Gavin Bennett's Blog: Get Social: Day 27 of the 2015 October Platform Challenge

We’re going to do the final 2 #platchal chats on Twitter for the month today at these times: noon and 8 p.m. Both will last roughly an hour and are Atlanta, GA, time (or EST). If you’re Central time, it would be 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.; Mountain 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.; West 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. If you’re none of the above, I would suggest using Google to get the time conversion.

Get Social

For today’s platform-building task, get social. That could include participating in one of the Twitter chats above. That could include making new connections. That could include responding to tweets and/or status updates.

Making a concerted effort to get social and forge deeper connections with your target audience and other like-minded writers, editors, and agents can only help bring about more opportunities for success.

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How Should I Get Social?

Getting social is more than just clicking the Like button on Facebook and Follow button on Twitter.

Here are a few ways to get social in a meaningful way:

Like with a comment. If someone shares a status update you love on Facebook, go ahead and click the Like button, but don’t stop there. Add a comment that shares your similar experience or an article that sheds even more light on the topic.
Re-tweet with a comment. It’s easy to click the re-tweet button on Twitter, and it’s also easy to include some context or a personal spin with that re-tweet. Doing so can help connect you with the initial tweet that you obviously found value in.
Direct message. If you want to add a comment or ask a question that you feel uncomfortable making public, send a direct message to the person and reference the tweet or update that sparked the comment or question in the first place.

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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community, which includes editing Writer’s Market and Poet’s Market. He regularly blogs at the Poetic Asides blog and writes a poetry column for Writer’s Digest magazine. He also leads online education, speaks on writing and publishing at events around the country, and does other fun writing-related stuff.