Social Media Marketing

When it comes to marketing social media can be a fickle friend. Worse, there are no hard and fast rules for dealing with social media, so you need to develop your own rules. In that spirit, here are some considerations.

1. Don't just advertise your comic. You don't want to be seen as a spammer, so you need to talk to these people every so often. Post funny pictures, make comments on other people's posts, and basically have some fun with the other people. Become friends with them in more than the sense that you have them on your friend/follower list; actually post things that have nothing to do with your comic. And comment on what you see; you want people to do the same for you, right? So do it for them, even if it's just a like every so often.
2. Be aware that game friends are unlikely to pay attention to your non-game posts. There are exceptions to this rule, but your gaming friends are unlikely to do more then want your gifts. This is not to say that you should not have any gaming friends, just be aware that they rarely add to your ability to market your comic.
3. Respond to friend requests as quickly as possible. The general rule is that you should respond within a day or two. This is just a matter of courtesy if nothing else. You can be selective; if I can't see anything in common with someone else, I am unlikely to reciprocate. This is not because I'm a mean person; I just have 5000 slots and I want people who I can talk to. Twitter followers are different; just because someone is following you does not mean you need to follow them, although it's not a bad idea, and it's not like there is a limit.
4. The big fish aren't as good as you think. Just because someone has 4000 friends on Facebook does not make them any more desirable than someone who only has 40. If anything, I would prefer the one with only 40 sometimes; they are likely to be more active, and so are more likely to check out your posts. Also, they are unlikely to have many friends in common with you as the guy with 4000, and too much overlap is a bad thing. If we know the same 2500 friends, the remaining 1500 are unlikely to be interested in what I'm doing, and most of those friends are unlikely to be very active.
5. Don't be afraid to drop someone who is obnoxious. I've been dropped a lot because of my religious convictions, and because I will defend my points, sometimes a little too strongly. I sort of expect to be dropped a lot, and I can deal with that. Social media should be people that you like to hang out with. Keep that in mind when someone starts putting a lot of posts on your wall that you find offensive.
6. It bears repeating, so: You are not required to keep as friends or accept friend requests from people you find offensive. I have a wide variety of friends, and I really hope no psychologist ever sees my friend list; he's going to think I have some serious MPD issues. But that's me; I still drop people who are too strong about advertising their beliefs, I hate spammers, and I really hate people that friend me just to friend me. Sooooo...Yeah, I drop people all the time.
7. Post new content. Don't just post the same thing everyone else is posting, but occasionally post your own content. And I'm not talking your own comic, but stuff from other sites you see. Or make your own inspirational images. Something. Just don't limit your posts to commenting on other's posts, sharing the same images, and your own links, okay?
8. Don't feel obligated to share or comment on every post on your wall. If you have enough followers, it will drive you nuts. For that matter, don't feel bad if you occasionally miss a post or so. Heck, don't feel bad if you miss several hours of posts. If you worry about the missing posts, then you will go insane. So don't! If someone really wants to get in touch with you, they can message you. You are not Lucy or Ethel packaging chocolates! Don't sweat the small stuff.
9. Join groups! I'm not saying join every club on Facebook that has even the slightest link to what you are interested in. Just a few, like half a dozen tops. You want to join groups for added visibility and to get messages out to people who are not on your list; groups also provide a forum for you to talk about topics and get advice. Groups rock! So join some, but not a lot.
10. Go outside once in a while. My morning constitutional is just an excuse to get out of the house. You need sunlight for a number of reasons, like Vitamin D production. So get out! Your computer will be there when you get back, you can miss messages, and you can feed your addictions when you get back. Just get out now!

I hope these tips help calm nerves, and lead to a much healthier lifestyle. The next level up is suggesting you get rid of all electronics, and I really don't want to go that far....

Organizations: Hostile/SUpportive?

Not every organization supports its agents the same, and sometimes there are even levels of access within the same organization. This level of support needs to be noted, even if that support basically means nothing. However, just like the other variables how well the organization supports its members can determine how you handle it.

[Caveat: This applies to how the organization treats its members in general. A hero and a villain will obviously be treated very differently, with a hero getting access to anything anyone can get him, whereas someone who is generally disliked will be lucky to get a can opener. Someone with a reputation for getting the job done while getting good press or making others feel good is obviously going to get anything he wants, to the limit of the organization's ability, whereas someone with a reputation for dead or severely partners, who just does what he wants, or is generally a jerk will have problems getting more than basic support even at the best of times. This means that the Golden Boy (of Girl) of an agency will find all the support while the agency's Bad Boy (or Girl) will usually have problems.]

A supportive organization will find ways of supporting its members no matter what, to its limits. The reason can be pragmatic, such as military organizations; they have a job to do, and they must give their members every legitimate chance to succeed at that job. They also have to explain their budgets; if a soldier goes into a situation with minimal gear, you know someone is going to answer for it given how big military budgets get. This applies to clubs as well; you would be surprised how well a club will make sure its members are prepared when club pride is challenged, even if its resources are limited to determining the nesting habits of local birds.

A hostile organization, however, seems dedicated to messing with its members. This is either because its leadership is apathetic to its membership or has created too many bureaucratic hoops to go through. There are also organization that have become so corrupted with politics and fear of legal suits that their members have little support from an organization that is scared to do anything. Consider the Japanese police for a moment; they need to be polite to everyone, they most likely have links to local gangs, and there are complications based on familial relations. It may not seem hostile, but it meets our definition here, as all of those features make it notoriously unwilling to do anything unless it has to. Little wonder that the yakuza end up settling so many problems!

The irony of this situation is that the lighter the universe, the more hostile an organization is going to be towards its own members, especially if that organization is law-enforcement, as politics and legal issues throw the organization into a quagmire. Conversely, the darker the universe, the more likely the organization is going to be supportive, as it realizes that its power relies on a solid front, so offenders are dealt with whatever force can be summoned against them. This is why cultists are scarier than cops; the common goal with no legal limitations versus the legal quagmire gives the cultists an edge.

The lesson for writers? The local bird club can be scary in a noirish environment, as everyone supports one another, which includes all that firepower that seems to float around those universes despite draconic laws, especially when you realize that the individual members tend to be rich, and therefore have resources. Conversely, an order of knights is going to find it hard to deal with a dragon when they know that they are going to have to deal with destruction of property suits if they do anything to save the citizenry. Getting people together is never easy...

Is Your Organization Secret or Transparent?

Organizations are not all created equal, and some of them do not want you to know this. Another factor to look at when designing an organization is how transparent it is. Some organizations are required by law to have some transparency at least; in the real world, a charity, for example, is required to maintain records that are visible to the public in exchange for its tax-exempt status, and any attempts to hide its financial records can result in that status being pulled. Other organizations, especially those involved in law-enforcement, will hide as many of their records as possible for security purposes; apparently its harder to protect yourself from the bad guys when they know all of your undercover agents.

[Clarification on transparency: An organization that is required to be transparent is not usually required to be fully transparent. That is, although it may be required to show what it does with funds it raises, it is not required to give out information on its employees. Conversely, a more secretive organization is usually required to compile publicly available statistics, including how it spends most of its money, in exchange for its privacy, especially if it is governmentally funded. In short, there are always some secrets, and there is always some information available on any organization.]

From a writing perspective, this gives you options. A transparent organization, especially one that is required to be transparent, has a number of problems. A for-profit competitor can take advantage of its records in order to take over the charity's niche. This also means that the transparent organization has to be aware that anyone can look at how it is spending its funds, or face legal action; this limits what it can do as regards some non-proprietary patents and how it can organize itself. Because it has to let people know what it is doing, it has a major strategic issue. In a dark universe, there is likely to be a lot of creative accounting when it comes to funds and by-laws in order to hide some items from the public, such as a private army.

A secret organization, on the other hand, will always be under attack, leading its members to have a bunker mentality; at the very least they will be suspicious of new people in their lives. Since everyone wants their secrets, and they need to hide those secrets, there will be layers of security even for the most mundane of day-to-day business. Depending on what they are willing to do to get those secrets, the organization may be in serious trouble. You will also need to determine the effects of something like Wikileaks; does the public really need to know the identities of those that are testifying against mob bosses, and if it does, how will that affect how the prosecution deals with cases? There are issues of how well two secret organizations will cooperate on the same case, and to what degree they will share relevant data.

Out of all of the various axes, this one is probably the most interesting to play around with, especially in darker universes. Enjoy!

Organizations: Sinister/Friendly

A fun axis to look at is the sinister/friendly one. A sinister organization will tend to do things to control its people, whereas the friendly will seek to help them. Although all organizations seek to control and help the people of which is it a part, this addresses which is more important to the organization.

A sinister organization is interested in using whatever power it has to control as much of the group it is part of as possible. Consider how government law-enforcement organizations are treated in cyber-punk: The CIA goes around assassinating public figures that are leading the United States away from military intervention while toppling countries in order to foment chaos among its enemies. The FBI is not just an investigatory agency but regularly arrests those that it sees as saying or doing anything essentially un-American; it is almost as if J. Edgar Hoover never died. These organizations are not just interested in doing their job, but using their power to control how Americans deal with the world.

Friendly organizations, on the other hand, stay in the background. Although it can be argued that they are using more subtle controls, they are there to help the people that they are created by. An example of this is the USDA; although it can be argued that it is a tool of other, more sinister forces, most of the food safety reforms come from the USDA, as well as virtual libraries on almost any agricultural or nutritional topic that can be imagined. It is hard to see the USDA as a sinister in and of itself, and it is usually portrayed either helpful or naïve.

Story-wise, the difference defines how dark or light the universe is. Dark universes are full of sinister organizations, where every organization is full of corrupt leaders doing their best to hold onto whatever power they have, boring administrators doing little more than filling out the necessary paperwork, and highly trained and deadly agents enforcing the will of those organizations. There is a reason why darker worlds rarely focus on more than one organization; although their powers may be different on paper, they are all ultimately of the same dark stripe, and only the name matters. You just need a name to slap on an organization, and you're good.

Friendly organizations, however, are vastly different, and the name is of actual importance. Although an organization may have its enforcement arm, it usually tries to talk someone down, and bland agents are dispatched to investigate the situation first. Eventually the investigation will be completed, and the suspect will either be released or taken into custody. But all of this will be done by the book, and no one will really be offended by the investigation; it is just the agency doing its job.

Of course, specific groups within an organization can be a different axis than the majority of an organization, and an organization can always act differently when its needs dictate. providing for some nice conflicts. Give those USDA agents some machine guns to deal with a hostile corporation and things get a lot more interesting. If you really want to mess with your cyber-punk street samurais, have a local corp be extremely friendly; they will wonder when the corp turns against them. Just be aware of the axis and have some serious fun with it.