Let me preface this with the note (as may become quite apparent!) that I'm not a social media guru, nor am I all that educated other than my limited experiences over the past few months as I build my presence.  That disclaimer aside, as I get more familiar with social media, engagement, analytics and trends, it becomes apparent to me that many people have the primary focus of how much engagement they can drive through their account.  Don't get me wrong, I think that having an engaged audience is critical in this day and age but I think to a certain extent, sometimes people can look simply at their analytics or general statistics and focus primarily on that.  

For me, my attempts to engage an audience is really important, especially as a new author, but what I am realizing that I need to looks past this "fools gold" and see what benefit that I'm receiving from my increase in engagement.  In other words, am I driving traffic to my website?  Am I receiving more feedback?  Getting more interest in cross-promotion with other authors and providers?  Am I getting more downloads of my work?  

I suppose that what I'm trying to say in a "not too brief manner" is that it's not just the increase in the number of impressions that matters.  It's not just the % increase of followers from month to month but looking deeper into my social media presence and really figuring out what my objectives are, and if my strategies are also helping me reach them.

To an extent, maybe there's a distinction in long term and short term social media marketing and strategization and that it is a good thing to have that increase in analystics.  I'm a software guy, and now I'm an author, but I certainly am learning on the fly about all of this social media stuff, so the learning continues!

In the utopian mind of an author, the focus is on the story - as it should be!

The reality is that the vast majority of us want our works to be read and appreciated for the sake of the art. but not to the exclusion of hopefully making a few dollars!

When I began my writing career, I came to the early realization that the odds of me making significant money are heavily stacked against me and as such, I don't harbour any false illusions.  It was evident to me that if selling books is more than just 'writing books'.  I need to think of my book a product where marketing principles apply to the sales and distribution channels.

The key to most successful ventures is marketing and networking.  An amazing novel will be enjoyed by friends and family of the author - or their immediate network, but market analysis, promotion and planning are critical if the author would like to increase sales.  Marketing is not my profession or my forte but I do understand that part of the promotion and marketing of a book (or any product for that manner) is tracking metrics in order to measure and identify what marketing and distribution strategies work best.  I have started to track all of the metrics, both on a daily basis and as I make updates to my website or how my books are listed online. WIthout tracking these metrics, I'd have no way to assess the impact of my decisions.

Even what would appear to be minor changes in how a book is listed on Amazon can impact the prospective readers of your book.  Subtle variations in the wording of the synopsis, a new book cover, or even the categories in which the work is listed can impact visibility to the reader and can also add to or detract from the reader's decision if they will purchase the book

As I grow as an author, I also become more cognizant of the importance of social media, basic marketing principles, data analysis, search engine optimization and networking techniques.


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