Author Website vs. Social Media

What comes up when you Google your name? Is it your professional profile or someone else’s? Is it a reckless remark you made online, or maybe an old, embarrassing photo of you at a party? Are the search results something you would want your readers to see?

Most authors understand the importance of taking charge of Google search results, but many feel that by being active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other social networks, they have full control over their brand.

Unfortunately, you can’t get all the same benefits from social media that you’d get from your own website.

On social media, you don’t have complete control over your brand. Any social network’s gatekeepers can shut you down if you go against their policies. Woe unto you if your book touches on a controversial subject such as gun control, domestic violence, or contemporary politics.

If someone, a troll or an unscrupulous competitor, reports your page, you might get banned or suspended. However, when you have your own website, they cannot ban you or report you.

(Well, okay, there are ways to get banned by your hosting company, but if you were to post the kind of content that gets you banned you would have more pressing problems than your website going offline… Knock-knock… It’s the FBI. Anyway.) On your website, you have complete control over your content.

A social network could also go defunct, and with it, you could lose your entire following. A close look at some of the trendiest social networks of ten years ago will reveal that a majority of them are now defunct.

Remember Orkut? Friendster? Yik Yak? They shut down operations due to various reasons. Now imagine if you’d used one of those social networks as your sole author platform. You’d have to start again from scratch. A real nightmare.

Social networks also tweak their algorithms regularly. These algorithm changes can make your profile or page undiscoverable. It would, in turn, lock you out of potentially getting more fans on the social network because you’d be virtually invisible. Why, then, would you want to put your entire career in the hands of a third-party? Relying on social media as your sole author platform is akin to building on quicksand. Not worth the risk.

Of course not! When coupled with a website, social media is one of the most effective brand-building strategies. With close to three billion active users on various social networks, you get a vast pool of potential fans right at your fingertips. You could showcase your writing on social media and link to your site to give it more exposure.

You could also boost your site’s visibility by engaging with other users on social networks such as Facebook. For example, commenting on Facebook writing forums using your fan page handle is a smart method of generating interest. Just make sure that your comments are relevant and helpful. The more helpful you are, the more interested people will be in checking out your website.

Building a brand requires visibility and credibility which you can achieve by having an active presence on social media and an up-to-date, informative author website. Cross-linking from one to the other is the best way to go.

For example, you can start commenting on Facebook writing groups and including your website URL in your comments. It’s the digital equivalent of leaving a business card after a meeting, the only difference being that you can now be at a hundred places in a day.

Whoever comes across your comments can then follow the URL to your website where they can read more of your writing.

Creating a Facebook fan page and growing your following would also work wonders for your author brand. Just make sure to remain active by posting relevant content that appeals to your demographic. You can then direct your followers to your author website where they can further check out and, hopefully, buy your work.

~ Nanda