Author, writer, blogger, book reviewer, editor – whichever “hat” you wear, you’ve probably made a stab at creating an online platform and used social media to get the word out about it. But sometimes we forget that social media is designed for just that – being social. If you haven’t garnered the success you’d hoped, it could be the habits you’ve adopted. I’ve listed 45 ways you can set yourself up to lose on social media – and I’m sure there are 45 more!

Don’t have a plan, a strategy, goals, an organized method, or a formula to build a successful social media platform. Completely automate your tweets and posts so you’re NEVER online to interact with anyone. Entrench yourself in the position that social media is a useless time suck. Overthink everything you do, which will keep you from ever having to actually begin. Don’t bother to learn the rules and regulations of the sites you’re on. Don’t be in it for the long haul. Be impatient. Give up easily. Once you open accounts, tweet, post inconsistently, and visit little or not at all. Aggravate others on every platform in any and every way you can think of to do that. Use an auto-DM to urge new Twitter followers to buy your book, visit your blog, and like you on Facebook. Don’t open any social media accounts and don’t try to build them. Just don’t. Auto-DM Twitter followers and message Facebook friends with updates about your book/blog/events/successes/book parties/accolades. Directly @mention other authors with a tweet to buy your book. Do this repeatedly. Post nothing but trivia about your various meals and cute cat pictures and word games like, “Give me a name that starts with “O! I bet you can’t do it!” Message groups of people you don’t know with cryptic come-ons like “click here to see the message.” Don’t be helpful. Don’t share useful links, don’t be a resource, don’t answer questions. Talk about yourself constantly. Don’t initiate conversations with others. Gripe about everything, from the weather to your lack of focus and productivity. Gloat about everything, from the weather to your incredible focus and productivity. Tweet and post invitations to “buy my book!” exclusively. Message folks you don’t know on Facebook with an invitation to your events. Invite all your Facebook friends to like a million other pages. Oh, and yours, too, of course. Post comments on other blogs with invitations to buy your books, read your (unrelated) blog posts, learn more about you, and follow you on Twitter and Facebook. Comment on tweets and FB posts without clicking the link and reading the article that was shared. Aggressively discuss politics and religion on your social media accounts. Write inflammatory things about your colleagues and peers. Or everybody, for that matter, including the President. Write one book, then push it over, and over, and over, and over, and over ad infinitum. Complain about all your bad reviews and rejections. Stop building your blog and growing your social media accounts in an organized, planned, socially-interactive way. Keep your social media accounts “private.” Do not respond when others reach out to you. Be snide, sarcastic, impatient, and unkind. Buy thousands of likes and followers. Follow people on Twitter, wait for them to follow you back, then unfollow them as a strategy to make your numbers look good. Over-post, over-tweet, over-share about your latest _______________. (fill in the blank) Depend on provocative post titles to draw blog traffic from your social media accounts and don’t deliver. Keep everyone constantly updated about your latest Farmville exploits. Share all your friend, family, reviewer, job and literary agent drama. Every single one. Respond to every troll, naysayer, and argumentative idiot you happen to come across. Don’t use social media to … socialize. Use it to market exclusively. Use as many hashtags as you can possibly cram into a tweet or FB share. Send a friend request to someone and once they accept, post your book sales links on their wall and tell them all about yourself. Approach authors you do not know via social media and offer to review their book and once they accept, tell them you’d appreciate it they also reviewed your book. Copy someone’s entire blog article and re-post it on Google+ because you think they won’t find out. Approach authors and offer to review their published book. Read it, then tell them you think it’d be better with just a couple of tweaks. And oh! You just happen to be an editor (proofreader, cover designer, etc.) Don’t have a positive, interactive social media strategy of any kind. How’s that working for you?

So now that I’ve talked about what not to do, how do you know what’s right? Check out these posts if you want to increase your Twitter engagement or need tips about building your Twitter account, using hashtags, Twitter lists, or reminders about what not to tweet!

Note from Molly: Check out my novels on Amazon, join my Reader’s Club for freebies and book news, and follow me on Twitter. This original content is copyright protected. Thank you so much. Mwah!