Building a platform is tough. You want to visible. You want to sell yourself, your writing, and most importantly, your books. You want to get your name out and about the internet floating around with all of the other great names/books/writing floating around the internet. But there’s a right and wrong way to do this.

Social networking should first and foremost be SOCIAL. You’re trying to form relationships with your audience. Engage, but don’t be pushy. I follow the people I follow on Twitter because I’m truly interested in what they have to say and want to interact with them. It’ s not because I want to shove my book down their throats. Nothing is more frustrating than following someone on Twitter and seeing a constant bevy of “BUY MY BOOK” tweets clogging up my stream. I tend to unfollow people who consistently tweet links to purchase their book or links to reviews about their book. Now, that’s not to say that you shouldn’t tweet links to reviews. I think that it can be a good marketing tool to direct interested readers to favorable reviews. However, I don’t want to see a new review link tweeted every sixty seconds. Once in a while is great. Fifty times a day is aggressive and in-your-face, and I will more than likely unfollow you for it.

Another one of my Twitter pet peeves is users who repeatedly follow and unfollow to get your attention. It’s the internet equivalent of shouting LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! Yes, I understand that you want me to know that you’re following me. I noticed it when either A) I got an email from Twitter letting me know or B) When I logged on and noticed that my follower number had changed. If you want to interact, the best way to go about it is to just say hello! “Hi, Amanda, nice to meet you. Can’t wait to talk books.” It’s short and friendly. I will definitely answer you back and I will more than likely follow you back. But following and unfollowing an account several times a day to get attention is the internet equivalent of having someone poke their finger into your chest. And it will more than likely only make me want to bite your finger off.

Okay, so I think that covers Twitter. Let’s move on to Facebook, shall we?

I’ve mentioned this before, but Facebook is my favorite social networking tool. I love my author page and I try to post at least 5 times a week (I usually take weekends off) and interact with readers. We talk about books (not just my books), television, movies, and sometimes just every day, real life stuff. Honestly, Facebook is sort of my sanctuary: a nice calm place to hang out (virtually, of course) with people I enjoy talking to. But just like Twitter, there’s a right way and wrong way to utilize Facebook.

First of all, my wall IS NOT a billboard for your advertisement. Don’t send a friend request and immediately post a link to your book/blog/website/amazon account. If you’d like to utilize Facebook as your own personal billboard site, then please, feel free to do so. On your OWN wall. I have page members who often share links to other authors’ books on my wall, and that’s totally okay with me. Especially if one reader thinks others would be interested. But again, these readers aren’t the authors. They stand nothing to gain by sharing except the love of a good book. Similarly, please don’t abuse direct or private messaging. If you have a question or want to talk about something you don’t feel comfortable posting on my wall for all to see, then by all means, send me a message! But do not under any circumstances send me a direct message with links to the previously mentioned book/blog/website/amazon account. That’s not being social. That’s SPAMMING. Plain and simple.

Now as far as e-vites and events go, I think this is rather subjective. I had a book signing in Boise in January. But I found it utterly silly to invite friends who lived across the country and wouldn’t be able to attend. I take the extra time and select from my friend list when I send out invites. If it’s a local event, I invite local friends. And I’ll post on my wall once about the event, just so non-local friends are aware that I’ve got something coming  up. That’s my personal preference and think you just have to play this one by ear.

Okay, Twitter-check. Facebook-check. Moving on to blogs. I read way more blogs than I comment on as I’m sure plenty of other people do. I never take offense when readers don’t comment. It takes a huge chunk of time to read a blog post and if you spent all day commenting, you’d never get anything done! However, if you do feel compelled to comment, please don’t use your blog comment as a way to sell your book. Just like with Twitter and Facebook, blog comments are for interaction, not a sales pitch. If someone comments on my blog, I almost always check out their profile, and I’m sure a lot of other bloggers do the same. I’ll find your book on my own. And I use comment moderation on my personal blog so if I do get comments that are nothing but a sales pitch for your book, I will more than likely not post it. Social networking is for reaching out to people you wouldn’t normally be able to connect with. You’ll develop a successful platform if you treat your social networking sites like they’re a nice cozy living room where you’d invite guests to stay and visit. Otherwise, you’re nothing more than the annoying salesman who dropped by in the middle of dinner.

Do you have any social networking pet peeves? What works for you? What doesn’t?