Day 273: Social Media

[Homer Potvin]

Also, wanted to add that you should protect your personal info related to this Domain name, if you want to branch out into social media. Because you do not want your be doxxed and deal with internet strangers hounding you over forum policy or content.

Do I sound paranoid? Yes?
Am I? No. There are crazies on the internet who can and will ruin your life.

As far as I know, that's all protected already, but having dealt with plenty of real world crazies who have endeavored such in real life, it is what it is.

That leads to a larger point as to whether or not I go "public" and recruit people to the forum in person using the many resources available to me in the real world. There's like 5 colleges within 2 miles of my house, including Brown and RISD, which are two of the best liberal arts colleges in the world. I'm still thinking about how to go about that, but I'm leaning toward yes. I just feel as if we've gone about as far as we're likely to go doing what we've been doing. Which is a long way considering we haven't tried doing anything else yet. And I'm not talking about thousands or hundreds or anything like that. Just a dozen more active, regular members and enough of a steady, future trickle to replace the ones who inevitably dip out.

 

[Trish]

here's like 5 colleges within 2 miles of my house, including Brown and RISD, which are two of the best liberal arts colleges in the world. I'm still thinking about how to go about that, but I'm leaning toward yes.

Have you checked if they have public bulletin boards and what the requirements are to post there? That's where I'd start.

 

[Naomasa298]

I can have my business page like your business page, but how much that affects your visibility, I don't know. Some of my followers will get notifications that your page has posted something, but it's unlikely to be very many, given that we're in different sectors.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Have you checked if they have public bulletin boards and what the requirements are to post there? That's where I'd start.

I can have my business page like your business page, but how much that affects your visibility, I don't know. Some of my followers will get notifications that your page has posted something, but it's unlikely to be very many, given that we're in different sectors.

I haven't gotten that far as to what we can actually do with it. Just kind of evaluating where we're at and what we can do differently in terms of visibility. The product is already solid and has demonstrated longevity and consumer loyalty, for lack of a better term. That's the hard part. Like a shitty restaurant, if the product sucked and we weren't offering anything anybody wanted, we could have a zillion page views and still end up with 70 visitors a day. So the hard part is taken care of.

Honestly, aside from forums like ours, where else can you get personalized feedback on your writing for free without joining a physical group or navigating the noise of social media or the reddits of the world? I don't think anywhere. Never mind that it's an intimate circle of people free from ads and the usual Internet bullshit? You go anyplace else and you'll see in the comments how Trump ruined the Amazon algorithm or Biden subverted italics for thought as a DEI initiative.

The product it very niche of course but the interwebs are as infinite a market as demographics get.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

For what it is worth, the publicist at Kensington Publishing Corp. told me that Instagram is the site most useful for writers. I have an account there, but can't tell you much about how it works because my daughter maintains my page for me.

There's like 5 colleges within 2 miles of my house, including Brown and RISD, which are two of the best liberal arts colleges in the world. I'm still thinking about how to go about that, but I'm leaning toward yes.

Lean harder. It sounds like a good idea.

 

[Madman Starryteller]

For what it is worth, the publicist at Kensington Publishing Corp. told me that Instagram is the site most useful for writers. I have an account there, but can't tell you much about how it works because my daughter maintains my page for me.

Sounds so strange, that a place for images could be useful for writers. A picture is worth a thousand words?

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Sounds so strange, that a place for images could be useful for writers. A picture is worth a thousand words?

Strange as it might sound, that was the advice delivered by an expert. My site has photos of the books, notifications of giveaways, special promotions, books talks, and photographs that correspond to places featured in those books. Response has been at least as good as FB.

 

[Trish]

Strange as it might sound, that was the advice delivered by an expert. My site has photos of the books, notifications of giveaways, special promotions, books talks, and photographs that correspond to places featured in those books. Response has been at least as good as FB.

It's the attention span thing. Hook with picture, then they'll read. See a bunch of words? Scroll.

 

[Homer Potvin]

For what it is worth, the publicist at Kensington Publishing Corp. told me that Instagram is the site most useful for writers. I have an account there, but can't tell you much about how it works because my daughter maintains my page for me.



Lean harder. It sounds like a good idea.

Yeah, we'd do IG too. You can aggregate all of that. EOTD, all the platforms are designed to drive traffic here through whatever means are available.

We have a serious dearth of images. I'm working on getting some simple banners with graphic designers I know who will do basics like that on the cheap. Anything more complex? Seriously moolah. $1500 buys you a hello type of moolah. I don't want to use AI but we're getting to everyone-else-is-doing-it part of the program. And industry opinion is beginning to shift. I'm not a fan of it in the philosophical sense, but it's like all the people in 1997 who righteously declared that they would never use email, or in 2001 that they would never use a website, or in 2010 that they would never own a smartphone.

 

[Madman Starryteller]

Yeah, we'd do IG too. You can aggregate all of that. EOTD, all the platforms are designed to drive traffic here through whatever means are available.

We have a serious dearth of images. I'm working on getting some simple banners with graphic designers I know who will do basics like that on the cheap. Anything more complex? Seriously moolah. $1500 buys you a hello type of moolah. I don't want to use AI but we're getting to everyone-else-is-doing-it part of the program. And industry opinion is beginning to shift. I'm not a fan of it in the philosophical sense, but it's like all the people in 1997 who righteously declared that they would never use email, or in 2001 that they would never use a website, or in 2010 that they would never own a smartphone.

How complex are we talking? You can get some very good stuff from an artist for far less than $1500.

Edit, with commercial rights included.

Edit 2, also I know a guy...

 

[Homer Potvin]

How complex are we talking? You can get some very good stuff from an artist for far less than $1500.

Edit, with commercial rights included.

Edit 2, also I know a guy...

TBD. Nothing too crazy, but you can't do anything without graphics. Preferably an abundant, versatile supply as things come up. Our visual appeal at the moment is less than zero, unless you love walls of text. I'm not talking about turning the joint into a museum of murals or anything, but a little color would be nice. .com does a good job with a little graphic for all of their contests, promotions and whatnot. Don't know if it's AI (probably) or they have somebody doing it for them, but things like that.

Budget wise, we're close to the ceiling of what I'm comfortable with without generating active income. I have an asset filing for the LLC on the horizon for June, which doesn't mean much in the grand scheme, but none of it is free.

 

[Madman Starryteller]

TBD. Nothing too crazy, but you can't do anything without graphics. Preferably an abundant, versatile supply as things come up. Our visual appeal at the moment is less than zero, unless you love walls of text. I'm not talking about turning the joint into a museum of murals or anything, but a little color would be nice. .com does a good job with a little graphic for all of their contests, promotions and whatnot. Don't know if it's AI (probably) or they have somebody doing it for them, but things like that.

Budget wise, we're close to the ceiling of what I'm comfortable with without generating active income. I have an asset filing for the LLC on the horizon for June, which doesn't mean much in the grand scheme, but none of it is free.

Ah, that's understandable if we're talking new images/graphics for new things, that can easily get pretty pricey.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Ah, that's understandable if we're talking new images/graphics for new things, that can easily get pretty pricey.

Worst part is a lot of designers are like plumbers and contractors these days. They won't take small jobs anymore, which I totally understand. I wouldn't take twenty $5K jobs either if I could take one for $100K. I'm just making up numbers there, but you get the idea.

Actually all of this stuff is starting to chain. I need to get logos and banners before I can set up the social media so we don't look like a half-ass operation. Hoping to nail that down early next week if possible. And I have a friend or two who're really into the social media marketing I should probably tough base with. The real problem is the legions of professionals I used to work with don't know I'm into any of this stuff. That's the whole "going public" thing I was talking about. I suppose it doesn't matter as much know that we're not professionally affiliated anymore. We'll see.

 

[Trish]

Worst part is a lot of designers are like plumbers and contractors these days. They won't take small jobs anymore, which I totally understand. I wouldn't take twenty $5K jobs either if I could take one for $100K. I'm just making up numbers there, but you get the idea.

Actually all of this stuff is starting to chain. I need to get logos and banners before I can set up the social media so we don't look like a half-ass operation. Hoping to nail that down early next week if possible. And I have a friend or two who're really into the social media marketing I should probably tough base with. The real problem is the legions of professionals I used to work with don't know I'm into any of this stuff. That's the whole "going public" thing I was talking about. I suppose it doesn't matter as much know that we're not professionally affiliated anymore. We'll see.

Sites like Canva and PicMonkey are pretty easy to use and excellent for making banners, logos, etc. yourself if you aren't looking for something super artsy. Just a thought. Hell of a lot cheaper than a graphic designer for something like that. Simple and classic is generally better for those anyway, imo.

 

[Luxuria]

I used Canva all the time. Do you want me to give it a shot? I have designed logos with Canvas Assets for Youtube channels, etc. I will have to look into how Copyright works, but I enjoy fonts and making designs. I don't know if anyone here is good at art, but I would be happy to collaborate to make a logo/banner, etc. What were you thinking in terms of 'look'? What colors, objects, etc?

 

[Homer Potvin]

I used Canva all the time. Do you want me to give it a shot? I have designed logos with Canvas Assets for Youtube channels, etc. I will have to look into how Copyright works, but I enjoy fonts and making designs. I don't know if anyone here is good at art, but I would be happy to collaborate to make a logo/banner, etc. What were you thinking in terms of 'look'? What colors, objects, etc?

Appreciated, but we're good on that front. I have a pro in the family who will to do that part already "free." But I will definitely take all the help I can get beyond that when it comes up.

Speaking of Youtube channels...

 

[Luxuria]

Appreciated, but we're good on that front. I have a pro in the family who will to do that part already "free." But I will definitely take all the help I can get beyond that when it comes up.

You're welcome! I am happy to help however I can.

Speaking of Youtube channels...

Yeah, this could be good to do. I have the editing program/computer to do it with, too. So, I am happy to help there, if I can. I have made shorts and longer videos with custom coloring, etc. I use Abode Primere. I think a YouTube channel could be good for promoting contests, showcasing published works of forum users and posting writing advice shorts/prompts.

Let me know if you would like to see any of my work as I would be happy to help.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

it's like all the people in 1997 who righteously declared that they would never use email, or in 2001 that they would never use a website, or in 2010 that they would never own a smartphone.

Except those things didn't involve theft of another person's work product. AI generated products do.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Except those things didn't involve theft of another person's work product. AI generated products do.

Which is exactly why I haven't used it, but that's highly debatable. How many brick and mortar businesses did Amazon destroy by offering a convenience and price that no human who needed to make a living could possibly compete with? It won't even be a debate in a few years.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

It won't even be a debate in a few years.

And isn't that a sad commentary on human nature? We talk ourselves into whatever is most convenient for ourselves, using the excuse, "Everyone is doing it."