Ten Commandments of Social Media 
for Religion (and Other) Authors

-- Publishers Weekly, 7/21/2009 3:13:00 PM

1. Thou shalt friend thy readers. Authors don’t just use social media for fun; it’s a great tool for business.If you are lucky enough to have thousands of fans who want to “friend” you on Facebook, think long and hard before you say no to anyone.

2. Thou shalt follow others. Social media is reciprocal.It’s not about shouting your message through a virtual megaphone.Follow those who follow you on Twitter (within reason), and comment regularly on your friends’ status updates.

3. Thou shalt know thy tweeps.According to Seth Godin’s book Tribes, successful marketing in the 21st century is about creating confederations of niche groups united around an issue or leader, not trying to be all things to all people. Who is your core audience?

4. Thou shalt not overshare. It’s great to be personal, but readers don’t need to know about your diarrhea, psychiatric diagnoses or bacchanalian revels.There’s a fine line between humorous intimacy and TMI.

5. Honor thy mother, and friend her on Facebook. It’s a great idea to have Mom on Facebook if it prevents you from violating Commandment 4. Remember that what might offend or embarrass your mother might offend or embarrass someone else. If Mom doesn’t want to hear how much you hate (or, alternately, want to have sex with) the president, chances are your readers won’t either. 

6. Thou shalt point to good books. Sometimes, these will be your own books, but more often, they will be what you are reading and believe your readers would enjoy as well. 

7. Thou shalt be respectful of other religions and opinions. You can state your own position without impugning the intelligence or sincerity of anyone who disagrees.Yes, religion is a controversial subject and passions run deep, but take the high road.

8. Thou shalt blog often. Facebook and Twitter are marvelous new tools, but they have not replaced the blog, which is still the best place for content of any length.Author Scot McKnight, whose blog through Beliefnet gets about 1.75 million page views a year, posts four or five times a day, Monday through Friday.(He writes all the posts the weekend before, then uploads them.) Regular, interesting content is key to blogging success.McKnight, for instance, does popular chapter-by-chapter discussions of other people’s books, almost like an online book group.

9. Thou shalt be generous.One of the most successful strategies for Twitter, Facebook and the conventional blog is the galley giveaway.Publishers can run Twitter contests, for example, to give away a free copy of a book to the person who retweets about it to the most followers.There are also blog tours where 50 chosen bloggers agree to review a book on the date of its launch, getting a free copy for themselves and one for a lucky blog reader.