How Many Social Media Accounts Should Writers Have?
Few platforms. Better engagement.
“Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like.” — Brian Chesky, Co-Founder & CEO, Airbnb
When I started, I was on almost all the platforms out there, except YouTube. There were only a few which were left out.
I thought to be on all and let the audience and money flow from all directions. I heard this from some writers I used to follow during my early writing days.
But no one told me how much time they all consume.
They would say, “Just take a screenshot of your tweet and post it on Instagram! Easy!”
“Pins don’t take much time. Just 15 minutes on weekend!”
These were the few tips that were given.
But there were other social media that I was doing. I used to schedule Tweets for a whole week, then prepare posts for my Facebook Page and Instagram Page. I used to use Meta Business Suite to schedule the posts. Then I would change the size because those posts’ sizes won’t look good on Pinterest and so on. It was annoying. Sundays were not the best times for me.
I kept these things on Sundays to give my brain a break. Search for what to post and then realize that you saved it in a PNG file and not JPEG. Now Instagram is not going to like it at all!
How my schedule on Sunday was before I limited my social media presence -
- Research and make a list of what to post.
- Schedule tweets for the entire week.
- Make posts in Photoshop. Each post is saved in different sizes — one for Instagram and another for Pinterest.
- Then upload it on Meta Suite (I am happy I don’t do it anymore!).
- Then on Pinterest.
It used to take my entire morning just to do these things.
The result?
Absolutely nothing!
Instagram gave me a few followers. But no sales ever.
Pinterest followers are only because of my engagement schedule.
Should writers be on all platforms?
Nope. You cannot be. Experimenting is a different thing. I experimented and decided which I will be keeping for the long term.
If you hire a VA, then it’s a different thing.
Which Platforms work best for writers?
I was of the view before that writers should stick to writing platforms only like WordPress (self-hosted), Medium, HubPages, and so on.
But seeing the limited amount of income that writers are making, I am NOW of the view that writers should be paid for their opinions or reads as well.
So according to me, start from these three platforms first-
- YouTube
- Medium
- Any platform of your choice — Reddit, WattPad, Hubpages, Vocal, and so on.
I know I always ask writers to experiment as much as possible but working smart is equally important. If someone had told me about these two platforms where creators are paid for views then I would have made more than I am making now.
One more mistake is to be added to my book.
If you are dedicated to a few platforms for this whole year, then with time you will see an increase in engagement and followers on your profile. With this, of course, an increase in revenue as well.
Few platforms. Better engagement.
If you want to know more about making money on Fiverr, then you can check out my book “Small Ebooks, Big Money”. Happy Writing Journey!
