Tag: TikTok

Not Everything is Content

I just found a prompt on Loomly the other day (Loomly is a social media manager like Hootsuite except more user friendly and much cheaper) that suggested, just as I’ve seen suggested on TikTok, that ‘everything is content’. One should present what one is doing to the millions, thousands, or (in my case) dozens of followers on social media.

Photo by Guillaume Meurice on Pexels.com

I have problems with this. First, not everything someone does is ‘on message’. People expect a theme to one’s presence. On TikTok, @alexisnicole usually forages and makes amazing recipes with her wild crafting. @bdylanhollis cooks vintage recipes with often hilarious results. @dontcrossagayman tells his everyman hero stories about his interventions with bigots and creeps. They stay on message.

Second, not everything someone says should be out there. I have chronic bipolar depression. I know I can occasionally say “I’ve been dealing with depression,” but what I can’t do is go through a stream of consciousness about what it feels like to be depressed. That’s too much. I can’t ask my readers to be my therapist.

I must admit I struggle with content. I seem like I write all over the place, from reviews of apps to snippets of poetry to progress reports on my writing to my own personal experiences. If I have a message, it’s “This is what it’s like for me as a writer.” Part thunderstorms, part computer programs, part coffee, part cats, part violets. I hope it works, because I’m trying to stick to the good content.

Trust the Process

I have probably written this before, but it’s something I keep reminding myself. Write my blog, even if it doesn’t have a hundred followers (I do, but they don’t read regularly, I guess). Talk about my books wherever I can, even if it doesn’t yield many readers. Post on TikTok, even though I don’t reach over 250 humans (assuming they’re all human). Write that newsletter every three weeks, although I know that less than half my mailing list reads it.

Why do I keep up with my social media? Because I won’t get more readers if I don’t. I remind myself that 250 TikTokers are greater than zero, and 100 blog readers are greater than zero, and someday I may have more readers and more reviews on my books.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It’s hard. Writers want to write, and by writing, I mean works that showcase their talents. We don’t see promotional work as showcasing our talents as much as writing short stories or poetry or novels. In addition, we don’t enjoy promoting ourselves. It seems like bragging, or like annoying people while they’re drinking their morning coffee.

I have to trust the process — write my best, don’t always directly promote the books, be funny but be natural, and hope for the best.

Thank you for reading.

What is this TikTok thing anyhow?

I’m on TikTok. Yes, I have a TikTok. Yes, I’m old. Yes, I’m probably too old for TikTok. But I have these little books to sell, and anything that can help me do so is welcome.

Someone — a couple people — made obnoxious comments on my TikTok yesterday. The comments even included a reference to “WAP”. (And yes, I understood the reference. I’m not THAT old. If you’re that old, it refers to a really risque song by Cardi B whose lyrics I will not share).

When I get comments, they’re often not positive. Ok, the ones from my friends are, but the ones from the general public are often insulting or argumentative. I don’t know if it’s the nature of TikTok, the fact that I’m using it at 58, or something about me or my posts. I don’t answer the comments, because if I’ve learned anything in my old age, it’s ‘don’t feed the trolls’.

But what do you DO with TikTok?

I don’t really know what to do with TikTok. My mind doesn’t seem to work in a TikTok way. I don’t argue philosophy or eat plants from the forest or deliver speeches or do stand-up comedy. My stuff is like a fireside chat with a weird person. Here’s an example.

I guess what I need to do is find a niche. “Fireside chat with a weird person” probably isn’t a bad niche. But maybe a better one will come to me. I have to admit I come up with ideas about one minute till filming, which makes me a bit of an improv artist. A weirdo with a fireside chat, after all.

And I’m hoping for positive messages to outweigh the idiots who responded on my TikTok yesterday.