#Blog Series Pitch: Social Media Sorcery

I have to create a social media document for my own use, and since I’m seeing interest in that aspect of my blogging, I thought I would pitch it as a series. Here’s a basic outline. Each Roman Numeral represents a post.

I can go one of two ways. I can add it to my list, write it as I need it, and run it as an occasional series for one of our blogs. Or, I can write the whole thing as a single piece, then break it into posts, illustrate them, and shop them as a guest series. I have to write a rough draft-quality version of it sometime soon, anyway, because I need it to analyze what I am doing and improve my game.

I. A short narrative that explains how we started. It will include links to the things we wrote about social media along the way and the some resources we’ve gathered. This is the intro; the body of the series will be specific to particular platforms and explain how I’m using various networks. It not something I’m presenting as an expert. Its focus is to explain why I do the things I do and what I think each specific network is good for.

II. WordPress – For the most part, my rule on social media is that “content” flows from my blogs, but “interaction” has to be tailored to specific networks. I’m sensitive to how my posts look when I publicize them, and I tailor them for visual media as best I can. What I don’t do is create original content for my Facebook fan page. It would be great to do that, but I haven’t the resources for it at the moment. Links to things I’ve written or read about the details of using WordPress, and the benefits of things like commenting on blogs and participating in blogging events.

III. Twitter – Explains how I use my blog account, which grows every time I go and really interact on Twitter.  Also, how I use my much smaller personal account to communicate with people who have shown some interest in collaborating. I don’t tell people what to do, I just tell them what I’m doing in advance and trust my relationships. If I get no interest or collaboration, I view it as having a motion in a meeting fail to receive a second and I proceed on my own.

IV. Facebook – Not going into all the details, but I’ve tailored my Facebook to support blogging. I still interact with friends who aren’t into blogs, but most of my attention on FB goes to bloggers and collaborators. We use private messages to talk strategy and discuss links that we want others to see before we share them publicly. We have an interest list to track blogs with fan pages, and it’s public because we want other bloggers to be able to use it.

V. StumbleUpon – Barely started. I’ve created a few lists. Last month, I stumbled a few of my friends who agreed to give me referral info just to gauge the effect of a couple of people stumbling three posts. Jeremy and Diana stumble things because they have long-standing accounts, and it’s easy. To be worthwile for me, it has to be organized properly from the beginning, and I can’t think about that until I get my Twitter account organized. I think it has real potential, but this is key: It’s a platform you need to understand from the beginning. I’ve read that it caps the number of people you can follow at a low number. If so, that means it is important to carefully choose followers who share an interest in something you’re blogging about, or to just start with friends and make your Stumble following 100% blog-friendly acquaintances.

VI. Not sure how I’ll deal with these last five yet, but I also have accounts at Pinterest and Deviant Art that I haven’t developed at all yet, and a Tumblr page that could be much more helpful long-term than we are able to make it at the moment. I use LinkedIn and Google+, too but I am not doing the kind of real networking I’m doing with WordPress, FB, and Twitter.

This is nine different networks our little krewe could be operating on, given enough time, as long as we maintain the quality of our blogs and keep developing friendships.

What would you do if you could write this? Write the whole thing, illustrate it with interesting stuff, and shop it, or just do it as an occasional series that I publish when I can on my own blogs?