Instagram giveaway included The Wicked Wolves of Windsor and The Wild Wood Tarot deck

If you follow me on Instagram you may (or may not) have seen a giveaway that I’m currently doing – it’s a free print edition of Wicked Wolves of Windsor and other fairytales along with some items that nature-based pagans or witches will enjoy.

While this giveaway is US and Canada, the next giveaway will be International. See my IG for the rules.

The Wicked Wolves of Windsor fairy tale retellings short story collection is now available in print, ebook, and audio

As the year draws to a close, I do get into a clean out my life mode. Winter, more than any other season, is my time to draw back, close down, and to evaluate what happened throughout the year.

That is true of my social media to and for those who follow me, or for my authors who are struggling with social media, I am writing this post.

I’ve been using social media to “sell” for over 7 years now. I’ve discovered several things that I would like to share that may help you too.

The reality is social media wants you to pay for ads. You will start losing followers, engagement, likes etc… because they want you to pay to be seen. Hahaha – I have no money to pay for that so a re-think needs to happen.

What do you want to do with your social media? How much feasible time can you put into this?

1.) Don’t rely upon only ONE social media. 2 is better (in addition to your website). Social media changes too much for you to rely upon one outlet to get your message out there.

They also serve different purposes. For example, Instagram speaks to visual people, Facebook to people who want to interact more with comments, Twitter seems to work with author networking, and Pinterest is simply a search engine so use it for things people search for (such as DIY, and how-to).

2.) Don’t let social media rule your life. I’ve fallen into this trap. Looking at what I want to do and the time I can commit to it this is my 2020 plan:

Blog 3x a week. Generally, look for author-writing tips, behind-the-scenes of what I’m doing, and book reviews.

Tip: a blog is great but you need to be consistent. 2x a week is minimum. The great thing about blogs is they can cross-post and provide content to your other social media.

Instagram 1x a day about 5x a week. I’ve never been able to get Instagram to take off like others have. I will try a new approach in 2020.

Tip: find out the best time of the day to post to be seen by your audience and use a scheduler (I use Later, but you can also use Hootsuite or Buffer).

Facebook is more erratic depending on what I come across that I want to share.

Tip: Join other FB groups which show content your followers might like and use that to provide additional content on your page via sharing. Have your blog and Instagram auto-post onto your FB to provide more content with less work.

I take weekends OFF. So don’t look for me on Saturday and Sundays – those are my re-charge days and I’m sticking to that to prevent burnout. Remember, if you miss seeing me, or want to chat, you can always DM or comment on my posts on my social media.

3.) In December, the Great Purge will begin. I’ve realized that on IG I’m wasting my time following people who follow-to-unfollow, or those who do not like or comment on my feed. This bogs down who shows up in my feed.

To clear this up, I will start purging accounts off of my feed who have not liked or commented in the last 90 days. I will be blocking authors or other accounts who have followed-to-unfollow. I simply don’t have the time to waste on these people.

I’ve done this in the past, and afterwards my feed suddenly starts showing me people who I actually DO connect with! Imagine that!

4.) Make a gameplan on what you want social media to do for you.

For example, my Instagram has been fantastic about getting reviews for my books and connecting with authors; not so great on finding readers or selling books.

Do I change my entire set-up there on IG to connect more with readers or continue what I’m doing? I’ll be experimenting with some different things come 2020.

Facebook is better for connecting with social groups formed for some purpose. It is also great for seeing future events that I might want to attend or in having longer, more in-depth discussions with followers.

While social media is great and all, it cannot be my number one push. My number one push must be to sell more books and that seems to happen via reaching out directly to those who buy books through advertising or marketing to libraries and bookstores.

This giveaway is over but join my Byrd Nash Facebook group for fans for future swag and giveaways.

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