Writers Victoria’s Tara Mitchell interviewed Victorian entrepreneur, Nicola Moras, about her new book ‘Visible’. ‘Visible’ dives into the world of marketing through an online presence and how to develop a social media/digital strategy.
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, SnapChat, Pinterest, YouTube, Podcasting…the list goes on! How would an author go about choosing the best platform to focus on?
The number one thing that an author needs to determine (like when they did their book planning) is who their ideal audience is and then you’ll be able to determine what platform they spend their most time on.
For instance, if you’ve written a business book dedicated to CEO’s, you would most likely focus your time and attention primarily on LinkedIn and then Facebook. If you’ve written a Fantasy novel, however, directed to people in their early 20’s, you would focus on Instagram and Facebook.
Facebook is the common platform that most people are on when it comes to social media platform distribution, with 2.2B active users on the platform, it’s one you must be on.
‘Personal Branding’ is a term that we hear a lot. What does it mean to you?
Personal branding is about creating a way for people to connect with you (or ignore you!). Your personal brand is the living breathing ‘thing’ that hangs around in the room long after you’ve left it. It’s the magic, the spark, the zing when we combine your passion, enthusiasm and personal flair with what you do. Personal brands are like the work horse of your marketing when you’re not around! Create it well and it will serve for you for a long time.
What are the mistakes to avoid for someone just starting out building their online presence?
Most people go straight into trying to build and grow the number of people in their audience – their fans, likes and followers. They want volume, with the goal usually being about hitting the ten thousand point. This is a waste of time, money and energy.
Imagine being a singer in a band and you’re going on tour but haven’t sold any tickets. So the promoter says “Don’t worry about it! I’ll fill the stadium for you”. They give away tens of thousands of tickets away to anyone they can. The day of the show arrives. The stadium fills up with people from the ages of 3 to 95. Everyone from Wiggles lovers to ACDC to Classic Rock and Pop. You just happen to be an opera singer. You walk out on stage, start singing and more than 95% of the stadium stand up and leave because it’s not their jam. Social media is like that. You don’t want to fill up your social media stadium with people who have zero interest in hearing from you.
Be incredibly specific about who you do want in that audience and spend some time cultivating an audience who are wanting to listen.
Authors are often stereotyped as introverted. What advice do you have for those who might be struggling with “putting themselves out there” on social media?
Introverts unite! The beautiful thing about social media, is that you can share as much of yourself as you want. You get to dictate the terms when it comes to how long your videos are, for instance, because you own the profile and therefore, you’re the creative director.
The first place to start for anyone, is to do a chronology of your experience – both in life and as an author. Own your experience. Own your knowledge and then cultivate a mindset that is about giving to your audience by solving problems they have, entertaining them and providing them with advice, hints and tips on how to achieve their goals, dreams and desires.
The great news is, that you can do a lot of this without even needing to be in the presence of anyone else!
Which authors do social media really well? Who would you advise our readers to look to for inspiration?
I love the way Elizabeth Gilbert uses social media. She shares from the heart about the things that are important to her. There’s a very personal touch to her posts. She posts regularly with varying content.
Brené Brown is another amazing author and educator who has a wonderful presence online. She’s an advocate for vulnerability and has a strong core message around this, that we can all use in the online space. She’s very real and raw and adds value to her audience.
Seth Godin uses social media well, with his succinct pieces of advice and videos going up regularly, there’s always new content to consume.
To find out more about ‘Visible’ click here.