Social media: so much fun an introvert can do it

I tend to shudder slightly when somebody says, really, you need to be on social media more. It’s a time suck, I’ll say, excusing myself. But deep down in my heart of hearts, the reason I’m not out there more on social media is because I’m – afraid. As in scared witless. What if I’m attacked by goons? Tied up by Twitter werewolves and forced to post videos of cats? Worst of all, what if I (gulp) misspell a word? (Hey, we introverted writerly types worry about stuff like that.)

That was before I heard Fred Campos speak at this month’s meeting of the Dallas chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Formerly of Fun City Social Media, and now DFW Website Designers, winner of Toastmasters “Humorous Public Speaking” contests, Campos could rock the audience at a mortuary science convention. (Get him to tell you the one about the client who died shortly after his Twitter campaign was launched – but whose tweets lived on. Oops!)

In all seriousness, as soon as I finish laughing I’ll pass on some of Campos’s tips to you, dear readers. This post will be short and sweet, because I hope to hook you first and follow up with the heavier how-to stuff by the end of this week. And being serious, there’s the “why do it at all?” issue to overcome. If we just want fun, why not go to a monster truck rally instead?

Fred Campos

“As writers, we tend to focus on the craft. But unfortunately, we also need to market,” Campos said, his Mickey Mouse tie positively quivering with glee as he clicked through inspirational slides with titles such as “Facebook is the biggest population in the world – followed by China.” 

And, “more people own mobile devices than toothbrushes.” (Do their dentists know? I’m picturing a demographic of toothless people poring over their phone screens here. Probably not one I want to connect with.)

Even Campos claims he once feared to enter such a world until he got his own Twitter account the year his wife asked him to put the Thanksgiving turkey in the oven. Wanting to sleep in, she left him a Post-It note reminder: 375. That was probably the temperature, he figured. But the oven had two settings: bake and broil. Which to use?

Figuring that waking his wife to ask wouldn’t win him any husband of the year awards, Campos posted the dilemma to his Twitter followers. Within seconds, he got 20 responses telling him to bake, not broil. “Well,” he confided, “18 telling me to bake and two with a lot of concern about my cooking ability.” Result – a turkey baked to perfection and a man sold on the potential of social media to change lives (and stave off house fires, not to mention divorces). 

For those who customarily write rather than bake turkeys, Campos offered three reasons to commit to social media:

• To connect with people
• To learn from people (i.e., turkey cookers)
• To market to particular demographics

This last group is the one writers hope will follow our particular feeds, “and one day, buy (our) books.”

In the meantime, there are a number of factors competing with books for people’s attention. It may be as simple as not having a specific product (i.e., book) come to mind when they experience a wish for information or entertainment.

Writers, sensitive creatures that we are, fear that continually broadcasting our message will turn people off, but, Campos said, “social media is like the beer guy at a football game. Everybody tunes out his message until – they get to the bottom of their cup of cold beverage. He’s yelling out the product, and the moment they are interested, they get it.

He’s not offended by the majority of people in the football stadium who aren’t currently in the market for beer. He’s only interested in the comparative few, the thirsty few, who want to buy.

The beer guy’s message is that he has beer to sell. “What,” Campos asked, “is our message?”

But, we ask, still shying away from the prospect, doesn’t using social media for promotion mean we won’t have time to do our real job, which is writing?

Continuing his sports analogies, Campos pointed out the difference between winning and losing can be a fraction of a second. “You don’t have to be 100 percent better. You only have to be a little better,” to receive a payoff in the end.

After hearing him, I began to understand why sales people listen to so many pep talks. And after testing some of Campos's tips, I'll fill you in on the next steps -- the pre-campaign and the full-meal deal social media blitz itself!