I teach social media to writers all over the country. Beyond that, I field a lot of questions about etiquette. I try to get to everything in a timely fashion, but sometimes you need the information right away. Today I’d like you to get a new perspective on social media and show you how that may give you the insight you need.

As writers, we tend to use social media from the perspective of people wanting to get information to an audience. We also use it to grow our platforms. We evaluate the time we spend online from the perspective of ROI (return on investment), looking at time and money invested.

Today I’d like to invite you to evaluate your own social media interaction from the point of view of the audience.

To do that, we have to put ourselves into the shoes of the consumer. We must understand why they’re online in the first place. In general, there are several reasons that aren’t work related:

• They’re here to have fun.
• They’re building new relationships.
• They’re looking for entertainment.
• They need information.

So how do we analyze what we’re doing on social media in relation to what our audience is looking for? I’ve come up with a short list of things to ask yourself before you hit the post button.

• Would I share this update if I saw it posted elsewhere?
• Does this update answer a question my audience has?
• Will this make someone’s life better?
• Is this something that builds a deeper relationship?
• Will this make someone laugh?
• Does anyone really care about this?

But no matter what we’re posting, I encourage you to follow Edie’s 5 – 1 rule for social media:

For every 5 social media updates on a specific network, we are allowed 1 update about ourselves.

Definition for Update about Ourselves: Something promoting me and/or my product (blog post, guest post, book, speaking engagement, etc.)

I know these suggestions may seem like a small shift in the way we view social media, but it can make a big difference.