Unraveling the Social Media Spider Web
Writers are, generally speaking, introverts. We prefer hanging out with the imaginary characters in our heads over dealing with real folks. Y’all are usually not quite as interesting. No offense, but seriously, when’s the last time you flew through a swift gate?
On the other hand, Nigel has never, and will never buy one of my books. You will. So here I am, figuring out the daunting spider web known as Social Media.
Most of this weekend was spent figuring out how to get this Roostock Saga WordPress + MemberPress, MailChimp + L.H. Leonard Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest playing nicely with one another.
Without becoming that obnoxious pest you wish would go away.
First in this endeavor came figuring out how the various subscriptions, follows, memberships, and email lists work and where there is overlap. Overlap would be bad. It would be too chatty. Chatty sounds annoying.
Determining which tool(s) send which type(s) of pings, emails, chimes, alerts, messages, and notifications isn’t easy. Especially when Social Media tools like to chat and re-chat between each other about what I thought I was only chatting with you once about.
WordPress Subscription = Follow Blog = sends you an email when I submit new blog posts
The email address you entered in the Follow Blog (WordPress Subscription) form on the sidebar will be notified of new blog posts. Anything else, such as adding a page, updating a post, or adding a new image to the gallery will not generate a notification.
These email addresses become a WordPress stored subscriber list with no connection to other social media or email lists unless specifically synchronized to and integrated with MailChimp.
MemberPress Registration = Book Extras Access = WordPress Rootstock Saga Membership = No automated event emails (after initial signup) unless you also opt-in for the newsletter
As with the WordPress Subscriber list, the MemberPress Member list is also stored only here unless synchronized with MailChimp.
MailChimp Subscription = Newsletter Signup = Sends you an email only when I create a MailChimp campaign (Newsletter).
So, both WordPress and MemberPress emails can be integrated with and synchronized to MailChimp with a variety of widely available plugins.
If you are receiving notifications about new blog posts, but not the newsletter (or vice versa), that would be why.
As if that weren’t enough to make me afraid to hit Submit ever again, there are now also Share This buttons on all the blog posts, so you can send whatever you read here on to your followers on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
To extend the Social Media Spider Web even further, you can choose to Follow L.H. Leonard on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and WordPress.
At this point, I’m not quite ready to have my Rootstock Saga blog posts shouted out automatically to Twitter or Facebook, but there are plugins for doing so. I’ve read advice from other authors. Some are adamant about using each Social Media platform as its own initiator and not cross-posting. Others say cross-posting is the best way to reach the widest audience.
I’m going with the no-cross-posting camp for now.