instagram – Pandamonium Publishing House

April 10, 2019-LOL! This has to be one of my most favourite blog titles to date. Seriously, too funny! As a business owner, author, and entrepreneur, I know how ESSENTIAL it is to be on top of things like hashtags. If you’re an indie author or a business owner, you need to know the power of hashtags! And if you’re not using them or using them incorrectly, you aren’t only hurting yourself, your business, the environment, and baby animals everywhere. Honestly, sometimes I just throw in nonsense to make sure you’re paying attention. I know that for some of you, hashtags, social media, and marketing can seem daunting, but let me assure you, with a bit of help you can do it!

Let’s start from the beginning, what are hashtags? It’s the pound sign (#) with a word or phrase after it. They’re used on social media and they identify specific messages or ideas. Get it? #hamont (Hamilton Ontario) which has been hashtagged 1.7 MILLION times. People use the hashtag symbol (#) before a relevant keyword or phrase in their Instagram post/Tweet/Facebook Post to categorize those messages/tweets/posts and help them show more easily in social media searches. Clicking or tapping on a hashtagged word in any message shows you other tweets/messages/posts that include that hashtag. Hashtags can be included anywhere in a tweet/message/post.

Hashtags are a great way to build your brand, boost your marketing, and keep in touch with your audience! Interestingly enough, using hashtags in your social media posts can greatly increase your engagement and Twitter reported that brands who use hashtags see a FIFTY PERCENT(!) increase in post engagement. See why this is essential? Tweets, Instagram Posts, and Facebook updates that include hashtags were 55 percent more likely to be retweeted and shared by other users.

If you’re not hashtagging your social media posts, you are seriously missing out! Get on it today.

If you want more help with which hashtags to use and how not to annoy your audience by hashtagging everything, send me an email at pandapublishing8@gmail.com and I’ll send you our package pricing.

X LLB

October 10, 2018– Social media in this day and age is of the utmost importance when you’re self-employed. As authors, this includes us, because if we don’t have a proper, effective platform, how are we going to sell books, connect with readers, and participate in discussions?

Anyone who signs on with my company knows that I expect them to start building their social media platform BEFORE their book launches. This is because I want my authors to have a solid space to promote themselves where they can get readers excited about what’s to come. It’s never too early to start talking about your work and about what you do. Authors often question, ” My book doesn’t come out for another year and a half! Isn’t this too soon to start promoting it?” The answer. No. And here’s why it takes at LEAST EIGHT times of humans being exposed to the same message for them to even take NOTICE! Yep, that’s how much noise is coming at us every day and how much of that noise we filter out. So, it’s NEVER too early to start talking about your book.

But, Lacey! What do I post on social media if I don’t have a product? Easy.

Behind the scenes looks at your work
How you came up with the idea for your book/ inspiration behind it
A typical workday for you when writing
Sneak peek of the manuscript title
Any art sketches if applicable
What your goals are with writing
What books you’re currently reading
What books your book compares to
Why you became an author
Why your story matters
Contests
Giveaways
And everything else that relates to your book that you can possibly think of

So, here are some tips on building a solid social media presence. You need to be on Facebook, preferably with business page, Instagram, Twitter, Amazon author profile, and you better have a blog or a website. Now, I know what you’re thinking, Ummm I don’t want to waste my life and time just posting to social media! Trust me, there are days when I want to detox the whole process of this craziness entirely out of my life, but I know how important it is so I don’t. Don’t worry, I got you, there’s a cool tool that can take away the stress!

Hootsuite is a social media posting tool that allows you to schedule posts to Facebook business pages, Twitter, and Instagram. Get the app, it will change your life, I promise.
Stick to a schedule. Figure out what you’re going to post about and when.
Be consistent in your posts. Yes, I admit that sometimes I fall off the face of the social media world, but in a couple of days, I’m back in the saddle, and I ALWAYS answer questions and comments.
Hashtags. Know what they are, what they do, and use them effectively, ESPECIALLY on Instagram. Why? Because this helps more people find your posts, let’s them know what you have to say, and it leads to more followers.
SEO. If you don’t know what this stands for, learn it immediately and start implementing it on your blog/website NOW.

At Pandamonium Publishing House, we teach this stuff. Drop me a line if you want in on the next custom course, pandapublishing8@gmail.com.

You can do this. It may seem like an impossible hurdle, especially if you’re not part of the generation that grew up with this stuff. It’s never too late to learn. And the more you learn, the more you earn.

X LLB