I’ll be honest… I’m kinda tech-savvy, but I’m really more tech-savvy adjacent. When I was young, I read that there are three kinds of tech users: those afraid to break their computers by touching it, those who have broken their computer by touching it, and those that go around and break other people’s computers. I’m firmly in the second camp… I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m usually willing to poke and prod at the tech to get what I need out of it (although rarely much more).
Hence running a podcast for years. I knew enough to edit the audio, to get the right software to the right people, and to make sure the mic setup worked, but anything past that point was usually out of my abilities.
The reason I mention all this is that at my day job I do bi-monthly streams to teach people about board games. I enjoy doing it, it’s fun and a neat way to engage with the audience, but I almost never do much more than the actual show. I can start the Facebook Live stream and writeup the thread, but that’s about it. My co-host for the last several years handled all the “social media” stuff, advertising and sharing and hashtagging as needed.
She’s moved on to greener pastures (for which I am very happy for her! Way to go Nat!), and one of my other colleagues has taken the torch from her. I overheard part of the transition conversation, and part of it was focused specifically on making sure you used relevant hashtags.
And the reason I mention that is because on here I keep a pretty close eye on the engagement numbers. They’re usually pretty consistent, but occasionally I will get these huge spikes of four or five times the number of people coming to the site (or spending longer on the site, which I also really appreciate!). If I was really on the ball, I’d dive into what those threads have in common and try to focus in on whatever topic that is… but that feels… I dunno, weird to me. I' come here to write, to keep people updated on what I’m working on (I hit the halfway point in the novel!), and because I enjoy it.
Sure, I want people to find and enjoy my books, no question. But spending time on doing that is time away from writing those books… at least more time away from writing those books, and I think I probably spend too much time on this business-side stuff already! Maybe someday I will have more time to devote to that side of things. But it is not this day.
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!