Tag: socialmedia

3 Tips for Upping Your Social Media Game

mylifewithbooksblog1 Comment

Happy Thursday!

Despite being completely free from the chains of high school and living days suddenly filled to the brim with free time (that I have not been using productively lately…), my social media game has still been wavering. Because of this, I thought it would be a good idea not only to share some tips on upping your social media game with you guys but with me as well since I clearly need some help too!

Anyways, I hope you find these helpful and that you enjoy 🙂

  1. Prep Content – Sometimes the day gets away from us and suddenly, any natural light is gone and your hope for taking a nice Instagram picture is gone…which is why you should prep pictures and content in advance! If I want to post to Instagram and I carve out around 20 minutes, I will take multiple pictures during that time instead. This saves you time and promotes consistency which leads to my next tip…
  2. Be Consistent! – Consistency in anything leads to success. If you have a blog, a YouTube channel, or any type of social media account, being consistent on these platforms is the easiest way to expand your following. Figure out what days you want to post on and make sure those posts are going up those days. While life is busy, I really recommend posting more than once a week. Personally, I want to try and post three to four times a week on my social media, and three times a week on my blog. This is what works best for me, and is the best way for me to make sure I stay consistent and active!
  3. Be Real – Nobody wants to follow someone who is fake. Be honest and real with the community on social media, and in time, you will grow and prosper! Sometimes, we don’t even realize we aren’t being fully ourselves because social media especially, forces people into a “perfect” mould that nobody is. Most people try to portray themselves as perfect, but that is not reality so make sure you are only portraying your authentic self!

Those are my three tips for upping your social media game, and I hope you enjoyed! Hopefully, in the next few weeks, my social media game will be back on track because I do love being able to connect with other writers and book lovers.

Anyways, don’t forget to check out my last blog post as well as my social media accounts which are all linked down below or available on the sidebar. Thanks for reading 🙂

Last Blog Post: How I Plan + Write My Blog Posts

Image result for twitter

 

@zoermathers

 

Image result for instagram  @zoeiswriting

Building Your Creative Platforms

mylifewithbooksblog3 Comments

Creating a presence on social media is crucial for branding yourself as a creative person, and while it isn’t necessary and you should never feel forced if you don’t want to, I highly recommend it. Today, I came up with a series of tips when it comes to creating creative platforms, and I think these will be helpful whether you are just staring out, or even a few years in. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading 🙂

Image result for social media

  1. Determine Your Theme – This is the first and most important step because without determining a theme, it is going to be unclear on what you are trying to achieve with your platforms. For example, my platforms are about writing, so I post writing/reading related content. Maybe every once and a while I will post something unrelated to that, but I try not to because it confuses my theme!
  2. Go on a Following Spree – When you first open up your account, find a bunch of accounts similar to yours and follow them! Not only will they inspire new content for you, but it will allow you to make connections with other creative people like you. Instagram gives you account recommendations, but you can also go through certain hashtags and follow accounts based on those.
  3. Captions – While not EVERY post needs to have a deep and thoughtful caption, it is nice to have one every once and a while that provides some creative help (maybe some tips or a story time), as well as allow your followers to engage in conversation. I recommend asking a question every once and a while, and also remember to try and comment back at as many as you can!
  4. Hashtags – Whether you are on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest etc, hashtags are essential. They allow the right people to find your posts and account, and it is easier to get follows that way too! For example, I use hashtags like #writerscommunity #writersofinstagram #amwriting #writerslife and several more.
  5. Consistency – On every platform, consistency is going to be your key to success. For some it may come slower, but it will come if you post consistently. I try to post at least once a day, and sometimes even more then that. If you aren’t putting regular content out, your followers are going to forget about your account, and you won’t be as relevant and active as you can so new followers can find you. Maybe once a day is too much for you specifically, but I would aim for no less than four posts a week. One tip I have is at the beginning or end of each week, take a chunk of time for your day to take a lot of pictures, craft a lot of captions, and brainstorm ideas for what you are going to post that coming week. It saves a lot of time and stress!
  6. Stories – This one is more directed to Instagram, or any other social media you can post live stories on, but posting on Instagram stories is also really important. I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy going through all the writing related Instagram stories at the end of the day to see what other people got done. It is lots of fun for me, so I try to also do that and post a few times a week on there. Whether it is pictures or videos from that day, make sure you are active on there as well!
  7. Reach Out to Others – This is one of the wonders of social media – you are able to connect with people from all around the world! People who are creative like you are right at your fingertips, which is great because personally, there are not a lot writers my age from where I am from. It is nice to be able to discuss the ups and downs of writing, and share writing wisdom with each other. It might seem daunting, but don’t worry! Lots of people created their accounts solely for the reason to connect with other creatives.
  8. Come Up with a Schedule – Whenever I can make a schedule, I do. Lately I have been taking a calendar and scheduling out my blog posts and Instagram posts to make sure I have fresh content for every day. This means I already have ALL of August planned out for blogging related things, and a week or two planned for Instagram. This has already unloaded a lot of stress off my back and gets me excited to write up these posts soon! All I did was find a calendar template on Word and fill it in. If you want, you could print it out, but I do not need anymore loose papers scattered on my desk so I just keep it saved on my computer.
  9. Promote Your Creativity – Whether you are currently working on a project or have finished and are taking the traditional or self-publishing route, promote your work! Get your followers excited about your work so when it is finally available to them, they are dying to get their hands on it.
  10. Stretch Yourself Across as Many Platforms – Do what you are comfortable with, and don’t stretch yourself thin across different social media platforms, but it is good to have a voice on at least one or two. For example, I am on Twitter, Instagram, and my blog the most, but I do have Tumblr and Pinterest accounts as well. I do what I feel comfortable with, which is Twitter and Instagram, but I might bring myself back onto Pinterest more regularly in the near future.

Those are my ten major tips for building creative platforms on social media, and I hope you found these helpful! Don’t forget to check out my last blog post, as well as my social media accounts which are all linked below 🙂

Last Blog Post: Reading + Writing Update!

Image result for twitter

 

@zoermathers

 

Image result for instagram

 

@zoematherswrites

 

Image result for tumblr logo

 

@zoematherswrites

 

Image result for pinterest

 

@zoermathers

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan Non-Spoiler Review

mylifewithbooksblogLeave a comment

I just finished The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan today which is the first book his new book series so I decided to do a non-spoiler book review!

The Hidden Oracle is about the god Apollo, who is cast down to Earth by Zeus after angering him. The problem is that he has no godly powers and he is ordinary and utterly normal. At the same time something evil is on the horizon and Apollo has to learn to use what he has to stop it along with a few other companions. We even get to see some of the characters from his previous series!

I was really excited to start this book because I love all of Rick Riordan’s books. I have to admit I was a bit nervous that it wasn’t going to meet my expectations but I really enjoyed this book! There were slow parts but it is the first book in a new series so I didn’t really mind. It was so great seeing the old characters but I also loved meeting the new characters and getting to know a few better. Another bonus was that there was a lot of diversity in this book which I thought was great and I hope more authors add more diverse characters in their books. I think overall I would give this book a 4/5 stars just because while I enjoyed it, it wasn’t the strongest book ever. I would still recommend it to middle grade readers or anyone who loves his other series!