Hey, so.
I understand that this is anecdotal and not research, but.
It is WILD how useless social media has become for promo. It's a fucking disgrace, really.
Yep, I kind of feel like I missed my window because it's just so hard now...
I try not to be like that and keep pushing but somedays are harder than others
I didn't try to publish when I was young, even though I wrote like a fiend. Now that I'm trying to get my stuff out, it's impossible to promote. I'm at the point where I'll just keep writing and hope some future soul sees my stuff, like a shopping list in the novel, Canticle for Leibowitz.
It's truly hilarious in my case bc I've been working on this stuff behind the scenes for 20 years and largely keeping it to myself til it was 'good enough.' 2023, official launch -- social media is basically dead and the last Big place for creators takes its final blow. Sigh.
i went from being able to decently advertise on twitter and make okay enough freelance money to consider pursuing it fulltime--to working a day job and going back to school because there's just no way to advertise effectively enough anymore. it's bleak.
No, you’re right. Marketing companies are ftfo about it and have been for a while. They just don’t want their clients to pull the plug on their accounts.
I ran Kickstarters for some tabletop gaming projects from 2018 on, and even then, social wasn't a massive source of referrals for us. I guess gaming is a strange beast, though, as that crowd is independently combing Kickstarter for projects to support.
I feel like traditional publishers are also scrambling to figure out where the readers are at as well. Nobody seems to have any answers. It's kind of tepid 'maybe be a guest on this podcast?' type stuff
When we were all in one place, it worked.
Much like streaming not working with so many players in the market, social media be broken up into so many different platforms means we'll never have the same "Townhall" again.
The two biggest ones, twitter and IG, both dead now. Even I have a hard time getting the word out about anything unless another art mutual happens to boost it. In turn, I never see their posts either
Do you think that any amount of the problem is a customer base that is just exhausted and beaten down? Out of cash and/or sick of having to look at new options to buy?
I built a following on Instagram that feels similarly useless nowadays. seems like everyone is sick of scrolling and being advertised to - even by indie creators.
my art business has taken an absolute nosedive. it's the worst it's ever been by far since I started in 2014
A good 90% of my patrons were people who discovered me/my work through Twitter. I deleted my account just over a year ago, and…I don’t even really see the point in promoting anything I make anymore. It’s really discouraging.
Most of times it’s just screaming to the effing void. Guess we do better moving our asses off and show up where people actually is — fairs, conventions and such.
But on the other hand SM has allowed me to know and connect with many great folks I wouldn’t have known about otherwise. Fifty-fifty.
I felt this, I can't say I was successful on Twitter, but I definitely felt my project was more seen before they started messing that platform up, and I've never seen the same visibility since.
Kids just getting started trying to be independent artists will never experience or understand what a real "grass roots" support network on Twitter or whatever can be like.
I've mentioned this before but early Kickstarters I ran? 1/3rd of the funding was from Twitter.
Its not been fun yelling about my work, discounted an all, and seeing very little traction.
I keep telling myself I love writing, but its been harder this year for me to listen...
i merely run a pretty rinky-dink pinball high score app, but here's what I've seen: Social media posts are good way to communicate into to existing customers, but a useless way to attract new ones. Word of mouth is king. Sales come in bunches, and happen when a streamer says ...
Twitter used to be where I'd get a lot ("a lot" for me) of support, both from RTs but also financially. Shop sales, YT views, commissions, memberships--a bulk was from Twitter. Now that it's hit the gutter, I've been getting nothing. I have no idea how you'd do it anymore.
It's honestly WEIRD. They have not only destroyed the ability to do it for free; they've made *paid* promotion useless as well. Which seems... counterintuitive.
Reminds me about when my band was getting started, I was told that instagram promotion was required to be successful by people far more successful than me. meanwhile when i open the app, every third post is an add. how are people even supposed to use this?
Social media used to depend on getting more users on the site to grow.
They had to make the user experience more pleasant.
Now they've figured out how to maximize profit with fewer users.
It's a bad way to spread the word about anything.
It's a damn shame, I learned about some of my favourite books by the buzz on Twitter. GIDEON THE NINTH came to my attention by hearing professional writers post about how exciting they found it.
I work in marketing and I've given up on social media as a lead generation channel since I first started my job in 2019 basically. The algorithm changes very quickly and chasing virality is pointless. It always felt like screaming into the void and now it feels even more so
Twitter was never much use for promoting music / bands. I have heard a lot of people say it was great for books / prose though, and I certainly discovered there (and sometimes chatted with) authors whose books I then bought. Facebook & YouTube used to be, but it's not cost-effective there now.
Skatune Network has posted vids about what the various algorithms do and I’ve seen sentiments echoed by others.
Add into that how isolating social media feels, especially when it pushes down what YOU want in favor of what THEY want you to see. Eventually the enshittification tops out, right?
You mean how these companies literally hold your followers for ransom, expecting you to pay to reach more of them? If you do they nuke your reach until you continue to pay more with diminishing returns. If you achieve anything organically they throttle you, particularly minority creators.
Basically every platform, even this one, suppresses things it flags as promo. I ran a giveaway and got next to zero engagement until I skeeted with no link to the actual book, carefully not using words that might flag it.
I'm sure a lot of replies say this, but social media is bad for self promotion unless you are lucky or pay $$$. My brother has been putting his books on Amazon for years and trying to promote on Social Media to crickets. His AI Dystopia book written years ago was actually really good. But crickets.
Oh yeah I do this tangentially for a living and would not recommend anyone spend time or money on social promo unless you already have a big following somewhere or the product is really, really perfect for the format. Instagram is the only one that converts at all and it's gotta be a perfect match.
People are forgetting that the bar for getting your work online is also on the ground.
You don’t have to build a website like in the 90’s to get your comic online.
So we are also screaming into the void from amongst an ocean of other creators using free platforms to sell and share their work.
It’s so frustrating and exhausting. I’ll post about an Event several times across 7-8 social media platforms over weeks/months, and still get DMs and emails from people asking if I’m having any Events. 🫠
I do worry about this for if I ever get to publishing my novel. Will people help me broadcast? People have said they will but roughly 99% of my writing posts here rarely get attention now. Really sucks the will to do things when I lack any community supporting me and cheering me on.
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