Special Sunday: Social Networking Class for Writers

I am happy to announce that I’m going to be teaching another class for WOW! Women On Writing. I am super excited about this class because it is about one of my new favorite loves–SOCIAL NETWORKING–and ways to use it as a writer. So, here are the details:

SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR AUTHORS: TWITTER, FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN AND MORE! by Margo L. Dill

START DATE: Monday, February 22, 2010

DURATION: 4 weeks

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This class will teach writers how to use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites such as Shelfari or Jacket Flap (students’ choice) to network; to build a following of fans; to start working on a brand/image; and to promote books, articles, magazines, and blogs. Instead of using Facebook and Twitter to write about your fabulous dinner or disastrous day at the grocery store, you will learn to sell yourself and your writing!

WEEKS AT A GLANCE:

Week One: Facebook: We will discuss how to use Facebook to promote yourself and your writing. We will talk about posting links to your work, using status updates to promote writing, joining Facebook groups for writers, and even starting a Fan page for yourself or your work.

Assignment: Create a Facebook profile if you haven’t yet, complete your Facebook profile, make it scream writer!, join at least one writing group and become active!, and start promoting your writing with your Facebook page.

Week Two: Twitter: My favorite marketing tool ever is Twitter. Twitter can be used in so many ways as a writer—to promote your work, to follow writers and editors who provide useful information, to find other writers for support, and to discuss writing. You will learn how to do all of this and more on Twitter. You will be introduced to two Twitter tools—Tweetdeck and Hootsuite, and you will register yourself with Twellow.

Assignment: Create a Twitter profile if you haven’t yet. Make your Twitter profile scream writer! Start tweeting. Participate in a writers’ chat. Register with Twellow. Try out Tweetdeck or Hootsuite.

Week Three: LinkedIn: This week, we will talk about how to use LinkedIn as a writer. LinkedIn seems harder for people to figure out and use to market yourself, but there are ways through your status updates, by checking out your contacts’ contacts, by recommending others and having them recommend you, and by participating in LinkedIn groups.

Assignments: Create a LinkedIn profile and/or complete yours. Make it scream writer! Join a few LinkedIn groups. Find more contacts. Check out your contacts’ contacts and link to them.

Week Four: More Social Networking and Evaluation: The content in this week’s class will depend on the participants in the class. The instructor will do a survey to find out what people are most interested in learning about and trying out with guidance: Shelfari? JacketFlap? Digg? Students will also fill out a class evaluation.

Assignments: Try out one or two of the social networks that classmates are most interested in. Fill out the class evaluation.

Materials needed: a computer with Internet service, e-mail address, and ability to sign-up for free Google Account. You also must be willing to sign up for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts if you haven’t already.

COST: $100, which will include four weeks of instruction on how to use social networking as an author and one critique for each student of a social networking profile page—student’s choice.

Here are some nice things people said about me and my classes:

Margo is the Queen of Social Networking! As WOW! Women On Writing’s social networking manager, Margo implements and oversees our Twitter and Facebook accounts. She creates and organizes unique promotions and contests to build a following of loyal fans, and keeps them up to date with the latest developments from WOW!. Since she started promoting WOW! on social networks this past year, I’ve seen a tremendous rise in traffic to our site and a greater response to our promotions. She also created a multi-user system, so that our team members can post updates as well, which eliminates any confusion and harmonizes all of our sub-accounts. Most importantly, Margo has the finesse, knowledge, and creativity it takes to keep our fans interested and eager to participate. If you want to learn how to use social networks effectively, I highly recommend Margo as an instructor. ~ Angela Mackintosh, CEO WOW! Women On Writing

The best part of the class was Margo’s accessibility. No matter how trivial the question was, she got back to us with an answer quickly. ~ Pat, student from Margo’s children’s magazine writing online course

If you are interested in signing up, you can just go to this link: WOW! Women On Writing Classroom.

Here’s a book I recently read about social networking. I recommend it!