Usually, in this space, I give you advice and pointers, but I find myself needing some direction and insight. Hey, I thought, why not tap into that group of writer friends over at the CWG blog?
Besides, this may be a problem you find yourself facing someday, so here goes.
I love social media. Most recently, I’ve discovered Pinterest, but my first love is Twitter. (If you don’t like or love or even get Twitter, no worries. I advise staying away if that’s the case. Don’t force it. Not so different from my ongoing advice about blogging, actually.)
Since I have a strong background in marketing (a whole degree, as the case may be), the thought occurred to me that, though I had firmly established myself in the Twittersphere as @peerybingle, I should make sure I also had user names that were part of my “brand,” namely @SnoringScholar (my blog name) and @SarahReinhard (my name).
Now, some might advise that I should trash @peerybingle (which is a reference to The Cricket on the Hearth) and go with my name. I’ve seen other well-known writers do that.
We sell books by our NAME, after all. We market who we are by our NAME, right? We are selling US, as in the NAME.
But…but…but! I LIKE @peerybingle. It’s fun, and, more importantly, it’s ME.
Oh, and, I’ve noticed there are other Sarah Reinhards. It’s not a unique name, really (though I like it very much, all the same).
There’s a business side of things. But for me, so much of what I do is ministry. So much of what I do is personal. And to get through the low pay and long hours, I have to enjoy myself to some extent.
What I’m trying to say is that @peerybingle STAYS. Period. It’s the “me” I like, the “me” I choose to be, and, really, the “me” who is honestly more like the Real Life Sarah than any of the others.
I have been manually managing things with my other identities using HootSuite. I’ve come up with some “rules” for how I use each identity:
–> My @peerybingle identity gets everything. My blog posts go there, as do links to all my columns and articles in other places, as well as all my thoughts throughout the day, links I like, and conversation. I follow people back, chime in, and get all goofy, serious, and Sarah.
–> For my @SarahReinhard identity, I only include links to my blog posts and links to other writing work I’ve done.
–> For my @SnoringScholar identity, I only include links to my blog posts.
YOUR TURN: Do you have this problem? What solutions have you found? I’m all ears (and eyes, as the case may be).
Sarah Reinhard
When Sarah Reinhard's not writing online at SnoringScholar.com, she can be found on Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, Facebook, or Google +. She's the author of a number of books, including her latest title, Catholic Family Fun: A Guide for the Adventurous, Overwhelmed, Creative, or Clueless.
Blogging, I’ve learned through your guidance at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference, is not a distraction from writing, but a creative writing experience. A viable way to find and express one’s voice, just as we writers strive to do in lyric prose and verse. I may even come back to Facebook ^_^ Thank You +
So glad to have helped you, Kate! Many blessings to you!
I think a big part of my anxiety over this is due to not wishing to come across as an academic lecturing. It is appropriate when I teach on a topic in RCIA but not appropriate in community life! As my daughter says, my public “Ann” and the at home “Ann” tend to be very different and while I do understand (I enjoy psychology of temperament and have had myself profiled–LOL!) how I am structured and why it gives me fits I struggle to bring the more likeable and down to earth me to the written page. The world does NOT need another person in lecture mode!
Ann, I’m in the same situation. My solution so far (and I’m not sure how well I’ve done) is to make “Jennifer Fitz” the center of the hub, and let my different interests be spokes. So my personal blog hits on a mishmash of topics, and my twitter account and facebook page get a feed of everything from everywhere. And then I have some different outlets where I write on single-topics, and I try to connect that back to my blog (where appropriate — I write at some places where links to my heavy-on-religion personal site wouldn’t be appreciated).
I don’t know that I do it well. But that’s where I am right now. Kind of working through this myself.
I find my “brand” is spread among the handles and names I have used over the years, including which name I had when I did which studies or writing!
I’m struggling now with self identity. Not that I am unable to know who I am, it is more the struggle to figure out how to present my work, or my intended work; how to create a single identity under which all the rest might be collected.
Do I put the expert on dogs in a different box from the person with the MA in theology? Do I put the writer in a different box from the wife and mother? How about the educator– which box does THAT fall into? Or the horsewoman, where does she go? Then there is the nearly completed but dropped out graduate program in Breeding Theory and my love for genetics and animal breeding and other animal issues. And how does this aspect fit with the present reality that thanks to old injuries the passionate rider who thought she couldn’t live without one or more horses in the yard no longer even keeps a horse?
I have some problems with this because my background is so diverse and as my life has gone along, I have changed and expanded. I feel as if there are links that hold the whole together, but I am unsure how to express that with an identity that people can begin to recognize as “me”.
Ann, I’m with you. What I’ve found is that “Sarah” is a collage of many different things and interests. She has a BS in Agriculture Education, an MS in Marketing, and reads enough to tread water with theology people (though not well). I think it makes you more human when you show those different aspects of yourself, let them be a part of your voice and your writing.
I was never going to have kids, yet here I am with three. I loved city life when I was in my 20s, and here I am, living on a farm.
So…I think it’s okay to be a fully rounded person, because it makes you just as interesting as, well, every other person. When you make yourself too flat, too focused, I think there’s the opportunity to get bored too.
Now, how’s that work with marketing yourself? Well…that’s something you have to think about. I would just encourage you not to spread yourself too thin (i.e. with too many different “personalities”) or to overlook the interplay of the many facets that make YOU. 🙂
Hope that helps!
Yes, I’m having a tough time losing the “SFO” in my “brand.” It has been part of me for a very long time. It IS part of my identity.
I do think the brand part is impt…keeping an identifiable name/connection to yourself in your onscreen names…nice to be able to take the advantage of the advertising that takes place everytime you post somewhere…
Yes, brand is always important, and maybe even more so because some people will ONLY know you from your online presence. There’s an acceptance that you can’t be who you “really” are, but you can try.
But man, it’s a lot of work. 🙂