#ChroniclesOfAWriter – If you don’t talk about your work, who will?

Adedoyin Jaiyesimi

Hey Sparkle Writers! I hope you’ve been gaining useful tips from the #ChroniclesOfAWriter series. If this is your first time reading this, you can click here to view previous posts. The aim of this series is to help you navigate the bumps and curves on your journey as a writer.

Today I want to talk about social media and why every writer needs to understand how to harness its power to promote their work.

Last week I coached two clients on separate days as part of the services we offer under our sister brand, Content Craft. It was a Content and Social Media strategy session and the aim was to develop strategies to help them engage with their target audience and create awareness for their brands.

After discussing strategy with both clients, I was surprised to see how surprised they were. “I don’t like this social media thing. Talking about myself there makes me feel like I am boasting,” said one of them. The other lives a “private” life and is just warming up to the idea of talking about herself and her brand on social media.

What I said to both of them was this, “If you don’t talk about your brand and promote it, who will?”

The same applies to writers.

I have met writers who want to be coded. They just want to write and not want to deal with the ‘extra work’ of talking about what they do or showcasing things they have written on social media.

Being private with your work is ok if all you want is simply to be able to put down your thoughts on paper and lock it in your closet.

If you, however, want the world to know about you or you want people to hire you to write or create content for them, then you have to use the power of social media to achieve it. You cannot escape it.

female hands with pen writing on notebook

Tunde Leye recently launched his book and I love the way he used social media to talk about the book before and even after the event. The book launch is one of the best I have seen so far in the Nigerian literary sphere; well organized, well attended and books were actually sold.

Social media is powerful. It can open you up to freelance writing opportunities beyond your physical location. It can announce you even before you get to a place.

I remember some years ago when I went for an interview and I mentioned my name to the lady who was to interview me. She squeezed her face and said “Adedoyin Jaiyesimi? That name sounds familiar.” It turned out she used to read my articles when I had a regular column with a popular online media magazine. We spent the next few minutes discussing why I didn’t write on that particular platform anymore and where she could read my articles.

Needless to say, she didn’t ask me too many questions during the interview. She had already concluded that I was capable to do the job based on the articles she had read.

So dear writer, please use social media to push your work. Put links of your article on your Facebook and Twitter timelines. Don’t just add a link and click post. Put some text and possibly add a picture to make it more interesting. Use Instagram creatively.

I love our followers on The Sparkle Writer’s Hub Instagram page. They have found creative ways to showcase their work and quite a number of them tag us whenever they put up their poem or short story. Imagine we have a client that needs poets or people who can write short stories? We’ll definitely think of them first because they’ve been consistent in showcasing their awesome work.

I hope this post motivates you to change your social media posting habits. You can post something every day to let people know that you are writing. When it comes to the world of social media, you never know who is watching. You never know.

If you need help with any of this, you know you can always talk to the great folks at The Sparkle Writer’s Hub🙂

2 thoughts on “#ChroniclesOfAWriter – If you don’t talk about your work, who will?

  1. Very helpful! I had trouble promoting myself on social media when I first started writing because I don’t like talking about myself. Now, for me it is a given: every post I write must be promoted on social media several times. You guys are doing a great job.

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