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| Peter James talk at the London Book Fair |
Approaching someone at an event is less daunting when you’ve previously met them online, and you may find someone recognises you from your profile photo (assuming it's a recent one!) and/or name badge and that they approach you. Many RNA members I've met online and in real life have since become good friends.
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| Me in action at FMG talk (credit: Maggie Hamand, thank you!) |
The other speaker at the FMG that day,
Carol Stone who talked about networking at events, found it interesting how social
media could be used with face-to-face networking effectively, and
this gave me the idea that the subject might make a useful blog post.
During my talk, I wrote down the Twitter handles of those in
the room (who had them) on the whiteboard so they could follow each other and
liaise online afterwards. This kind of exercise can help to build social
media relationships if you’re a member of a group of writers/authors, and a list of handles of those you know can be helpful if you’re joining Twitter and have no idea who to follow.
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| Lunching with Alison Morton at the London Book Fair |
Other opportunities have arisen for me to meet people in the book world and afterwards build stronger social media relationships at: RNA parties, chapter meetings and conferences; the 2014
Historical Novel Society (“HNS”) conference, HNS chapter and conference committee meetings, and book launches. At the recent 2016 London Book Fair, whilst waiting
for talks to begin at Author HQ and at Alison Morton’s book launch for INSURRECTIO, I met authors, and book industry professionals who I either knew online already,
or who I followed on Twitter and got to know on Facebook afterwards.
If you attend an event like those mentioned above, you can make the most of it by: taking lots of photos, tweeting/updating Facebook live if possible (and before the event to say you're going), blogging about the event afterwards using the photos; and by tweeting and tagging on Facebook who you saw afterwards, using the photos. Although tagging someone in a non-flattering photo of them isn’t a good idea, and I'd only tag someone on Facebook if I knew them online before the event (or if I knew for sure that they wouldn't mind). If you want to make the decision on whether a photo you’re tagged in is added to your Facebook timeline (rather than it happen automatically), check your Timeline and Tagging settings.
And when someone gives you their business card, follow them
afterwards on social media, and say hello if you're feeling brave enough. This gives your online relationship
a head start.
My new post: How Can Real Life and Social Media Work Together? https://t.co/qkTMPcg7gG #TuesNews @RNAtweets pic.twitter.com/sRrqwmrDeB— Anita Chapman (@neetsmarketing) 26 April 2016
In other news:
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| HNS conference article in Romance Matters |
I’m thrilled to have a piece included in the latest issue of
Romance Matters, the Romantic Novelists’ Association magazine about the
upcoming Historical Novel Society Conference. Thank you to editor, Adrienne Vaughan for
publishing this article, and for giving it so much space! Also, I'm mentioned under new Associate Members on the same page, which is exciting.
My next course on Social Media for Writers is fast
approaching on 7 May 2016 in London. This course is fully booked,
but I hope to run another one in November, to be confirmed on my website. If
you’d like to be added to the email distribution list for future courses, let me know at
anitajchapman at gmail dot com. UPDATED: Find out about future courses here.
And finally, I’ve been asked to write an article on social media for writers for the fabulous online magazine, Women Writers, Women’s Books on 18 May-such a privilege. (Now published here: How to get the most out of social media as a writer)
Recent and most popular neetsmarketing posts:
My Beginner’s Guide to Twitter for Writers (Updated in 2017)
Recent neetswriter posts:
Upcoming Guest Posts
21 June: Liz Fielding on Newsletters (now published)
