Monthly McGruder Updates: April

May 8, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Hey, friends! It’s been a while since we’ve shared an updates post, and for a good reason! We felt that it would be best to share these kinds of posts once there’s substantial stuff to share. That’s not to say that we’ve been twiddling our thumbs up until now, but we’ve built up some excitement and want to share a bit more of what’s new with us! Without further ado, here’s some fun and writing-related stuff from the McGruder household.

Travis Graduated

Yes! We’re both officially done paying for college tuition! Yay for adulting! Travis graduated with a BA in English and minor in editing, so now we have matching degrees from Brigham Young University! He’s pretty excited to be done with school forever, and he’s even more excited to find a career-happy job in writing or editing. But mainly he’s excited about reading books for fun and not for class.

We’ve Been Married for Three Years

That’s right—we’re still best friends forever! Since we had family in town over the last week of April, we mainly celebrated with them. Maybe we’ll do something fun to officially celebrate, but we shared the obligatory social media posts, so we’re on the right track.

Since you’re obviously wondering, we’ll give you our favorite piece of marriage advice: love everything about your partner. You will each have your own quirks and hobbies, so stick with someone that you can fully support, no matter what they want to do with their life.

Take us for example: we know that not many people see a Humanities degree as something truly fulfilling or profitable, but we love and support each other with what we want to do. What’s the point of being married if you can’t stand each other’s dreams or passions, right?

Remember that this definitely overlaps into budgeting. It can be really easy to tell your partner not to spend their money on something because you don’t see the intrinsic value. We still budget our money to allow each other some wiggle room to buy things we enjoy, and that has helped us stay true to ourselves but not go completely broke. I’m looking at you, comic con.

Travis and I are at our happiest when we can full-fledged nerd out without judgement. We’re not perfect, but this is one thing we excel at and enjoy practicing.

Any bits of advice you married people would love to share in return?

Whitney Reached her Camp NaNoWriMo Goal

Yes, as a matter of fact, I have been writing—something besides blog posts! After a dry writing spell, I finally made a public NaNoWriMo goal and reached it! It made me insanely happy to finally start a new project, The Throwaway Queen, and get back to the basics.

It’s sort of weird and difficult to write while soliciting for a literary agent, since I sometimes don’t know which project deserves more attention. For now, I’m happy that I’m finding a writing groove that works for me and helps me feel accomplished.

Did you participate in Camp NaNo, and how did it go?

Summer Goals

Oh, boy. Ever look to the Summer horizon and not have a single clue what could happen or what you’ll be doing? Yeah, that’s us right now. Since Travis is done with school, we’ve got a pretty blank slate of where to go and what to do. A lot of people ask us what our next step is or what our goals are, and it’s tricky!

It’s not fun having any answers. So we’re doing our best to stay above water.

We’re trying not to freak out (read: Travis is not really freaking out, but I certainly am), but we have a strong belief that things will unfold the way they should.

In the meantime, we have some goals that we hope to achieve this Summer:

We’re both looking for jobs, specifically writing or editing related. The dream would be working for a publishing company. Wish us luck!
Whitney is looking for representation for her novel, Destiny Seeker. It’s time to finally get this thing published!
We’ll continue adding to our blog! There will be future posts on book reviews, tackling self-marketing, and even some tips on geek fashion.
No excuses: we’ll both start regular writing routines. We’re both working on projects that we enjoy and can’t wait to share more about them!

So that’s about it for us—we’ve got a lot ahead of us!

Just as a gentle reminder: if you’d love to hear more from us, take two seconds to add your email to our subscription list. You can get our posts right as they’re published and be in-the-know about our projects. You can also follow us on social media to catch up on our work, enjoy writing-related memes, and discover recommended posts from other writers and creatives.

So what’s new in your world? Share your goals, updates, and recent victories with us below!

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Are You Looking for Your Social Media Community?

May 1, 2017 · 2 Comments

So how are things going, friends? Have our previous tips for website and Instagram SEO been helping?

It’s hard to say “share your stuff everywhere” but not tell you how to find these places to share your stuff. There are pockets of communities that are ready to befriend you and include in you the fold—but finding these pockets can be difficult. As I look back on my own blogging journey, I would say most of what I found was gradual and accidental: I happened to make the right friends at the right time and invited me to the right groups. It starts with looking up blog posts on Pinterest and being invited to private groups on social media from the blog owner.

To save you time and brag on the amazing work of other people in the writing community, I’m sharing some tips on where to find your tribe/community/fans/friends/future readers on social media.

General Good Karma Tips

Ultimately, good blogging or self-promotion is all about good karma or following the Golden Rule: be that kind of blogger you want to attract to your social media feeds. And so far, good karma is what most bloggers swear by: it lends to organic traffic, blogging friends, and an increase in views and revenue. Organic traffic means that real people (your target audience) is reading and commenting out of genuine interest—we’re not talking about spammers or people solely interested in promoting their own stuff. That’s the kind of interaction you want all over your social media and your website, right?

Be the kind of blogger you want to attract to your social media feeds.

Click To Tweet

You can sow the seeds of organic traffic by first being a good participant in communities and private groups. Since good karma can apply to any kind of online group, I’m grouping my suggestions here to get us started:

Balance your participation by interacting with others as much as you post to the group page.
Follow the group rules—they’re usually pinned to the top of the page.
Participate regularly
Leave meaningful content and comments—I’ve already talked about the art of creating meaningful comments.
Share and brag—there’s no telling how many online besties you can make by retweeting, sharing their content, or tagging them in your posts if you’re referring to their work.

Overall, good karma looks like accepting the help and services the host/hostess is offering. Community is definitely “all for one and one for all,” but joining a group doesn’t automatically increase traffic onto your content. Your good participation and friendliness is the sure and steady way to do this.

So now that we’ve talked about karma, let’s look at online communities on the web (with a primary focus on writers) and how they differ based on their platform.

Facebook

Facebook groups are likely the easiest to join—you’re likely already a member of one. I like Facebook groups because you can make them private to protect your community—it helps shut out trolls! No one likes online trolls.

Generally, the Facebook groups I participate in are there to share recent blog posts that are relevant to the group, offer our own tips, or to field questions. It’s treated almost as a forum, and if you haven’t already discovered: writing communities are one of the friendliest. People really want you to succeed! Moderators also sometimes host live Facebook videos: that’s one bold way to start an FAQ to get a conversation going.

Writing communities are one of the friendliest.

Click To Tweet

Here are some groups you can join. The majority are geared towards writers, but many of them are helpful for general bloggers:

General blogging/Entrepreneur

Writing

Most of these groups are hosted by people who already have a flourishing social media platform. So, chances are, your favorite blogger might also have a Facebook group—or suggestions on which ones you should join.

Instagram

So engagement groups. They aren’t really a new tactic, but since the most recent algorithm changes, many Instagrammers have created small engagement groups to increase likes and comments on specific posts. To clarify, an engagement group is similar to a blog hop: everyone in the group shares a post (you agree to how many and how often a day) and you all comment on each other’s posts.

This approach isn’t 100% organic like we were mentioning before, but it’s one way to learn from other people in your community about how to make your account stand out.

How do you make an engagement group? You can create a thread through the direct message feature. You access your private messages with that paper airplane icon usually found on the home page on the mobile app. One person can start the thread by sending a message to the group, and then you can rename the thread so it’s easy to find. Once you create a group, you can send your post in this thread so everyone has access to it. You can use the paper plane icon for your specific post and then select your group and you’re done!

If you’re interested in starting an engagement group with me specifically, comment below or shoot me a message!

Twitter

How do you sift through millions of tweets to find your community? Twitter is pretty tricksy for me, since it’s either a treasure trove of clever banter or a hell-hole of self-promo tweets or trolls. (Did I mention my disdain for trolls?)

I like to keep updated on specific groups of people by creating lists on Twitter. You can sort all your peeps to filter your feed if you want to specifically find, retweet, and respond to content by people you want to connect with in your industry. Create lists, follow people they follow, then get their attention by liking and retweeting their stuff.

There are also live-tweet groups you can join. Basically, the moderator sets a time each week or month where people can participate in a specific hashtag to answer questions posed by the moderator and other group members. It is SO much fun, and a really quick way to find people that are nice, knowledgeable, and interesting.

Gotta give major props to StorySocial for pulling this off for almost two years now. Kristen Kieffer is just my writing muse, everyone. Also, she’s made it really easy to find the writing community in my few years of blogging.

This is the only Twitter chat one I’ve joined in, but I know there are many more. Tell us in the comments if you know of any we should check out!

Pinterest is a great tool for collaborating with other people and helping each other succeed. Most users do this through group Pinterest boards. Someone creates the board and can grant access to others to add pins to that board.

If you’re looking for more traffic to your blog posts, this is a great place to get your stuff noticed and shared! Instead of sharing your pins on your own boards and hope your followers see them (through the massive waves of images on images), group boards can help you find more “platforms” to share your stuff. Here’s a few examples of writing-related group boards I regularly use and follow:

I’ve noticed that using Pinterest (and contributing good content and eye-catching photos) has helped me gain more views. Just be patient; a person might save your blog post to read for later, but who knows if they’ll actually click it and go to your website! Think of Pinterest as a way to plant seeds—it’ll work for your benefit the more you invest in it.

Final Thoughts

I know a lot of us have issues against over-sharing their stuff. We don’t want to come across as self-obsessed or annoying. To overcome this, try balancing your self-promotion with your regular social media consumption. Remember the karma tips I mentioned earlier.

Basically, for every tweet, Instagram photo, or blog post, be that golden viewer/consumer for someone else. Comment, like, retweet, or share things that you genuinely enjoy. It naturally gets others to notice you, helps you be a part of the community, and establishes yourself as “the real deal” rather than the “buy my book!” tweeter.

Remember that being a member of a community takes hard work, planning, and heart. Even if you are a member of every single group mentioned in this post, it won’t grant you instant followers and fans. You still have to do the work to stand out in the crowd of writers and creatives. But as you actively participate in the community, you’ll find the support, motivation, and friends you need to reach your ultimate creative goals!

Did I leave anything out? Do you have any community or group recommendations? Share your thoughts below, and let us know what your niche community means to you!

Check out the other posts in this series:

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6 Ways to Improve Your Instagram Platform

April 24, 2017 · 4 Comments

I’m zooming in specifically on Instagram today because a) I know Instagram pretty well and b) y’all asked for it! I know a lot of you aren’t writers, but anyone with a service or product can benefit from the six items below.

Before we get started, let’s just get one thing straight: Instagram will only be fun if you already enjoy using it and feel like it helps you. If you have an obligatory account but secretely would rather just stick with other social media platforms, you do NOT have to be on Instagram. I know it was once said that you need to be everywhere all the time, but your social media should not take time away from creating what it is you want to be paid for.

So if you’re still committed to Instagram and want to make it work for you, enjoy these ideas:

Research Your Hashtags

Okay, hashtags. Why so many and just why in general? Hashtags are like keywords, so it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the hashtags used within the community.

I’m not an expert, but I know where to learn about the latest hashtags and how they jive with my feed. I’ve also taken note on hashtags that my community likes to use as inspiration for their feed. Here are a few specific for writers:

#WriterCrushWednesday—a great way to spotlight someone you admire in the community
#1LineWed—a quick opportunity to share a quick line from your WIP
#WritersLife—You can tag photos of you experiencing the highs and lows of being a writer.
#WritersofInstagram—basically putting an occupation in front of “of Instagram” is a way to be seen in your community

Instagram makes it easy to find new hashtags that are relevant to your audience. Type in some guesses to populate all the variations of that keyword and how many people have used it. Obviously the higher the usage, the better.

Now, where do you put all these hashtags? You can put them right after your initial text (with or without a divider) or in a separate comment. As of yet, I’m not sure which way is better or more effective, but you have those options. To learn more about hashtags, use Pinterest to learn more about hashtags that work well for your audience.

Write a Killer Blurb About Yourself

Just like any platform, it’s good to have a good intro to who you are and what you do. You don’t have a lot of room, but make sure you mention who you are and what you do. This helps your audience to quickly learn if they want to follow your feed or not. This is also a great place to add a URL for your main website.

Also, ensure your profile establishes if your page is purely personal or slightly more professional. Sometimes people will only follow because they hope to get something out of it, like freebies, giveaways, advice, or inspiration. Your quick bio could say, “I post about my books, my podcast, and my dog.” If you already have a product for sale or a WIP, here’s an easy place to brag about it, too.

Here’s my profile blurb. Can you tell what I plan to post on my Instagram? Are there ways you can use your profile to stand out from the others in your community?

Try Tactics from Accounts You Admire

Depending on what you’re selling or promoting, I may not be able to give you clear-cut insight. Well, unless you message or comment at me directly. Thus, it pays to pay attention to other accounts and what you like about them. As you look through their feed, consider why you follow an account. What makes you interested in commenting or buying their product or services? Write a list of specific things and consider how you can do the same without blatantly copying them.

Here’s an example. I love posts about animals interrupting creatives. I’m talking cats on keywords, cats sitting on sewing projects . . . you’re seeing a theme, right? It’s just cute and so true to life. This break from the professional shows me that the writer has similar roadblocks in their life. They’re being real and comical with me. I’m much more likely to be invested in people who are genuine rather than those trying to be 100% professional

Even though I don’t have a pet (yet), I can tap into that sense of community—that I go through the same ups and downs. This also reminds me that it’s okay to mix the personal/untouched moments of life with my professional moments.

Here’s another tactic: tagging people. Please give credit where credit is due and brag about the services or products you’re using in your photos. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s an easy way to get noticed. Many small businesses will regram your photos and BOOM—a bunch of people interested in you. Make this a constant effort and you’ll quickly make friends in the community who appreciate your spotlights on their accounts. Social media is all about good karma.

There’s no one right way to appease your target audience. Sometimes being creative or unique is what it takes to find your tribe. Therefore, it pays to observe and add your unique voice through your posts.

Use Insta Stories

I’ve heard it said that Insta stories is basically a prettier but shameless version of Snapchat. You can use Insta Stories to do a couple of things:

highlight announcements
share more of your personality
share your take on a topic that is important to your audience or community
draw attention to your most recent social media or blog posts
show behind the scenes insights behind your craft

Insta Stories are still fairly new, but they’re a fun addition to Instagram that you can take advantage of. If you’re worried people aren’t seeing your posts, you can’t go wrong with having your Insta Stories on the very top of the screen.

Participate in Monthly Challenges

A fun way to take part in your ideal community is to take part in monthly Instagram challenges. Basically, someone in the community will create a challenge where you post a picture every day based on a prompt. You can share a screenshot of the challenge, then use the hashtags so other people can find you. I generally get a lot of interaction when I participate and share fun stuff about myself.

Here’s a few examples of what I’ve done:

#StretchRevolution challenge: I and thousands of other people did a specific yoga pose every day for 30 days. It was for a contest, but I made a lot of great yoga friends.
#WriteWeMay: A challenge where I could share more about my current writing projects and other aspects of #writerslife.
#MarchCreateParty: This was a general challenge for all kinds of creatives to share more about their hobbies or craft.
#AuthorLifeMonth: Yet another challenge where I could share about my life as a writer.
#BooktoberFest: This is more of a nerdy book challenge where anyone who likes books could participate.

I usually find out about these challenges once someone creates one or a friend is participating. If you search for monthly Instagram challenges in Google Images or Instagram, you’ll see a lot of examples to try. It’s also helpful to make an Instagram post asking your followers about any current challenges. You’ll be surprised at how people are more likely to respond if you’re asking for help or advice. When in doubt, create your own!

One final note: Instagram challenges are great if you’re looking for ways to create community-related content. If posting every day for a challenge seems too stressful or unnecessary, then don’t feel obligated to participate

Create Actionable Content to Increase Engagement

Instagram is likely not your end goal, because you likely use social media to get people to interact with you on your website. That’s where you’ll likely make money, right? So, while you’re trying to build up your Instagram presence, realize that it’s not as important as your true end goal.

If you want people to go to your site, then post site updates on your feed. Regularly remind them of what’s going on over there and make it easy for them to get there.

Make sure these posts stick out from your other content so people don’t scroll by without reading your content. An example would be putting text on your image with words like “Big News,” “Giveaway,” “Update,” or “Recently on the Blog.” This helps viewers know the accompanying text is just as important and won’t just scroll by. If I highlight a blog post, I put up a Pinterest-friendly image that has the title on the image.

Also, if you’re holding a contest or giveaway, don’t be afraid to post daily reminders. Don’t assume that everyone will see your first post and enter appropriately. To catch everyone and get enough participants, it’s good to remind them every day until it closes. You may find it annoying and repetitive, but your followers will likely not feel that way.

I’ve got a bit more to say about Instagram, so stay tuned! I’ll be talking more about building a community, since it’s so important but also a time-consuming goal.

In the meantime, let me know if I missed anything and have further questions about what I shared today. What do you hope to achieve with your Instagram account? Share away, friends!

Check out the other posts in this series:

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« Previous Page

Wit & Travesty

Monthly McGruder Updates: April

Travis Graduated

We’ve Been Married for Three Years

Whitney Reached her Camp NaNoWriMo Goal

Summer Goals

Like this:

6 Ways to Improve Your Instagram Platform

Research Your Hashtags

Write a Killer Blurb About Yourself

Try Tactics from Accounts You Admire

Use Insta Stories

Participate in Monthly Challenges

Create Actionable Content to Increase Engagement

Like this: