand in a farmer’s field.

Personally, I’m hoping something is found. This would be a very exciting discovery. What do you think? Are they on to something? Let me know in the comments below.