HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

There is blogging, myspacing, facebooking, twitter and probably a bunch more that I just don't know about. And yes, I do all of the above. Just click on the links and you will see myspace, facebook, and my twitter.

I believe word of mouth is still the best way to get your name, or product, or whatever, out there. I'm having some work done around my home, landscaping, concrete stamped patio and having my deck stained. Used to do all this work myself, but since you can't clone humans yet, well, decided to hire someone. Besides, must do my part to boost economy. However, I digress. Anyway, point being, I called my neighbors and friends and asked for recommendations. Heck, the guy coming over in about a half hour, I got off of Facebook. Yep. Facebook. And he's an old friend from high school. This should be interesting. So, I called only those recommended by people I know and trust. Generally, do the same with almost everything. Books. Computers. Software. Doctors. Even where to get my nails done (I've got the best girl ever, if anyone is interested). It's all word of mouth. Who needs the yellow pages. Just google it.

So, I think all these places are great places to be seen, get your name out there (if you like me and have a new book out!), get the name of your business out there, connect with fans, other business, anyway to network. That's the name of the game. And truthfully, networking, advertising, isn't about sales numbers. For me, it's not about selling a single book, but about saying, hey, this me, I write sexy, edgy romantic suspense novels and I happen to be a hockey mom times 3. Or whatever.

Even when a company purchases radio time, print ads, televisions, or even an ad in the yellow pages, it's really not about sales, but getting the right information out to the right people at hopefully the right time. Think about all those Superbowl commercials. Do we go running out to buy those products? Nope. But the ones we remember will stick with our subconscious so when we are out, and we see that product, whether we actually remember that commercial or not, the product seems, or feels familiar, and there is a good chance an impulse buy might occur.

Funny, I can still recite the Big Mac song. I can do it backwards. That is good advertising. But I won't buy a big mac. Not the point. Everyone knows the yellow arches.

So, how does someone create that kind of recognition? How does someone just starting, or with no marketing, advertising budget (like most authors) get their book, name, whatever, out there? I do think social networks, websites, are a great way to do that. I have meet a lot wonderful people there and have gotten many great recommendations for books that I might have never heard of. I think it can be a very effective and powerful tool. It is a time suck, but once you get it set up, established, and then only commit a certain amount of time to it each day, it can do a lot for you. I truly believe that, although I have no proof to back it up.

However, I wonder how much is becoming redundant. Today, while on my TweetDeck, which gives me both twitter and facebook updates, I realized, some people I follow on Twitter, or follow me, or both, and those I am "friends" with on facebook, are the same, therefore, I am getting the same updates. So, I went to myspace page and found that many of my friends there are now my friends on facebook and we follow each other on twitter. While it's really not that many (I didn't count) there is some overlap and I wondered how many people are getting annoyed with me because they are getting the same information more than once, or worse not seeing it all because they are being bombarded with it so many times they just gloss over it. I found myself doing that. I saw something come up on my Facebook page from someone and though, Oh, I just saw her on twitter, so I don't need to read this. Lucky for me, it was a good friend who had also sent me an email telling that the article she had put there she thought I would be interested in, and she was right.

One thing to consider. My myspace page seems to be more professional in a way. Most of my "friends" are fellow authors, a few fans, and fans of some of my fellow authors. My Facebook page consists really of more true friends, or as of late, everyone I used to know in high school but haven't seen in decades, but they live right down the street and we shop at the same grocery store. That was simply exhausting to write. Anyway, I tend to use facebook more to talk to friends. Sure, what I post on Twitter, also goes on Facebook, and on Myspace, but those are status quotes. I actually blog on myspace. Will put this blog post up there. Twitter I tend to ReTweet more than anything. I have friends who are experts or have really great books that I like to let other people know about. My Facebook friends are enjoying those status updates, although, I have frightened a few with my sending them to my friends blog regarding forensics for writers. But, I did send my friends to an author who has a book coming out which will make a great father's day gift. Wonder if they purchased. Could be. In that case, all of this is worth it. Well, at least for the author of the book. Which, by the way, you can get if you click here. Look for the book that comes out 2 June. WDW. You'll see what I mean when you get there.

So, I'm thinking all this is good, but I want to know what everyone else thinks. I say twitter, and some people run for the hills.

I am a firm believe that all these social networks have a purpose, and used properly, can really help with branding and name recognition and ultimately building a base. Tell me your thoughts on the subject.