Get the Most from Your Internet Social Networks, a Post by R. Clint Peters

As an author, is your name being splashed across a sufficient number of commputer screens to make a difference?  Or are you sitting back, and hoping someone sees you?  What sort of presence do you have on the Internet?

It  is easy to see how much of a presence you have.  Use your name in the search box of your browser.  When the results are displayed, count how many different places you show up.

I recently searched for R. Clint Peters.  The first ten results were from different Internet locations, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon, WordPress, Twitter, http://www.books-writing.com , Weebly, Goodreads, and MerchantCircle, www.scotzig.com, and http://www.bloglines.com.

I know, that’s eleven different places I can be found on the Internet, but it is only an illustration of my presence on the Internet.

The  basic rule of the Internet is the more you are on the Internet, the bigger your footprint. And the bigger your footprint, the easier it is for someone important to notice you.

So, how do you get a big Internet  footprint?

The easiest is join every public organization you run into. Join LinkedIn, MerchantCircle, MARS or twenty other organizations.  I have 259 connections on LinkedIn and I add as many relevant connections as possible everyday.  Please notice I said relevant. Having connections is great, but having connections in the same trade (author) proves that you are serious about your connections. I want people  around me that can inspire me and help me become a better author.  I am not a chef; I don’t connect with someone writing recipes.

Once you join the organization, contribute to the conversations. I am a member of twenty groups on LinkedIn, but I rarely put my two cents in.  My bad. I should be adding my name to the conversation at least once a day.

The big question is where to put your time to sell yourself.  The answer is really short: EVERYWHERE.

At this moment, in addition to LinkedIn and the other organizations I am a member of, I have three Twitter accounts which are linked, a Facebook account, I am the webmaster of The Book  Reviewers & Authors Club website, I have 3 working blogs, and I recently joined Triberr.  Is that a sufficient number of resources to utilize?  Maybe, but maybe not.

I split my time very unevenly between writing my books (I am working on 4), posting to my blogs, and updating the blogs and websites to keep them current.  Do I have time to do everything everyday?  No.  Am I using ALL of the resources available on the Internet?  Absolutely not.

In a nutshell:  You can increase your Internet footprint and get the most from your social networks  by simply spending time on your social networks.

When I post something on The Book Reviewers& Authors Club blog, it is sent to three Twitter accounts.   When I Tweet something on The Book Reviewers& Authors Club Twitter  account, I go back into my other Twitter accounts, and retweet it.

And I discovered a trick for Tweeting:  Create a document with several different tweets. Simply copy and paste the tweets into your Twitter account.  You don’t have to laboriously write each tweet out.

Marketing on the Internet is a lot like planting a garden with carrots. Those seeds are really small, and they take a long time before even the first tiny green shoot comes up.  And then it still takes a long time before they are ready to harvest.

Yes, increasing your Internet footprint is time consuming.  I try to dedicate two hours a day to my Twitter accounts, writing new blogs to post, updating the membership of the Book Reviewers & Authors Club, or finding new places to expand my Internet presence.  As a single author, I don’t make many waves on the Internet sea.  But, I do have many friends who are helping me make a splash.  One bee can’t produce much honey, but a million bees fill the hive with the good stuff.  If we all work together, we can succeed.

If you have some experiences using the Internet, please send them in an email to reviewersandauthorsclub@gmail.com.   Your experiences will be posted on The Book Reviewers & Authors Club blog.

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Personal Email: rclintpeters@gmail.com

The Book Reviewers & Authors Club Email:  reviewersandauthorsclub@gmail.com

The Book Reviewers & Authors Club Website: http://thebookreviewersclub.weebly.com

R. Clint Peters on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rclintpeters

The Book Reviewers & Authors Club on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/review_club

Nothing but Authors Interviews on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/interviewsonly

Nothing But Book Reviews on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bookreviewsonly

The Book Reviewers & Authors Club blog: http://theauthorsclub.wordpress.com

The  Nothing But Book Reviews blog http://onlybookreviews.wordpress.com

The Nothing But Author’s Interviews blog http://nothingbutinterviews.wordpress.com

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