A Social Media Tip Worth Dancing About

No, that's not me. Photo courtesy of morguefile.com

So maybe you’ve read the recent rumblings about social media, that all the tweets and status updates don’t exactly translate into mega book sales. For all those writers who found themselves sorely lacking in both time for and skills in social media, this new information was sweet, sweet validation. And to all y’all now dancing in the streets, singing, “Told you so. Told you so. Na-na pooh-pooh,” I have just one thing to say: Not so fast.

Because I think there’s still a need to make time for and develop skills in social media. And I say this knowing that I’m one of those who was out there dancing and singing.

The thing is, research has proved the importance of making meaningful connections in social media. Honestly, we’ve sort of known this all along. And social media is still a quick and easy way to share good news, to ask for support from all those real connections.

But I know there are plenty of you still fighting the social media time and effort suck. So for you, I have a tool. It’s called Thunderclap, and it seems worth a look to me for both traditional and self-published authors.

Thunderclap, according to its website, works like an “online flash mob.” A whole group of people shares the same message at the same time. An author friend—someone whom I’m connected to and always happy to support—asked if I’d participate in her Thunderclap campaign for the launch of an anthology. An anthology is a particularly good use of Thunderclap because there could be anywhere from 10 to 100 writers involved. And if each writer asks his or her friends to sign on for the Thunderclap…well, that’s a pretty big kaboom of a campaign.

I signed on—it was easy—and then forgot all about it. Until I saw the Thunderclap promo on my feed. I saw it on a couple of other mutual friends of the author, and by the end of the day, the book they’d shared had made it to an astonishingly high peak on Amazon’s list of historical fiction.

Like a clap of thunder, the book garnered a sudden burst of attention. That’s something amazing, even if the book didn’t stay up there for long.

You can try the first level at Thunderclap for free, and see what happens. Granted, it won’t do everything, but it’s a bit of a shortcut for social media stuff. Then you’ll have more time for dancing and singing in the street. Which is what you should be doing in the first place, right?

~Cathy C. Hall