Building an Online Presence: Tumblr

Hi, Intern Kenny here again with another installment in my quest to help you build an online presence.  This post is all about Tumblr.  In essence, Tumblr is a blog but it is so much more.  Because of the vast personalization abilities, Tumblr nowadays is used by many as a base website.

First of all, to most easily explain and give tips on Tumblr, I have to include what I view as the best usage of Tumblr.

gracehelbig.tumblr.com

This Tumblr site belongs to internet darling, Grace Helbig and it acts not only as her blog but also as her main website.  As you can see, it is a very simple and attractive layout that includes everything you need on a website.

Here are some quick tips for those who want to use Tumblr instead of spending the vast amounts of time and money to build a personalized website.

Tip #1: Personally, I like it personalized

Tumblr has a lot of base templates in which you an build your website but the best way to do it is to pay for one of the premium templates.  These are relatively cheap and require little to no active maintenance.  Refer back to Grace's Tumblr; her site is a premium template where she can choose the tabs and basic placement of her feed (the video), heading, and her description.  These will make your Tumblr stand out without having to go into an overcomplicated program such as Dreamweaver.

Tip #2: Hashtags and Reblogs

One important aspect of Tumblr is to fully immerse yourself into the Tumblr community.  Tumblr allows you to label every post with a bunch of hashtags to make it easily searchable.  Their system works in the same way that Twitter's hashtagging system works and the use of hashtags will help you build a following.  It helps a lot that you, as a content provider and personality, reblog posts from other people.  By helping out other people through the easy act of reblogging, you will build a stronger connection with an audience through directly connecting to them.  

Tip #3: The Perfect GIF

On Tumblr, GIFs (pronounced with a hard "G") reign supreme.  GIFs are animated pictures often taken from videos.  An example is provided below:

via buzzfeed.com

These short animated moments dominate Tumblr and while you may not need to create your own, reblogging some of your favorites will help you appeal to the Tumblr audience much more.

For more up-to-date news, please follow Kimberley Cameron & Associates on Twitter @K_C_Associates and on Facebook at Facebook.com/kimberleycameronandassociates.

Building an Online Presence: Facebook

Hey guys!  Intern Kenny here again with more tips in building an online presence.  Today, I am covering Facebook.  For the past few years, Facebook has been the premier social media platform in the world and here are some tips on how to flourish on the medium.


Tip #1: It's not personal.

While Facebook is a great medium to reconnect with long lost friends, what you want as an author is to connect with current and potential fans.  This is what a Facebook fan page is for.  Through your private personal Facebook, you can extend into a fan page where anyone can like you and begin receiving updates from you.  This is a great way to connect with fans, most of which are on Facebook.


Tip #2: The Professional

Keep your Facebook fan page professional.  This means that it must be treated differently than your personal page.  This is for two different but equally important reasons.  First of all, your Facebook fan page is for updating your fans and not your friends.  Fans, as much as they want to know about your personal life, seek more about your upcoming events and book releases.  They care more about how you are doing on your next book than how awesome Disneyland was.  Secondly, your Facebook fan page is not a private page.  Anyone can like it and anyone can receive your updates.  In order to protect yourself, you should not put too many personal details on your professional Facebook fan page.


Tip #3: Say Cheese

One big advantage that Facebook has over social media sites like Twitter is that Facebook makes sharing pictures much more easily.  Instead of overflowing your Twitter feed with single picture after single picture, Facebook allows the uploading of albums of pictures to your fan page.  With a Facebook fan page, you can upload pictures and let your fans see pictures from book signings or readings or from conventions.  However, remember Tip #1, don't post personal pictures on to your fan page, only pictures that you deem appropriate to allow your fans to see.


Tip #4: What are friends for?

The most difficult part about developing a successful Facebook fan page is the initial push to get likes.  Because fan pages are linked to your personal account, you can invite all of your friends to like your professional fan page.  While it may annoy your friends, you will get an initial surge of likes that will serve as a foundation for your site.


Tip #5: 140 more.

Unlike Twitter, Facebook posts can exceed more than 140 characters.  That is one of the key differences that you should take advantage of.  On your Facebook fan page, you should be encouraged to write longer posts.  Do not treat your Facebook as a Twitter under a different name.  It should be an extension of your social media and while linking your Twitter to your Facebook is useful, you should have Facebook independent posts as well.


With these quick tips, you will now be ready to peruse the world of Facebook.  This is only the beginnings of all that you can do on this social media platform and with more exploration you will discover the full capabilities of Facebook.

For more tips to build an online presence, come back to the KC&A blog in the future.

Building an Online Presence: Twitter

In our continuing segment on how to build an online presence, Intern Kenny covers what is, perhaps, the most important social media platform today.

In the year 2013, social media has become a necessity in order to build an online presence and of the many social media sites, the most important is Twitter.  While Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and other social media sites exist, nothing is quite like the experience fans and prospective fans can enjoy with Twitter.  Twitter offers the readers a direct line of communication to the author. People who have not read a certain author's works can see the author's Twitter feed to get to know the author better before they decide to buy a book.  Here are some tips for using Twitter to build an online presence:


Tip #1: Tear down this wall.

In the past, one of the most frustrating things about being a fan was that the only way to contact an author was to write them a letter that they may never read.  With Twitter, fans are now able to cross the barrier between fan and author and authors should embrace this.  Never be afraid to answer a question or to respond to a tweet from your fans because, needless to say but I'll still say it, fans dictate an author's success.  With very little effort, you can begin building a good fan base by being Twitter-friendly and friendly on Twitter.


Tip #2: #Hashtags.

#IAmSoIn #HistoryOfPop #ComingSoon #Hashtag #ForNoReasonAtAll @jimmyfallon pic.twitter.com/hMAlbVzHWd
— Kelly Clarkson (@kelly_clarkson) November 26, 2013

Many people have questions about the recent "hashtag" phenomenon.  It is very simple, hashtags (#) allows people from all over see your specific tweet when they search for whatever the hashtag accompanies.  It is used to categorize tweets so that they can be easily discovered.  For example, if your tweet says, "Clear eyes, full hearts! #FridayNightLights", anyone who searches Twitter for "#FridayNightLights" may discover your tweet whether they follow you or not.  It allows new people on Twitter to discover your feed and more importantly, discover who you are.


Tip #3: Did I mention "mentions"?

Always address people and organizations on Twitter by their Twitter handle.  Instead of saying "I saw Craig Ferguson today at Starbucks!", type "I saw @CraigyFerg today @Starbucks!"  This way, both Craig Ferguson and Starbucks will have a chance at seeing your tweet and if you are lucky, they may retweet you.  When someone mentions you in a tweet, you get more exposure as all their followers will see the tweet.  When you mention someone, they may respond to you or retweet your tweet which also allows everyone who follows them to see your tweet and Twitter handle.  This is collaborative promotion which is the key to expanding followers on Twitter.


Tip #4: Tweetin' is talkin'.

In the same vein as talking, it is quite possible to tweet too much or too little.  While it is hard to pinpoint where one can tweet too much or too little, the middle-ground between the two is vast. Tweeting anywhere between a couple times an hour to once a day is more than acceptable and on special occasions, tweeting multiple times every minute is even okay (mostly during fan Q&A's).  The key is balance.  The biggest issue for a lot of people who are not huge fans of twitter are that they spend too much time between tweets.  Once a month or once a week is not enough in order to build an online presence because tweeting once a week or less basically means that the individual is not online.  You have to show that you are indeed online and present while not being annoying.


Tip #5: And tweet is cheap.

Twitter is not only handy in creating an online presence and building fan relations, it is a marvelous way for free promotions.  You can promote your books or whatever product you are selling to all of your followers on Twitter with an easy, 140 character tweet.  However, to hark back to Tip #4, do not treat Twitter as solely a promotional medium.  Be sure to promote your product, upcoming events or other business related products such as reviews or interviews but do not overdo it.  Remember, the main goal of Twitter should not be a free venue for advertising your goods, it is to build a fan base and to connect with the fans directly.

For more tips to build an online presence, come back to the KC&A blog in the future.

Building an Online Presence: Website

Hey guys, this is Social Media Intern Kenny and I've been tasked to give a short and easy guide to building an online presence.  For the inaugural blog on this subject, the best starting point would be on an author's main website.  Since it is 2013 and every author has to have a website, there are a few tips and tricks to make your website more simplistic and more inviting so that you can get more hits.  Let's get started!


Tip #1: Less is more.

In very general terms, the online community hates a website that has too much.  Much like writing, a website should not have too many fillers.  Keep pictures and distracting images to a minimum and have as few tabs as possible.  Here's an example of what not to do:

Yes, this site, arngren.net, exists.  No, you should not go to the site. 

Tip #2: Easy like Sunday morning.

Ease of use is very important for a website.  Much like keeping tabs and pictures to a minimum, do not overcomplicate things.  Include purchasing links to your books on the homepage and put them next to pictures of the book.  The less reading online people have to do, the more they will like your website.

Dennislehane.com

This is author Dennis Lehane's website.  Notice that in the top right corner are links to his other social media and in the banner, he has a total of six tabs.  This provides the ease of navigating through his website and allows his fans to go to where they want to go with appropriate quickness.

Tip #3: Be more social.

Even just five years ago, a good website would have been enough for a successful online presence but now, a good website isn't a luxury, it is a bare necessity.  The point of a website, nowadays, isn't to draw in as many hits as possible, it is to direct fans and other dwellers of the internet towards more important places like an author's Twitter account, Facebook account, blog, or any other forms of social media.  You want to connect with your audience


Tip #4: First impressions matter.

In reality, most people will only see the front page of a website before clicking away.  This means that you have to include all your links on the front page and this can get very messy.  Luckily, there are many ways to make those links more inviting by including links like in icons on your page rather than text links.  It is because of these links that can cause a page to look cluttered and that is why unnecessary pictures and articles should be removed.


These are just four easy tips to build a better website.  Of course, there are always more things you can do to make a website more inviting but these basics are always good to follow.  For more tips to build an online presence, come back to the KC&A blog in the future.

For more up-to-date news, please follow Kimberley Cameron & Associates on Twitter @K_C_Associates and on Facebook at Facebook.com/kimberleycameronandassociates.