Countless posts and books will detail Musk’s Twitter takeover. Or takedown, whatever the case may be. But for now, the biggest takeaway for me is this. Authors (and anyone who creates) need to own at least one method of communicating with the world about what they do. Most marketers will tell you that sending a newsletter via email is the best way of speaking directly with your audience, which makes sense. But how do you get readers to sign up for that newsletter in the first place? The answer, my brothers and sisters, is that authors should create a blog alongside their social media efforts.
Yeah, believe me. I’ve long been sceptical myself. But over the years, my mind has slowly warmed to the idea. And so, here are five of the best reasons why authors and creators should get back on the ol’ blogging horse. At least in my opinion.
Improve content lifespan and visibility
‘But I already talk to my readers,’ some authors say. ‘It’s called micro-blogging through Twitter, Granddad. Oh, and the nineties are on the phone, by the way. And they want their dial-up modem back!’
Look, don’t get me wrong. Twitter is an excellent networking tool trusted by millions of journalists, entrepreneurs, and professionals. Musk wouldn’t have spent $44 billion on it if it wasn’t. Also, in terms of sharing knowledge, Twitter is second to none.
There are drawbacks, however. I won’t mention them all here because they’re well-documented. But for the purposes of the point I’m making, the main issue is everything you say is soon lost amidst the noise and chatter. And this has never been as true since ‘The Takeover’.
For most people, the visibility of their tweets has reduced to between five and ten per cent of their total follower count. Some people have wondered if this lack of reach and visibility is a ploy to get us to sign up for Twitter Blue? Perhaps. Between you and me, I’m not convinced that will work, but we’ll see.
In either case, Twitter requires you to maintain a constant presence. Much more so than with other platforms like LinkedIn or a blog. And that’s tiring. After all, we’re all busy people, and sometimes we want to disengage from Twitter to preserve our sanity. Also, tweeting intelligibly takes time. As does scrolling to read and engage with all the various comments.
Of course, you don’t always want to feed into a long-form post, either. But when you create a blog, anything you post is much more evergreen and visible than anything you leave on Twitter. Readers can react to your post days or weeks after you make it, but your tweet will rarely stay visible on Twitter for an hour or more.
So, keep up a social media presence by all means. As I say, it’s a great way to learn and interact with friends. But don’t limit it to all you are. Why not have your own little piece of the internet, where people can always reach you, regardless of any chaos elsewhere? At the very least, your blog is a fail-safe fall-back should your platform of choice collapse. Or, as people speculate might happen with Twitter 2.0, change beyond recognition or repair.
Extend your reach and grow your audience
So, Twitter is already helping you build an audience. Cool. But what about people who aren’t on Twitter? Those free and enlightened souls who play on other platforms? Plus, there are those folks who left during the great migration. Combined, that’s a potentially huge audience you can’t reach if you use Twitter on its own.
When you create a blog, however, anyone with a web browser can reach you. So, anyone who has your address or runs your name through a search engine. And let’s just consider the numbers for a minute. Only eight per cent of the world’s social media base use Twitter. Or, depending on who you read, between 350 and 450 million people. Billions of people have access to the internet, however, and everyone with a connection googles stuff all day long.
OK, not all those billions will google you. Or search subjects that are related to what you might rank for. But let’s remember the power of search words and SEO. With the appropriate time and effort, you can harness a large amount of engaged and loyal traffic via content marketing and effective search engine optimisation. As an author, you can develop a much more avid and loyal audience with a blog than just posting on social media.
Brush up on your digital marketing skills
Of course, running a blog can be tricky with all the back-end stuff you have to tinker with. Then there’s all the keyword research. Plus, it can be hard strategising and creating all the content, especially if you need practice. But trust me, all this gets much easier once you learn the correct approaches and techniques.
Additionally, those skills you employ from regularly using SEO, Google Analytics, and plug-ins are valuable. Especially in a world where – after Covid – every company wants to get online and perform (in their words) ‘a complete digital transformation’.
It’s something I’ve had to find out the hard way. It’s no good just being good at what you do. That is a given. But you also have to understand how to market and sell your work. If not, you won’t get much exposure, which means you won’t get paid. Which means more hours at the dayjob to pay the bills. And less time to create.
Artists and authors often prefer to avoid thinking about money or marketing for fear of ‘selling out’. This is laudable, and as an ardent fan of Bill Hicks in my youth, I’ve often felt the same. But the simple truth is that it’s getting increasingly hard to fund artistic endeavour. It makes you wonder what kind of world we’ll have if we don’t wise up.
Authors famously get paid close to sod all, but here’s the thing. Whatever way you choose to publish, you will only sell if you can market yourself. This applies to self-publishing, of course, but also to traditional publishing, too. Those big houses all want you to do most of the legwork. When I realised no one was coming to save me in this regard, I knew it was time to bite the bullet. But what will you do? Stay in denial and quietly hope for a miracle?
I’ve tried that myself, but banking on a miracle won’t do most of us any good. Best learn a new skill, pick up new habits, and enjoy creating something valuable that people can freely access. Which leads me nicely to the next point.
Pay it forward and offer value
This is the most critical marketing advice for any author, brand, or business. To grow a captive audience, you have to offer something helpful. Content that either educates or inspires in some way. Or, alternatively, one that entertains.
So, what does this mean for authors or artists? You will likely gain more traction if you build goodwill first and share your skills and knowledge. Try to become a source of advice. Or share how your work is going, together with what you’ve learned and the steps you might take differently next time. Oh, and do all of this consistently. Not just once or twice. Trust comes when people and search engines know you have skin in the game.
Work out who your audience is and what they want to know. Or, in brutal marketing terms, learn what their problem is. Do they want to escape? Know more about a subject? They may want to be entertained. Or perhaps they are looking to feel inspired.
Start giving this content to your audience freely. Look after your readers. Or to put it in other words, love your audience. And make sure that you’re providing a space that educates, informs, or entertains. Either through long pillar posts, updates, or interviews and podcasts, the list is endless.
When you create a blog, content satisfies your readers in a way that those snippets on social media can’t. Additionally, when you’ve provided enough of it for free and developed a real relationship with your audience, you’ll have a loyal and engaged audience who want to see or read your work.
Create a blog to build something unique
This last one gets all fuzzy and inspirational, but it’s no less important. Ultimately, if you’re an author, you love creativity and the process of building, right? So, when you build a blog, that’s precisely what you’re doing.
You’re building a space you created, designed, and edited. A digital portal into your thought process and ideas. The possibilities, therefore, are endless, and the more attention and care you pour into it, the more people will appreciate what you do.
So, don’t create a blog because you want to sell stuff. That’s a desirable byproduct, sure. But do it instead because you want to create a digital presence that reflects who you are and compliments your work. Make a site because you want to create something of value for your readers and build a place on the internet they bookmark and enjoy returning to.
We’ve had the internet for a long time now. But the best sense of excitement I get online is when I visit an author or creator who really cares about their audience experience and regularly updates their site. It could be with cryptic posts, valuable how-tos, updates or links to upcoming work. It’s like a creative scrapbook that offers a window into their world. The world needs more of it, in my opinion.
By all means, keep using social media. All the various platforms help build and maintain audience engagement in different ways. Keep networking, keep posting. But create a blog, too, and build your platform as you develop a relationship with your readers. Trust me. I might not have one myself yet, but I’ve done it many times with clients. Your newsletters and subsequent relationship with your audience will only grow as a result.
As always, let me know your thoughts below. Blogging is a big time commitment, but hopefully, you can see the advantages. See it as a way of investing in yourself and diversifying while the chaos continues to play out on Twitter.