But with our expanded capacity for connecting with others, we also find ourselves with an information overload. Sometimes there is just too much coming at us all at once, and we can get overwhelmed. We’ve all tried different ways to organise both our incoming and outgoing data. When it comes to organising our social media, integration and automation seemed like “the” solution, but we find ourselves yet again in an information overload situation. There are just so many different options on the market that we often find ourselves asking, “Isn’t there one RIGHT way of delivering and filtering through my social media information?”

In my work, I help business owners (primarily authors and holistic professionals) set up their social media integration and automation, and train them how to use it. But the induction process into the world of Twitter, Facebook and the like can often shake up many emotions and challenge many beliefs. Some people who are new to social media might have a pre-conceived idea that automation takes the “social” out of social media, and therefore eschew the convenience automation has to offer. These people end up working harder rather than smarter, and risk burning out on social media before they reap the rewards. Others, who don’t really like the idea of social media at all, but see it as a “necessary evil”, want to automate everything and don’t want to bother connecting with their audience. As a result, these kinds of people frequently become convinced that the lack of response they are receiving from their audience means, “Twitter (or whatever) is simply a waste of time!”

Yes, I’ve heard it all before.

Regardless of whether you recognise yourself as being similar to one of these two personality types, or you are already an enthusiastic social media devotee, let me assure you, social media can have a massive impact upon the success of your business. My own business was utterly built upon it! But in order to make it work “smart” for you, and to ensure you receive all the benefits it has to offer, you need to understand that BOTH automation AND interpersonal connection are EQUALLY important to running an efficient and effective social media platform because:

Automation is needed to deliver your content.

Interaction is needed to build relationships.

Learning the balance between these two can be a steep learning curve for many of my new clients. As demonstrated in the previous examples, those that depend upon one and fail to implement the other tend not to reap the results they seek.

But what makes the learning curve even more challenging is that to stay on top of things, you need to get used to changing your strategies all the time. This is because the social network platforms themselves (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, etc) are always in a state of evolution, and the plethora of third-party applications available to support these platforms are also always in a state of continual change.

The plain truth about social media:

Sometimes clients come to me expecting to learn the definitive system for social media. And while I tend to do things in a systematic way for myself, the truth is: there is NO magic “one size fits all” way to “do” social media. Your situation is not the same as mine. Your business is not the same. Your communication style is not the same. Your audience is not the same. Sure, there will be many similarities, but if ANYONE out their claims to be a guru, and tells you they have “the” one-stop solution for your needs, you’d be pretty safe to bet it’s a scam. Don’t spend your money on such claims (I’ve lost more than a few quid on such false promises back when I was a newbie).

But the fact that there are so many variables is not the only reason why there is no end-all magic bullet for social media. It is also because all the social media tools out there are all continuously changing, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. And as they change they create a butterfly effect upon each other. So you really have resign yourself to the fact that social media is a fluid system, and that there will be a continual process of learning involved. Even a Rubic Cube is easier to figure out, because the cube is a stable system that doesn’t change.

But the good news is, the more you know, the easier it is to adapt to this ever-flowing sea of change. For that reason, I thought it would be a good idea to write an eBook, going through some of the currently most popular social media tools for distributing your content:

Buy Kindle edition on Amazon US/Canada for only $2.99

Buy Kindle edition on Amazon UK for only £1.98

In Social Media on Autopilot: Nice, Necessary or Nightmare? [Kindle edition], I bring you 5 details product reviews intended for business owners on five of today’s most popular social media applications: Ping, TweetDeck, Twaitter, HootSuite and Tweet Adder. Each product is evaluated on virtually every feature it offers, and ranked in terms of its usefulness, reliability, automation capabilities, interaction capability and mobility.

Accessible reading even for the “newbie”, this report and help you find out how the pros use Twitter, Facebook and other social networks without selling their souls or spending every waking hour at their computer. At the end of this report, you will also find some useful bonus materials covering options for integrating your media, and some ideas for using social media apps on your mobile phone.

I have helped dozens of authors and online business owners reach the top of their field through social media. Nearly all my learning has come the “hard way” by spending countless hours at my desk, trying to find products and figure out what was best. For a mere $2.99, this detailed report (at 15,770 words, it would have been about 50 pages if I had printed it in paperback format) you save yourself months of research and trial and error.

There are even a few free gifts for you at the back of the eBook.

I hope you find this booklet useful. If you do, please do come back and leave a comment below (or better yet, post it on Amazon!). Also, if you have any suggestions for eBooks you would like me to write, please let me know that too in the comments below. That would be REALLY helpful to me!

And do please subscribe to the Spirit Authors blog for more info and insight into the world of writing, publishing and book promotions.

Enjoy going on autopilot!

Lynn’s other books:

International #1 Bestseller in Business Ethics, Marketing and Communication (Dec 2011)

• The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell (PAPERBACK)
• The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell (KINDLE)

Spirituality Bestseller (2009):

The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self (2009)

To contact Lynn for coaching, campaign management or media appearances, please fill in the form at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

I thought I’d tell you about it because it actually lets you run webinars from inside Facebook. As it’s a Facebook application, it lets you intergrate with your autoresponder without people even needing to sign up (pretty incredible). You can run your webinars 24/7, and people can see when their own Facebook friends are watching it in their updates stream, which entices them to check it out too, without you needing to do anything at all. Viewers can invite friends to the webinar right from the webinar itself without having to “share” or leave the screen as they would normally need to do for a Facebook event. Very, very smart.

It does so many cool things, it’s hard to even sum them all up. Granted, it’s not a “live” platform, but the potential to use it as a way to drive traffic to a paid program is immense. I’m thinking of creating short 15-minute “how to” videos on promotion that give really good content and information and use them as leaders to my Spirit Authors courses.

I might even use this to re-run my telesummits (I’d have to design a way to present them as video). It could be a perpertual way of promoting any membership site.

After I bought it last night, I watched all the training videos they have in the subscriber area, and I got everything set up for 2 webinars in about 30 minutes. Now all I have to do is make my videos and start promoting. I have to say it’s very, very cool.

This is not a sales letter, but it’s not. It’s actually my honest first reaction to this clever product. I love technical things that allow me to be creative, and also grow my business. As I said, I’m a techno geek (my online handle is frequently “teknochik”) and as both a techochik and an online marketer, it ticks all the boxes for me.

Have a look at the intro video at http://bit.ly/n4tW83 and see what you think. I’d love to hear back from you to know your opinion in the comments below (or on Facebook of course!).

Have fun!

Lynn Serafinn
aka teknochik

Follow me on my NEW Twitter @TeknochikUK account. It’s JUST for my recommended technical toys and such at

And of course, you’ll find me at my main Twitter account @LynnSerafinn too.

=================================

Lynn Serafinn is an award-winning transformation coach, book promotion coach, radio host and bestselling author of the book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Her upcoming book, The 7 Graces of Marketing, is coming in Dec 2011. She also works as a campaign manager for mind-body-spirit authors and has produced several top-10 book campaigns, including FIVE #1-sellers in the past year. She is also the creator of Spirit Authors, which offers training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring.

To contact Lynn for coaching, campaign management or media appearances, please fill in the form at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

Even though the majority of my business these days involves online promotion (usually of mind-body-spirit authors), it is a rare event that I recommend products, but the other day I found one I thought was so useful and so affordable, I wanted to share it with you. I just bought a new WordPress theme today called Digi Launch Pad. It is a theme designed to do what the name says: “Launch” your products and services – books, courses, programs, whatever.

Here are just a few of the features, and the reasons why I bought it myself:

• With the EZ Editor you can point, click and type your way to a professional product launch without any of the normal headaches.
• Digi Launch Pad comes with proven, high conversion templates and a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor. So you create your content using a Microsoft Word like interface and DLP takes care of the rest.
• It also has the easiest video setup I’ve ever seen. Every single template included in Digi Launch Pad is video ready. Copy and paste the video location (you don’t even have to embed it) and click update and you’re done.
• The way you can set up a video sales page integrated with your opt in form… totally sweet.
• You can incorporate testimonials right onto the page (I LOVED that feature).
• They’ve made it so that you can completely integrate auto-responder forms into sales pages without the need to mess around with PHP or getting confused with CSS (trust me… I’ve made some blunders in CSS that have resulted in my pages vanishing, lol).
• There’s some very cool stuff for social network integration as well.

How To/Videos/Demo Have a look at the info videos Andy Fletcher (the theme’s developer) has put on that page. The first few are great for beginners, and didn’t grab my attention right away, but the later features are what sold me on it altogether. I am going to use it for my new book blog at http://The7GracesOfMarketing.com (which I will be setting up by Christmas).

• Installation – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1356
• Setting homepage – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1401
• Basic Colour Config – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1405
• Custom header/footer – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1408
• Basic Page Editing – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1418
• Adding social functionality – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1436
• Add a video – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1439
• Creating a squeeze page – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-27_1445
• Creating menus – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-28_1608Adding testimonials – TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-10-28_1610

There are a lot more features and, in my opinion, if you’re fishing around for a WordPress theme for a new book blogsite, I don’t think you’ll find one that is easier to use or more suitable for creating sales pages, short of making all the pages yourself with Dreamweaver or other html editors. Ok… now here’s the thing that REALLY sold me on getting it right away. It is currently on sale (but only until the end of November) for 50% off the public price of $97 –  making it just $47.

Here’s the link to the special $27 discount (yes, it is my affiliate link), which is valid only through the end of November:

http://spiritauthors.com/pages/recommended/digi-launch-pad-theme-for-wordpress-70percent-off.html

At the end of the month, the price goes back up to $97, which, in my experience, is in the price range for most decent premium WordPress themes.

Just so you know, this isn’t a “fake” special where you’re told you’re getting a great deal but no one is actually paying the public price. I know because I am an affiliate of the product for the FULL price too. I also spoke directly on Skype to Andy who created the theme (hey, he lives in Surrey… my old stomping ground).

Frankly, for the $47 price tag, even if you only use it for a single campaign (and I don’t think that will be the case), I cannot see how you wouldn’t get many times your return on investment. Just about all decent themes cost about $100 these days, and they aren’t necessarily geared to sale page creation.

AND…

I probably shouldn’t say this, but if any of you have been thinking about buying that other recently hyped-up program that begins with “K” (I won’t mention the name) at a whopping $99 a month (!) I recommend holding off for a while and buy this theme to see if it doesn’t help you get started with making great sales pages. I know the “K” product offers a lot more than just sales pages, but if you’re just getting going in your WordPress blog or your online business, this could help you make some sales so you can AFFORD the other bells and whistles product later.

To be honest, I would have bought Digi Launch Pad for the full price of $97 had it not been on sale because I think it has a lot of features I will use over and over again, and it looks like you can create custom sales pages really fast.

And if all of that blurb isn’t enough to entice you to check it out, Andy even offers a 60-day (not 30) money back guarantee. AND he’s on Skype. You can ask him about the product yourself.

Whether you are just starting out making your first WordPress blog for business purposes or you create blogs for other people, I do recommend checking out the Digi Launch Pad theme for WordPress.

If you do, drop me a comment below to let me know what you think.

BTW: if you miss the sale price, you might consider buying the product at the regular price and then becoming an affiliate. I’ve already sold several copies and more than made back my investment. Sometimes something is worth what you pay for it.

About Lynn Serafinn, Creator of Spirit Authors

Lynn Serafinn is a transformation coach, book promotion coach, radio host and bestselling author of the book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. She also works as a campaign manager for mind-body-spirit authors and has produced several top-10 book campaigns, including FOUR #1-sellers, in 2010 alone. She created Spirit Authors to offer training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring. Contact Lynn about YOUR book project at at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

Be sure to subscribe to this blog for regular book writing and promotion tips (just fill in form at right of your screen).

Sign up for Lynn’s bi-monthly newsletter Creative Spirit (fill in form below) packed with inspirational articles, online networking tips, broadcast guide to her radio show, and news about upcoming spiritual author book releases.

Throughout the year, Lynn also hosts large-scale telesummits with world-class speakers on a range of mind-body-spirit topics. Your subscription to Creative Spirit will ensure you’ll be the first to know how to attend these free events.

Twitter changed my life. Let me tell you how.

AND I am going to attempt to tell this story in lines of 140 characters or less.

It all started when I launched my book “The Garden of the Soul” in April 2009.

After a year of mastering this “thing” called social networking, I created an Amazon book campaign.

I found many JVPs (joint venture partners), mainly from Twitter.

Some who helped were @InspiredSheila @SuzieCheel @KSchulweis @BrendaAdelman @RuthHegarty @JoeRumbolo @LolaFayemi (see next)

AND @HeidiRichards @AwakenedWisdom @LindaClariPuig @jenngivler @audaciouseditor @GailSussMill @Gloreebe @jessicamcgj @SpiritCoach #ff

Also ran a Virtual Blog Tour with peeps like @MoonPoppy @DuncanBrodie and many others.

Also ran a Twitter contest. @JulieAnnTurner won a signed copy of my book.

Anyway…

Long story short, my self-published book became an Amazon bestseller in #spirituality #mind-body-spirit and #self-help.

When “The Garden of the Soul” made bestseller, Tweets and RTs went viral. #gots

I think it was June when @SouthsideBroadc contacted me to be on their radio show. I soon became a regular guest.

Thru @SouthsideBroadc I met @SpiritusShelagh who has since become one of my closest friends.

July 2009: blogger/editor @BookEditorLM wrote me on Twitter wanting to do a blog piece on me: http://bit.ly/c8hbCa

Aug 2009: @BookEditorLM asked @tonyeldridge if he would repost that article. He asked me to write a new one.

Oct 2009: @tonyeldridge published my new article “Pre-Natal Care for Your Book” http://bit.ly/bWCmQA

Same month @AllisonMaslan (whom I didn’t know) read that article. Sent me DM asking me to coach her 4 Amazon launch.

I put together Amazon campaign for @AllisonMaslan ‘s new #book #BlastOff!

Nov 2009: I asked @writersinthesky (whom I had met on Ning) to come and help us put the campaign together.

We put together another great team of JVPs.

If I named all the Tweeple who helped us on #BlastOff! I think I’d need another day to write this.

Meanwhile lots of people were asking me for book advice. I decided to start a new site called Spirit Authors. http://spiritauthors.com

Dec 20 2009: I set up Twitter profile @SpiritAuthors and Facebook fan page. http://facebook.com/SpiritAuthors

Started Twitter/FB campaign to drive people to fan page. By Christmas day there were 100 fans.

Jan 2010: Did another campaign to get 500 fans by my 55th birthday end of Jan. I got 600+

Jan 19, 2010: Allison’s book launched. Twitter & FB went viral. “Blast Off” reached #1 in US/Canada. http://bit.ly/RXpQu

RT @AllisonMaslan’s “Blast Off” reached #1 in US/Canada. http://bit.ly/RXpQu

Jan 21, 2010: Success of launch attracted attention of @AllisonMaslan ’s literary agent @wgtwelve. He’s also @EckhartTolle ‘s agent

As an author, I am now represented by @wgtwelve.

More and more #mind-body-spirit #authors come to me to create campaigns for them.

New Amazon campaigns: @AwakenedWisdom (April 20), @NeuroBooks (May 11) and @wgtwelve (Nov).

From Twitter contacts, I quickly assembled team of 18 VIP experts for Spirit Authors Grand Opening http://bit.ly/9pfpJV

VIPS: @wordywoman @BookMarketer @CaronGoode @DayaDeviDoolin @inspiredwriter @docmarion @AlanSeale plus many already mentioned.

Nearly 500 people registered 4 the #Spirit #Authors Grand Opening http://bit.ly/9pfpJV

My good friend @SpiritusShelagh was my co-host for the event. What a source of strength she is.

Oz Tweep @charlyjl was a wellspring of technical support in getting the site ready. Couldn’t have done it without her.

March 2010: Spirit Authors is now open and I have long waiting list of book campaign clients.

On #Spirit #Authors I teach new authors how to set use #Twitter to build a promotional platform and Amazon launch… as well as many other things (Oops! That’s more than 140 characters!)

Ok… enough with the Twitterspeak!!!

I am quite serious when I say Twitter has changed my life. Yes, my own book would never have become a bestseller without Twitter. Yes, I could never have helped Allison become a number-1 seller. Yes, I would not have gotten some fab new clients and an amazing literary agent. And yes, I would never have thought to create Spirit Authors and now have a blossoming new business as a result.

But it isn’t REALLY about business at all.

Have a look at all the Twitter links above. These are not just links. These are all REAL people whom I have come to know, respect and care about over the past year. Even though some of us are separated by tens of thousands of miles, we have all shared many a heart-felt conversation over the phone, and have been there for each other through the highs and lows.

And really, there are just so many other wonderful people I have met from Twitter (as well as Facebook, Ning and LinkedIn, in that order), I cannot count them.

When many people first come to Twitter, they don’t “get it”. How can you possibly communicate in 140 characters? How can you possibly make friends with people? How can you possibly build a business from it? WHY would you WANT to do this????

And I’m telling you now—it’s because of the PEOPLE!

I have made more close friends from networking on Twitter than any other form of networking I have ever tried… even more than “live” networks in my home town! While I do love Facebook as well, there is nothing (yet) that can beat Twitter for ideas going viral, and for meeting lots of people who share your interests within a very short period of time.

But as I said, it’s not just about the business. The friends I have met through Twitter are some of the most inspiring, supportive, positive and powerful light-workers I have ever met. That is why I have linked to EVERY one of them above.

So, if you are on Twitter, you should follow them. These are wonderful, beautiful people—get to KNOW them.

As always, your comments below are MOST welcome!

Warm wishes,
Lynn Serafinn
@LynnSerafinn
@SpiritAuthors

P. S.: This article was inspired by a Twitter conversation I had a new friend on Twitter @WendyMWarden. Many thanks, Wendy. This was fun to write!

P. P. S.: Knowing HOW to make Twitter (and social networking in general) work for you, both on a business level and on a deeply fulfilling personal level, is something of an art form. This is why I teach it on the Spirit Authors course:

• In Module 2, I teach the fundamental principles of spirit-based promotion so you can create a fertile promotional platform for selling your book online using social networking.
• In Module 4, I teach the “how to’s” of creating an Amazon Book Launch.
• And, of course, there are 3 other modules on starting and writing your book, preparing for publication, and creating a brand and sustainable business from your book.

It’s my hope that by teaching authors (and authors-to-be) the techno-art of Twitter, they will not only find professional fulfilment, but they will also expand their world by connecting to others who understand them and wish to help them grow.

If this sounds like something you would like to explore, I offer a 14-day “Test Drive” on any Spirit Authors learning module for only $1. Visit the site at http://spiritauthors.com and check out the introductory audios and module overviews to see if there is something at Spirit Authors that can help you achieve your writing goals. And if you have any questions, please just fill out a contact form on the site and I promise I will reply personally.