Social Media? Who Needs It?

Ronda Birtha talks about her upcoming class on Social Media and its importance to writers.

A pre-class prep talk to ease the nerves of non-tech-savvy attendees. This is not a technology class!
Overview: 3 hours.
1. Introduction to Social Media for marketing (1 hr)
Why Social Media is Necessary for your Marketing Strategy?
What do you mean, ‘be social’?
2. What you need to Start and Maintain a Blog (1hr)
3. Getting started with Facebook (1hr)
What kind of writer are you? Is your satisfaction complete when you pen your last word, or make your final edit? Are you the kind of writer that is completely satisfied with having friends and family read your manuscript? Or do you want more? Do you want people to talk about your book (favorably, of course)? Word of mouth has always been a powerful tool, but let’s consider how it works today.
When someone has some juicy information, a valuable recommendation, meaningful insight (or, not so meaningful), even a scathing review, it is talked about, not just in someone’s ear, but online, in the powerful and pervasive social media context. If you want people to talk about your book then that is where you have to get the conversation going: in the social media pool.
If you are concerned about getting started because of having limited computer knowledge or experience, rest assured, the most difficult part of engaging in social media is the commitment you will need to stick with it. The first word in Social Media Marketing, is, indeed, Social, and that is where our classroom conversation will begin. What does it mean to be social, how does one become social? The answers to these often-neglected, yet highly important questions, will help fortify your nerve and strengthen your resolve to stick with your social media marketing efforts.
Technologically speaking, what do you need at minimum to start?
Access to a computer that has an internet connection (preferably more than dial-up). Computer access will not be needed for this class, however, so breath easy (at least for now).
I don’t want to oversimplify the process or the methods, especially since many aspects of social media marketing are still very much an art form and not a science (like medicine), and are prone to surprise and confound us. But if we remember that many things in life surprise and confound us, we will not inflate our expectations.

There is no magic button that will set everything up for us. There is no secret preference that we have to click on to make people visit our site, comment on our blog, respond to our Facebook status updates. It takes work, and effort … like most worthwhile things.
So bring a positive attitude and a pen to take notes.

Ronda L. Birtha is a freelance photographer, writer and social media consultant. She can be contacted at rbirtha@rondabirtha.com. Her photography can be viewed at www.rondabirtha.com

The class will be held at Writers Circle, 581 Chatuge Lane, Hayesville, NC
Contact glendabeall@msn.com for registration information or visit www.glendacouncilbeall.blogspot.com