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Stop Trying To “Go Viral.” Your Author Platform Should Be: Focused. Simple. Human.

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photo by Ant1_G
I work with a lot of writers, and it is not unusual for them to feel overwhelmed at some point in the process of trying to craft their platform. I define platform as having two core elements:

  • Communicating with the right people effectively.
  • Establishing trust in the process.

Notice a phrase missing here: “social media.”

Yes, social media can makes it easier to do these things, but it can be overwhelming to manage. I find that for some, it obscures the real goal: establishing meaningful connections with other people, not waiting to go “viral.”

In fact, I often find social media works dramatically better for authors when you completely flip the mentality of hoping to “go viral.” Instead: work hard to resist going viral, get focused, simple, and human. I mean, seriously, when did the word “viral” become something we desperately feared to becoming something we desired? Ick!

Your platform as an author is based on the QUALITY of connection with someone, not the quantity of how many people you are loosely connected to.

I have worked through SO MANY digital strategies from the height of the first dot com boom, through the decade plus that followed. So often, you hear big numbers such as “the link received 10,000 clicks,” or “the effective reach of that blog post was 200,000 people,” or “judging value based on how many eyeballs saw a page.”

Another “ick!” here. Why would we dissect a human being’s value to the body part that sees, but not the brain function that analyzes or the heart that cares?

What I find is this: a simple handwritten note can be dramatically more powerful in growing your platform than hundreds of Pinterest Pins, reblogs or followers.

I received a note in the mail the other week that put a warm feeling in my heart. Yes, I’m sentimental that way. Here it is:

130823mixergyletter

This was a letter sent to me from Andrew Warner, who runs a website called Mixergy.com, where he interviews entrepreneurs. This website, simply put, is my favorite on the web.

So a couple years back, I sent Andrew a letter explaining how his work at Mixergy helped and inspired me. My memory of it was a 3 page letter, on full sized 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper, not some small thank you card that you buy at the store.

So the note Andrew sent to me above was him returning the favor. In it, he states how my original letter really struck him, so much so that he created a habit to send out notes like this to other people to show how much he appreciates them. I had no idea about this until he let me know.

In other words: Andrew didn’t think: “Ooh, I’ll start pinning images of my interviews on Pinterest to expand my platform!” he thought: I will deepen my connection with people who inspire me.”

When I work with writers, this is often how we approach developing their platform. Not racing to get more followers on Twitter, but instead whittling down our focus to people that really matter to them. Our intention is not to “leverage” people or create “influence,” but rather, to create a connection, say thank you, be generous, and give someone a special moment.

How many Tweets do you remember from 2011?
How many special moments of appreciation do you remember?
My gut is, your answer is more of the latter.

Don’t go viral. Focus intensely on a handful of people. Keep your communications simple and honest. Go out of your way to create something unique and special for them. Focus on the one thing you share in common: you are both human beings, not someone measured by some random score of how “influential” you are on social media.

Do you feel lost and overwhelmed with developing your platform? That others know how to use Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube better than you? Well, please remember: the BIG differentiator here is YOU. Be human. Speak from your core. Focus on relationships. Stop doing just the “best practices” that everyone else is trying, but make your own mark.

Stop trying to fit in, faking it along the way with the hopes going viral will solve everything. Ze Frank shared an amazing video this week that embodies this mentality with elegance and honesty:

Thank you.
-Dan

About Dan Blank

Dan Blank is the founder of WeGrowMedia, where he helps writers share their stories and connect with readers. He has helped hundreds of authors via online courses, events, consulting, and workshops, and worked with amazing publishing houses and organizations who support writers such as Random House, Workman Publishing, Abrams Books, Writers House, The Kenyon Review, Writer’s Digest, Library Journal, and many others.

Comments

  1. Dan … I really appreciate this and it came at the right time.

    I have, over the course of a year, developed some nice relationships with half a dozen folks that I met through social media … but it is the real conversations (in person and by phone rather than on line) that have made them so valuable. And yet I still drive myself crazy with “tweet teams” et al. I think I will take today off.

    Thanks

  2. Dan,
    It is true. I value the deeper, more authentic relationships. Writers face a conundrum because of the tremendous pressure to build up big numbers on social media. Not only is the effort to rack up numbers a time suck but it also doesn’t work to advance the writer’s growth, as you point out. I believe a presence on social media is important but the focus should be on deeper relationships with writers who share common interests. Thanks for an insightful post.

  3. Dan, I love this post even more than usual. I think it expresses who you are and how you help writers better than almost anything else you have written.

    The irony is that for those of us who did not work on digital strategies “from the height of the first dot com boom, through the decade plus that followed,” there is a great deal of learning involved in developing the basic tools of blogging, using newsletters, making ebooks, let alone all the competing “social media” platforms.

    You think like an artist. You value authenticity above manipulation and narcissism. I love that.

    You help others develop the tools to communicate digitally. For some of us, this is a harder task as non-digital natives.

    Then you help them use them differently, combining them with old-fashioned relationship-building skills like listening, serving, thanking, and helping.

    My takeaway? I have 25 days left until I launch my first book, Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World. I’m going to spend those days focused as much as possible on the many people who inspired me and helped me along the way.

    Starting with you! Consider this a scroll written on parchment with a fountain pen.

    • WOW! Thank you so much Shirley! “You think like an artist” is pretty much the highest compliment I could hope for! Yay for the book launch!
      -Dan

  4. Ah you are preaching to the choir with this post, Dan. I used to have a web design company focused on business sites. Your article inspired me to look at current conversion tips by the experts, conversion is not how many clicks but how many of those clicks result in a sale! The tips are still the same as they were in 2001, and also useful for authors selling their books.

    Some authors treat their web sites like they remainder their works into a heap on the page. Your reader should not have to go to Wikipedia to figure out the order of a series! Some authors only show clips of praise reviews and no description or blurbs. Others talk about their latest quest for the perfect shoe with a sidebar of covers that link to their books on Amazon. I am not sure killer heels inspire anyone to buy a book.

  5. Dan, it seems that most entrepreneurs/writers don’t absorb the concept that building meaningful relationships is key, (not necessarily platform numbers). Like in every other facet of life! I suppose because they’re work and who has time for that? Yet I find these relationships are what enrich my experience as a writer as a whole.

    Thanks for another wonderful post!

    • So so so true Heather! I think it is likely a lot like the “rat race” of career and the search for wealth. Those who attain monetary wealth are the first to say that those numbers don’t add up to what is most meaningful about life.
      -Dan

  6. I feel like I have been waiting for this post for a long time. I wonder how long it will take before the proverbial pendulum swings the other way with all this social media stuff, and we all get to go back to doing something a wee bit more meaningful… perhaps, for those of us reading your words, for those of us who want our days to be meaningful, that day is today.

    Thanks, Dan! That video really struck a chord with me, simple yet powerful.

  7. YES.

    Social media should be something you do for fun and to be, well, social. It’s there to learn, reach out, and get to know people. To make connections (the biggest one I ever made was meeting my husband of 20 years online) :) If you are doing it just to sell, you are doing it wrong, IMO.

    Sam

  8. I love the words “quality” and “hand-written.” Thanks for a much-needed post. imho, bigger is never better.

  9. Your post echoes a lot of what I’ve been thinking myself. I’m pretty new to social media, and it seems to me that a lot of the “connections” one allegedly makes aren’t really real. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s nice when someone decides to follow me on Twitter. But sometimes I get the feeling that it’s not about them having any interest in me; rather, that it’s part of their own social media expansion. Which is fine, but does that really translate into book sales? I think you’re absolutely right; a few meaningful connections are more valuable than a thousand meaningless ones.

  10. Here’s what I have found: If you’re real and honest on social media, you DO get followers. No, not tens of thousands. I have a few hundred. But I like the fact that I can reach a few hundred people who actually care about what I have to say, who want to converse with me. And the number grows slowly.

    The digital world encourages immediate results, and we forget that some things simply take time.

    • So true! I’m always shocked when someone bemoans “ONLY” having 50 followers or “ONLY 200 followers. What if you had 50 or 200 friends that lived in your town? That’s HUGE!
      -Dan

  11. This is so on time for me. I sometimes felt like I was spinning my wheels to get out there. I was trying to find things to post that fit my target reader, and while I guess that was useful on some level, it wasn’t particularly effective. The posts I get the best responses to (thanks, FB Insights) tend to be the ones that are personal and making an effort to connect. And I’ve enjoyed social media the most when I’m being social (whether it be Twitter or FB; I still don’t get how Google+ works, unfortunately). So, I think you’re right, being social and connecting works best. It gets the best response because it’s genuine and people tend to like genuine.

  12. At first I worried…I’m good at that, but I’m also remaking myself, not into someone else, but into the person who’s truly on the inside. So now I blog about what honestly interests me, what’s near and dear to my heart, especially if it might help others in some small way. If only one person shows up then that means a more personal conversation and more cookies for us. I enjoy connecting with people, there’s little else that’s more stimulating, but I’ll not cheat them out of meeting someone real. Thank you confirming that real has value.

  13. Thanks, Dan. I needed that! Loved the post, loved the video, and feel more relaxed for having read and viewed them. You are right about the reality of true relationships. People will often forget your thoughts and words, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

    For authors trying to get their work noticed, the marketing pressure is overwhelming. We’re supposed to do everything now, now, now! Six weeks out from publication is your live or die window. It’s nice to know that there is another, gentler way to make it in this steamroller world of ours.

  15. Many, many thanks for this post, Dan. You DO think like an artist – while at the same time reminding us to reclaim our true selves.
    I absolutely love thank you notes – I find them gracious and old-fashioned in the best way. Thank you for reminding me that the small personal touches are what matter most.

  16. Thank you for saying this. It’s so true that it’s the personal connections that matter most and along with it, taking time to really listen to what people are saying.

  18. Thank you for the video link and the tip on Mixergy. Thanks too for your thoughts on platform. If I had read them a year ago, I wouldn’t have gotten it. But now that my novel is published, your words make me want to weep.

    Why? Well, mostly because it has taken so much energy trying to fill in all the squares, all the while wondering if I had the right page of squares to begin with. Then it took trial and error to learn – or relearn – how “I” communicate, learning to engage the world outside of my writing. Discovering what works, and what doesn’t, takes time and continual reflection.

    You hit the right note, which is that it starts with meaningful deliberately and with honesty. In recent months I’ve accepted that I’m never going to twitter randomly or blog voluminously … it’s simply not my nature. But I have also learned that when I speak from my heart about things that touch me, which happens to include themes explored in my novel, then I at times approach eloquence.

    So now I focus on sharing things that mean something to me, and images or ideas that might be of value to others. And I’ve found that when I do, people respond. What I’ve learned is that opening up about the novel ultimately involves tapping into the same vein that originally inspired it, those ideas that first prompted my desire to write.

    It’s been a long year, and I will likely never know the “tricks” of building platform. Perhaps I don’t need to, because I know a heck of a lot more about sharing, and bonding.

    • BARF factor comes to mind, Dan, when I think of the frenetic but useless pace social media efforts can impose on us–if we struggle for viral stardom.

      After taking your platform building course, I can say I’m thankful to have found meaning in using social media meaningfully. Thank you so much for helping us all pull toward our humanity.

  21. What a beautiful post. I love the words elegance, quality, and honesty. And I believe they’re all possible to maintain while reaching out to readers. Thank you :)

  22. Even though I love to blog, I’m not a computer guru. And the seer number of social networks to engage in does overwhelm me. How do Good Reads, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Plus–the list seems endless–work? Each has its own learning curve. And then, after all that, how do I have time leftover to write? That’s why I’m doing all this, right–to write.
    Thank you, Dan, for reaffirming my believe that I don’t have to engage in every social network under the sun. I just have to pick the ones that enable me to connect effectively.

  23. I’ve always thought the point of writing stories was to connect with other people. The books I treasure are the ones in which the author struck a chord on my personal harpsichord.

    Your post has given me hope that I can manage to strike achord online without becoming ubiquitous.

    Cheryl
    http://lynnettekentbooks.com

  24. Dan, I remember all your tweets from 2011, but that’s just me stalking you.

    Really though, your post is deep with feeling; great stuff. Thanks.

  25. That was amazing. Thank you for writing that. Sometimes I have a hard time pushing myself forward for the exact reasons you talked about in here; I’m more worried about “going viral” and garnering a lot of attention than appreciating the ones who already follow me. It’s always nice to hear words of encouragement like this. Thank you again!!

  26. Dan,

    Your post is a great relief. The fear I have about my “anything” going viral is to succeed at something that is not authentic. That would keep me up at night, keep me working more than trying to go viral in the first place. If the world comes to know me as someone I am not, I have failed.

  28. Thanks Dan, for this article. I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed with all the “author platform” building articles I’ve read and everyone telling me that I have to be on social media. Well, after building my website and building an author page on FB and finally learning how to use Twitter and Pinterest, now other writers tell me that I need to be on Google+. What? I had already decided I was not going to spend all my time on social media and instead focus on getting my second and third novels out to readers. Your article helped me to validate what I was already gonna do! And I thank you for that!

  30. Dan, I loved this post for so many reasons. I just had my sixth book some out, after a long hiatus from writing. In the hiatus, I found my platform growing from being involved with some online communities. It was pretty organic and satisfying, because I developed real relationships.

    I do have a question: I had an email subscriber list a few years ago but let my communications with those folks go as my career waned and life became chaotic. Is it still a good idea to start building a list, and if you were me, what would you do with that list?

  31. Dan,
    Thank you for such a great post. I have found that so much of what you say is true. It is a good reminder to continue to take the time to “connect” with others. Your video at the end was good too.

    I wrote a blog entry recently that mirrors your video a bit….you might enjoy it. Thanks once again for reminding us all to make people our focus, not “success” as the world would label it.

    Tracey

    http://www.traceylynnsthinktank.blogspot.com/2013/08/different-isnt-bad-its-amazing.html

  32. Well, you have my both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ for this statement you make, dear Sir: Why would we dissect a human being’s value to the body part that sees, but not the brain function that analyzes or the heart that cares.
    According to both the statistics and the Academic or Liberal Scientific findings about the human cognition, as well.

  34. Thank you Dan for writing this article!

    I found this article validating to how I have been feeling lately about my website, my work, and building an audience. It seemed that unconsciously I placed more importance on getting “followers” that developing my website and work and trying to connect with people who have been following me.

    I recently thought about stepping back from the pressure of gaining more followers and just have fun presenting my work and ideas to those who follow and discover me. If it is meant to be, my audience will grow, but even if I have a small audience, at least my work is influential or of interest or some!

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