Social Butterflies Trump Worker Bees on Social Media–Meet the Connector

 

There are a number of approaches to being successful on social media, but I have a confession to make. I am lazy. Really. If I gave into my nature, I am so lazy I could easily slip into a coma. Don’t let anyone sell you lies. Worker bees didn’t create the wonders of modern society, so don’t go thank the industrious. Go thank the lazy and impatient.

See, the lazy man didn’t want to get up out of his chair to turn the channel, so he invented the remote control. The lazy woman didn’t want to spend each and every moment entertaining her child, so she invented toys that whistle, sing and dance. It was lazy and impatient people who envisioned a world where we could drive a car—FAST— instead of having to bounce around in a carriage and hop several trains to go on vacation. The lazy and impatient invented cell phones so they didn’t have to wait on return phone calls and concocted drive-thru burger joints so they didn’t have to cook.

Okay, so maybe this is a little bit of tongue-and-cheek.

The Big Lie–Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid

Here’s the thing, society—especially American society—sells us a lie. We are basically told that the people who work 90 hours a week are more productive and valuable. Thus, what happens is many of us take this lie hook, line and sinker and then drag it into our writing lives. We believe that if we aren’t spending hours and hours on social media, that we aren’t being productive. We need to be good little worker bees and everything will turn out dandy if we put in enough time.

Wrong.

Working until we are half dead doesn’t mean we are productive. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. It means our approach is grossly inefficient. Lazy Kristen actually helps me be more efficient, crazy as that might sound. More on that in a moment.

Three Main Approaches to Social Media for Writers

The Water Cooler Writer—Many writers fall into the Water Cooler Writer category, especially when first starting out. This writer is on social media, but with no defined purpose and no real activity that will create a meaningful author platform. This writer often tweets using a cutesy moniker like @FairyWriter. She might blog about the writing experience or her daily struggles to be taken seriously, but her actual name is hard to find unless you work for Homeland Security.

None of the Water Cooler Writer’s activities are focused or involve strategy. She is waiting until she has a finished book and an agent to worry about building an author platform.

This is an okay place for any writer to start (though not ideal). This is basically the social media training wheels stage. But, if your goal is to race the Tour de France–*cough* be a professional published author that sells books—then the training wheels need to go.

The Automated Writer—This writer takes efficiency seriously…too seriously. He automates everything he can. He has a web page and a social media account on Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Goodreads, Technorati…..

He is EVERYWHERE…or is he?

No one has ever actually talked to this writer, so he never connects. This is a viable way to do social media, but the ROI (return on investment) is dismal.

Every time I hear someone whine that Twitter doesn’t sell books, I already know what their twitter stream will look like…a perfect row of Spam. This method will sell books eventually, sort of like if we spam 100,000 people with news of their inheritance from a relative they never knew they had living in Ghana some sucker person will eventually click the link and send cash. This is a game of mass numbers.

A lot of writers are wearing themselves out on social media because they are the Water Cooler Writer—they are chatting with friends and don’t have strategic content to build a brand OR because they are the Automated Writer relying on a tactic that takes MASSIVE volume for any return. This is worker bee behavior. Sure, do enough of this and it might pay off…but it sure is a lot of WORK and TIME, time we need to write more great books.

So today, I am going to tell you guys the secret to being a WANA Writer. WANA Writers are smart, charming and known for being strangely good-looking.

Wait…okay, yeah that’s true but not part of what we are talking about today.

WANA Writers work as a team and create communities. WANA writers work smarter, not harder. WANA Writers know that the only way to sell books is to 1) write a good book and 2) word-of –mouth. Thus, the WANA Writer, when she isn’t absorbing every lesson she can about craft and writing an awesome novel, knows that she needs to work on spreading word of mouth. WANA Writers know that being a worker bee is great, but knowing a social butterfly is better.

Last week I introduced you to the three people you MUST know to start a word of mouth epidemic—the Connector, the Maven and the Salesman (per Gladwell’s The Tipping Point). These are the Social Media Social Butterflies.

The Law of the Few

Why do we need to find a Social Media Social Butterfly? Because of what economist Malcolm Gladwell calls The Law of the Few:

People pass on all kinds of information to each other all the time. But it’s only in the rare instance that such an exchange ignites a word-of-mouth epidemic…..the success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular set of social gifts.

(page 32-33 of The Tipping Point)

See, the Worker Bees aren’t who change the world (well, not quickly at least). It’s really up to the Social Butterflies. These are the people who pollinate the world with an idea. Without them, there is no genesis of new thought.

Three Kinds of Social Media Social Butterflies

There are three kinds of Social Butterflies—the Connector, the Maven and the Salesman. These are the people with the social gifts required to spread a message around the globe. Some people are only one type of Social Butterfly, but some are two and some even rarer people are actually all THREE.

Meet the Connector

Today we are going to introduce the first of our Social Butterflies—the Connector. The Connector is that person who seems to know everyone.

Remember we talked about the importance of getting sticky in order to market books. As a WANA Writer, we understand that we might not be a Maven a Connector or a Salesman, but we can get to know people who ARE. WANA Writers know to get sticky by association. WANA Writers don’t waste time trying to change their personality. WANA Writers focus on working smarter, not harder so WANA Writers learn to pay attention for signs of a Social Media Social Butterfly. Today, we will talk about the first one…The Connector Butterfly.

Signs of a Connector:

Connectors are authentically active on social media. Just like real butterflies love flowers, social butterflies LOVE people, and this includes Connector Butterflies. They can’t help themselves.

If you click on a profile and someone has nothing but automated messages, this is not a good sign this person LOVES people. In fact, this connection is almost worthless for the purposes of spreading word-of-mouth. These people might be good to learn from, or a good source of information, but they aren’t going to help us much when it comes to expanding our platform.

Connectors know a lot of people, because they talk to a lot of different kinds of people. Connectors seem to know all kinds of people from all walks of life, professions, backgrounds, etc. They have a foot in all kinds of subcultures and niches, so we don’t have to go through many degrees of separation to all get to this person. Connectors collect friends like a child might collect pretty rocks.

Connectors like…connecting.  This seems a little obvious, but it’s true. The Connector is the person at the cocktail party who is guaranteed to introduce you around and plug you into a group of people with like minds and interests. The Connector is a social media Match Maker. She pollinates flowers (people) and creates the seeds of friendship. People thrive with a Connector in their midst.

Connectors are multi-dimensional. Connectors might be fellow writers, but they are passionate in other areas as well. They aren’t the All Writing All the Time Channel. They have friends in other walks of life and interests beyond craft and publishing.

Many Bloggers are Connectors. Bloggers are the new way of spreading the word. People who blog and are good at blogging are the movers and shakers of the Digital Age. Get to know the good bloggers. Read their blogs, RT for them, comment on their posts. Connectors remember names and faces, so are they seeing yours?

Missing Out on Connectors

One of the reasons that it can handicap us so much by keeping our writing life totally and utterly separate is that we miss a lot of opportunities to meet Connectors. If we have a Facebook page for only writers and only blog about writing and tweet only with people in the publishing industry, then we miss opportunities to fold other worlds into ours. We miss out on possibly connecting with a Connector, because our focus is too exclusive—Writers Only. All Others Keep Out

Spotting a Connector

Probably the best Connector I have witnessed on social media is @PiperBayard. Follow her and watch how she handles Twitter. Read her blog. Piper is friends with all kinds of writers, but she literally knows EVERYONE. Piper was an attorney and she writes humor and post-apocalyptic fiction, and even though Piper is a writer first, this Connector Extraordinaire has a foot in more worlds than I can keep straight. She is kind, authentic and generous to everyone she meets. Watch Piper for a day or two and you will know exactly who to look for when it comes to making friends with Connectors.

@AmyShojai and @GeneLempp are two more prime examples of this rare Connector species. #MyWANA has been a prime watering hole where it is easy to spot Connectors stopping by for a sip of social time. In the coming weeks we will talk more about the Maven and Salesman and I’ll even offer more ways to find and connect with these movers and shakers of social media.

So what are your thoughts? Does this make you feel better? What advice would you add? I love hearing from you!

And to prove it and show my love, for the month of September, everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. If you leave a comment, and link back to my blog, and mention my book We Are Not Alone in your blog…you get your name in the hat THREE times. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly.

I will pick a winner every week for a critique of your first five pages. At the end of September I will pick a winner for the grand prize. A free critique from me on the first 15 pages of your novel. Good luck!

Note: GRAND PRIZE WILL BE PICKED THIS MONTH. I am keeping all the names for a final GRAND, GRAND PRIZE of 30 Pages (To be announced at the end of September) OR a blog diagnostic. I look at your blog and give feedback to improve it. For now, I will draw weekly for 5 page edit, monthly for 15 page edit.

In the meantime, if you want to learn more about how to spread word-of-mouth and build your platform, sign-ups are open for my Blogging To Build Your Author Brand on-line workshop. It’s two months long–one month of lessons and one month of launch and it is ONLY $40.

I also hope you pick up copies of my best-selling books We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media and Are You There, Blog? It’s Me, Writer . Both books are ON SALE for $4.99!!!! And both are recommended by the hottest agents and biggest authors in th biz. My methods teach you how to make building your author platform FUN. Build a platform and still have time left over to write more great books! I am here to change your approach, not your personality.

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  1. Okay, you finally sold me. I’ve been following you for a while now, and don’t typically buy how to books. But…

    Thanks for the constant stream of great tips.

    1. Thanks! I hope you enjoy it. My How-To books are way funner though 😀

  2. OMG!!! Looky there———————–>@KristenLambTX mentioned moi (almost) the same breath as @PiperBayard and @GeneLempp

    SNOOPY-DANCE-‘o-JOY! Best shiny object I’ve seen all day. Thanks!

    Obviously I’m “liking” and “tweeting” this awesome post (even if I wasn’t in it).

    Oh, and yes–strangely attractive or at least strange. *s* Thanks m’dear.

    1. Lol. I feel the same way, Amy. Much happy dancing happening here.

      1. Wow! Not only mentioned, but mentioned with two people I admire, Piper and Amy, to use a phrase from my youth: “Waaay Awesome!”

        Lol, Amy #shecracksmeup

        Kristen, you just made my week. Always a doll, thanks 😀

    2. I did my snoopy dance for all three of you Amy, BECAUSE Y’ALL ARE *MY* PEEPS!! i knew the three of you were “strangely attractive” but did not have the word “Connector” in my toolbox yet. 🙂

  3. I recognize connectors easily in my typical life (face-to-face interaction) and have benefitted from having these friends. In the tweet world, it takes a little longer to spot. But there are some people who have a knack for names and faces and reaching out to all. Great post!

  4. How do you create such a steady stream of quality content. The subject is interesting, but what blows me away is the writing is always amazing. I don’t mean to sound so surprised, but there are so many bloggers (myself included?) who blog without knowing how to write well.

    Thanks again for all of your great advice.

    1. Awwww, thanks. How do I write so much great stuff? I learned by writing a lot of crap. We learn by doing is all I can say. I had lots and lots of practice and trial and error. There are also some tactics that I have come up with that I now teach in my Bloigging for Brand Class *hint, hint* :D. Thanks for the lovely compliment.

      1. Kristen, I tried finding when your next class was, but I couldn’t find it. Of course, that was about 3 weeks ago, maybe your site’s been updated.

        1. I just hired a PA, so will be catching up on updating everything. There is a link for my most current class at the bottom of this post :D.

  5. This is all so true! (Especially the part about MyWANAs being strangely good looking.) Piper Bayard is indeed awesome. “Connector” is a great word. I don’t know the other two, so I’ll have to check them out.

    And I totally agree about people who go automated. A number of established authors I like do this, but I actually had to block them on FB, because they send all their tweets to every social medium (even LinkedIn.) They dominated my FB page. And tweets just look stupid in LinkedIn. That’s for your resume and business stuff, not musings about your tomato garden.

    Another great post. Will RT!

    1. Anne – You pretty much summed up everything I wanted to say. Piper’s awesome and spamming makes puppies cry…

  6. Hahaha! Glad I’m not the only lazy person here. This is great advice. I certainly know how to spot the connectors in face to face life, still working on how to figure it out in social media life. It is hard to sort out the people who tweet constantly but don’t have a lot of meaningful connections from the people that tweet a lot AND have lots of people paying attention to them. The number of followers they have is not always an accurate indicator. Thankfully “we are not alone” and I know I will be able to navigate these murky waters with friends.

  7. Hi Kristen ~ Lazy, procrastination, maybe even fright. Whatever the reasoning, your advice is wonderful. I can’t wait to open your blogs when I see them in the inbox. Now that I know what to look for, everyone will be seen in a brand new light. Thanks for your teaching!

    • Denise Wolf on September 14, 2011 at 12:06 pm
    • Reply

    These are good points. I just want to make sure we acknowledge, sorry if I didn’t see that you did, that these concepts were originated by Malcolm Gladwell in his book, “The Tipping Point.” Excellent book and writer by the way.

    1. I’m not sure if Kristen did in this post, but she’s repeatedly given credit to the Tipping Point and encouraged people to go out and get it. I have a copy somewhere, Kristen has convinced me to finally read it.

  8. This does make me feel better!

    I can’t write well but I wrote a book anyways. I’m the Water Cooler Writer on Facebook and I have a following on my blog but I can’t get people to comment.

    I’ve been told it’s because I’m not humble enough – I come across as a know-it-all.

    You are very approachable. Thank you for lending your personality and your insights.

    Tim Richardson, PT
    http://www.PhysicalTherapyDiagnosis.com

  9. I have an appointment to explain #MyWana with someone who wants to be part of the twibe, but feels she is coming late to the party. I will explain all of this bountiful advice to her over the phone. Sometimes it is much easier to explain the benefits of Twitter while giving a tutorial about TweetDeck at the same time. Sometimes even writers have to talk. 😉

    1. And that you did – explain, tutor, and share the knowledge! So very glad to have had our conversation (bionic or marathon); it was great, as well as very helpful!

  10. It’s just so true. There are some folks out there who seem to know everyone, and who are always happy to meet you and bring you into the circle.

    I’m honored by the compliment and the shout out. What marvelous company you put me in. 🙂 Thank you.

  11. These types of social media personalities are also how different types of people behave in the “real world”. It’s just obvious out there on Tweetdeck for all to see 🙂

  12. So right about connectors, and your examples are exactly the people I would name. I think Tiffany White is on her way to being a connector too. I know I am so appreciative whenever they chat or RT one of my posts, so I make it a commitment to share their posts as well. And like Renee, I try to give back to writers I met at a conference who are just starting out and direct them to your blog, or other writers I know will help them with their WIP’s.

    When does your Author Blogging class start? I’m interested in taking it but plan to do NaNoWriMo too? Would I be way to overboard with WWBC in there too? What’s your advice for this workload/when might you be teaching it again?

    1. You are right on about Tiffany, a great connector. Class starts in October. Taking it is my birthday gift from my wife 🙂

    2. Ditto, Jess! I tell Tiffany all that time that she seems to know SUCH fun people…but then she is way fun herself (and extraordinairily kind…that’s how these tweeps all stand out. 🙂 )

  13. This blog post made me feel better because I was already “connected” to (following/stalking on Twitter, same thing right? jk) these three lovely social butterflies. I think what really makes these three stand out from all the other tweeps is that they always take the time to write such personalized messages whether its on a blog post or on Twitter. They are very very sticky people!

    1. Hey, Nicole! I’m on your blog today. Super cool 🙂

  14. This does help. I’m that shy person at the party standing the corner waiting for someone to come talk to me while at the same time nervous that someone will come talk to me. The only time this doesn’t hold true is in my own world. In my home with my own party or on my blog entertaining my readers, I’m full of confidence and know just what to say to make people feel comfortable. I LOVE people, I just don’t know what to say to them that will ellicit any interest. I’ve tried, I’ve taken good advice and flubbed it anyway. So, I guess following a connector could help. Thanks.

  15. Great article! I am happy to know that some how with the millions of tweeters out there, I have met Gene, Piper, and Amy! Luck of the Irish I am guessing. They are amazing connectors and I feel very lucky to know them!

    1. Thanks, Susie. Great to know you as well 🙂

  16. Thank you for the great post Kristen. As much as I love to talk to people, I don’t seem to conect easily online and I never know what to write on my blog. I’m starting to feel like the greased pig among the sticky Butterflies.

  17. I just started reading your blog–I honestly forget how I stumbled on it. I’m going to post even though I have nothing to say–except I love and desperately envy your enthuasiasm, Kristen. I am at the moment overwhelmed with many things (starting a blog, learning html, getting my book on kindle, making a cover, copyediting a manuscript, trying to get paid for last month’s copywriting gig, to name a few.) -Sally

  18. Piper was the first connector I met, followed by Jami Gold (@jamigold). These two taught me the ropes and I’m honored beyond words (almost, cause I guess I typed that *grins*).

    There are a ton of fine people on #MyWANA and it’s founder, Kristen, is the finest of all.

    1. Aww, thank you, Gene. It’s funny that I’ve known some people on Twitter since they first started (Tiffany White for another example), and now they’re doing great things to be huge connectors themselves. I’m honored to have been a part of that. 🙂 *hugs*

      1. Go, Jami…you were one of my first peeps too. 🙂

  19. Thanks for another helpful blog. I reached out to @kaitnolan on one of your previous posts and I was super excited when she posted back! I can’t wait to see what Piper, Gene and Amy have to say on their accounts.

  20. Still in baby step mode here. I’ve been following #MyWANA for a while, but haven’t yet taken the plunge and tweeted anything. It’s too easy to just lurk. One day, though.

  21. As always, great information Kristen. I have been over and over WANA, making notes and working on defining my course of action. I also loved your course in Candace Havens’ loop last fall. Am ready for more 🙂

    I do need to talk to you about a consent thing if you could email me off-list (email at my blog)
    Thanks!

  22. Great post, Kristen! I try to stay on the Connector track, but I’m still working out how to balance that with the rest of my life. (Yes, I suffered burnout from my Twitter addiction. *gasp*) So sometimes I’m Connector, sometimes I’m an Info Source, and sometimes I just try to be a friend to my #myWANA buddies. 🙂

    1. You are always a friend 🙂 *hugs back*

      Jami is the one that talked me out of my “egg” and said “If you step in that stay off my carpet!” *joking on the second one* but she does make the best homemade virtual brownies on Twitter.

  23. I’m fairly new to Twitter and blog-style branding and I recognize all three expert butterflies. (In other words, Amy, Piper and Gene *must* have super skills.) Piper left the most thoughtful and encouraging comment on my blog a couple of weeks back — inspiring to say the least.

    Thanks for the fantastic post, Kristen. I’m excited each time your blog pops up in my email box and am never disappointed.

    Hope everyone’s having a super day!

  24. Laughing at the “laziness intro” to your post. I’d add the “repeat play” button on DVD players. Not that I’ve used it [more than 50x] or anything with my twins. Yes, laziness spawned many inventions. Laziness might have spawned many of us, too, with parents wanting an excuse to stay in bed a little longer. 😉

    Cheers to Piper and Gene, two of the kindest peeps out there. It was Clay Morgan who introduced me to them (and to you and to Renee and to Rob and to Jess and to Tyler and to…), so he too is a quality connector.

  25. I’ve been working towards making my blog and tweets more connecting- I’ve been reading your book 🙂 One thing I realized is I need to update my bio- esp on Twitter- it’s just about my writing, but I’m more then that and I want to connect to more people not just other writers. Thanks for helping me focus on what I need to do.
    And I’m copying the lazy part of your post and showing my husband 🙂 Now I have an excuse to not get off the couch lol!

  26. So new to all this and so much to learn – In real life I am not only a ‘worker bee’ but with my many ‘hats’ on, taking on different roles in different parts of my life, am often a connector but on twitter et al I feel lost, not able to recognise who I am ‘meeting’ and ‘talking’ to – so thanks again Kristen for insight and advice put in a way that makes me feel it’s possible to win through.

  27. Way to go Piper, Gene, and Amy!

    An up and coming connector is definitely @NatalieHartford. She’s super sweet and has the sassiest blog.

    The more comfortable I get with Twitter, the more fun I have pimping out my new blogging friend’s posts than my own.

    Great advice as always, Kristen.

  28. Interesting. I’m not a social butterfly in face to face situations, but I’m becoming one on line and I love to connect people. I especially love to support other authors whose work I admire. If someone gives me a book to review and I love it and they’re really nice people, I’ll do whatever I can to help them. I figure that anyone who writes a good book deserves to be read and for that they need others to help them let people know it exists. Do unto others and all that. @tahlianewland

  29. I learned a valuable lesson in college. Every hour you work in a week is valuable…up till that fifty first hour. Every hour after that will set you back. (My lab partners decided to work on a project all night after I’d left. I came back to find that they’d fried the entire thing and we had to pretty much start over)

    Connectors? They often actually read my twitter posts from time to time and respond. That’s huge. That means they’ve taken the time to notice me. And that’s how they make friends.

  30. Sounds like the way I approach housework. If someone else wants to beat me to the dishes, who am I do deprive them of the pleasure? Thanks … this was fun and insightful at once 🙂

  31. Hi Kristen-thanks for another great post! I happily linked to your blog and books today over at my site.

  32. I love Gladwell’s stuff, Tipping Point especially, but also Outliers. Anyway, I feel I’m a connector in real life and online. I’d say you’re a maven and a connector!!

  33. I’m with Coleen, anyone can do the dishes for me. LOL

    Thanks for another very helpful post. Now that I have been following your blog for a while, more of this is making sense. My learning curve for new tech stuff is VERY steep.

  34. Treating others well and trying to genuinely help them is always a recipe for success in social media or in the real world.

  35. The thing that you teach that made me listen when I heard it is be authentic. So simple, yet often overlooked. And I know how to be authentic. You are right about all three of the Tweeps that you mentioned (I tweeted the other day that Gene Lempp tweets my new blog posts before I can even find my pants). Also, I know how awesome it was when Tiffany White replied to my very first ever #MyWANA tweet.

    • loubelcher on September 16, 2011 at 5:51 am
    • Reply

    Yes, It’s important to employ the social part of social media. Spreading the word of others. Yea!

    Lou

    • Emberchyld (Carli) on September 16, 2011 at 6:12 am
    • Reply

    My biggest pet peeve is the auto-retweeter. I love being on authors’ twitter feeds to hear about their books, their suggestions (this is how I found your blog!), and a fun social connection. But when 99% of an author’s twitter feed is made up of retweeted praise from fans, it really bothers me!

    Thanks, as always, for the advice!

  36. Thanks for this great post! I love how you have the social butterflies broken down into categories. I just had the great pleasure of connecting with Renee A. Schuls-Jacobson, who I consider to be a great writer, as well as a wonderful connector. We had an amazing conversation on the phone, and I was so taken with her selflessness. She recognized that folks had helped her out, and she had no problem paying it forward; actually was more than happy to do so!

    I found Renee through another blogger, and now I have found you through her. Needless to say, I feel very fortunate to have connected with individuals that are so willing to share their knowledge about writing, as well as Twitter.

    Again, thanks for the great post, and I look forward to learning from your very informative writing.

  37. I follow @PiperBayard and you’re right. The woman talks to everybody. Personally, I’d hate to have to stick to following only fellow writers; there’s so much more out there to see, hear, and talk about, why limit myself? At this point, Twitter is my only social media outlet, but I’m having a blast interacting with so many people that I doubt I need–or could handle–anything else right now.

  38. Thanks so much for this post. You convinced me: I’ve got a lot to learn.

  39. Great post. I always knew I had a lot to learn about the art of social media, and while I am not a spammer, I link once or twice a day to my novel whilst ‘chatting with others’, I did not realize I had to much to learn. Thank you.

    I have followed Piper for a while. She is fantastic in a great many ways.

    I have been toying with the idea of changing my twitter name for a long time now. But I am afraid that I will loose followers. I guess the ones worth keeping are the ones who know me and know my real name anyway. How do you recommend one goes about changing a twitter name? Is it possible?

  40. And connectors are awesome! They’re a friendly bunch so I want to hang out with them as much as possible. 🙂

  41. I’m diggin’ the Gladwell shout-outs!

    1. I need to e-mail him and become his friend :D.

      1. Why yes, yes you do. As do I, but I’m pretty sure he’d be like, “and how many times have you been to New York?”

        And I’d say, “Enough to know how to get to Strand on foot without direction, but not enough to pay rent.”

        And he’d say, “Well sorry, dude. Write some more books and then we can get BFF rings.”

        And I’d say, “Footnote: See also Kristen Lamb.”

  42. Just jumping in on this series and finding it very interesting. Thank you so much for sharing such bits of wisdom. Especially with one who sometimes feels as though she’s drowning in the sea that is social media, never truly knowing in which direction land lies. lol

    My question, which I hope you won’t mind answering is, if one is tossing around the idea of a pen name would it be best to start building the platform for that name early on? I blog also and am not sure whether to focus on the audience for that or focus my energies on the penname or both.

    Thank you, again! 🙂

    ~Dawna

  1. […] She teaches a GREAT blogging class– go – sign up now) wrote a fantastic post on how being a social butterfly trumps being a worker bee when it comes to social media. She introduces us to….the “connector”! Dang…I want to be a […]

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  8. Social Media Toolbox…

    […]Social Butterflies Trump Worker Bees on Social Media–Meet the Connector « Kristen Lamb's Blog[…]…

  9. […] that there were three critical people to know on social media.  First, we talked about the Connector. Connectors are vital. These are the people who seem to know everyone. Then, last time, we discussed […]

  10. […] the fish. My goal isn’t to be one of those people who work 16-hours days; my goal is merely to become more efficient within the hours I have. I could have written a few pages in between folding clothes instead of […]

  11. […] to your own.  If you read Kristen Lamb (start now if you have not already) you know all about Social Media and WANA and how important it is to network with people who have similar interests and hobbies.  Get […]

  12. […] The Connector: Social Media Butterfly Extraordinaire […]

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