Sunday, November 26, 2017

Which Online Persona Should Authors Choose?



What kind of personality do you want to show?

This may sound like a strange question.  After all, you are who you are.  If you are a bubbly, smiling person or a grumpy, shitfaced one, it’s not easy to change. When promoting your writings via social media and traditional media, what types of persona do you want to present?

The first rule to Personality 101 is be consistent. Whatever image or voice you care to share, do it uniformly.  You can’t be funny all of the time and then try to be politically serious – or vice versa.  If you are known for one thing, it’s hard to be seen as something else.

Second, think about a makeover.  Maybe you’re not as witty as you think you are.  Maybe your writing isn’t as sharp or clear as you believe it is.  Perhaps you aren’t as creative or edgy as you hoped to be.  Take a look at how you present yourself and look to see what can be improved.

Third, keep up with what others in your genre or space are saying and doing.  Study the social media activities of those who are popular, successful, or worthy of your admiration.  Borrow things that you like and that fit with the persona you seek to push out.

Fourth, make sure your vocabulary and content match the persona you seek to put out there.  Are you using the right jargon and making timely references to things?  Do you sound like the kind of person that you are trying to present?

Fifth, don’t look to be perfect or come off as a know-it-all.  Just be you.

Sixth, find a way to share and inquire, to engage by telling as well as asking.

Seventh, always be kind and polite.  Being rude won’t get you very far. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be opinionated, bold, challenging or strong-willed.  You can’t please everyone nor should you try to but you don’t have to go out of your way to be mean or corrosive.

Your persona needs to stick out and vary from the competition.  No one needs a “more of the same” blog or book or media outlet.  We want to be entertained AND informed.  We want facts and analysis of things important to us.  We want good-looking, intelligent, outgoing people to tell us what we need to know or do.  We want a personality-- not-just a resource -- to talk to us.  The public demands so much.  

So what kind of persona do you want to offer?


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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs


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