Anyone Else Feel Like Social Media is a Waste of Time? (As a Content Creator)

[Aspie_Gamer]

Maybe its because I'm too busy with Life of an Aspie these days or perhaps I'm finally realizing that the whole "build your social presence" thing is a waste of time when people aren't already engaged with your content. I've been trying to crack the social media game for quite a while now and at first I thought I was on to something when I significantly boosted my follower count on both Twitter and Instagram last summer, but the cold truth is that 1. For however many followers you have, only a small percentage of them are actually going to like/retweet/share your content much less comment on it. 2. Followers come and go. More than once, I've had to clean up the list of accounts I was following because surprise, some of them were dead or otherwise inactive after a period of time and 3. No matter how consistent you are, growth slows down after a while.

All that aside, I just don't have the energy to fool around with social media like I used to. Moreso on Twitter than on Instagram, but nonetheless, no point in bothering when you are pretty much just shouting into the void every time you make a post. Not that social media never did anything for me as a couple of my subs here and there came from either Twitter or Instagram, but interestingly enough, just working on LoaA and posting it here (and for a while, LINE WEBTOONS until I got caught up.) caused me to get more subs per month than I ever got from social media sites.

Even during the recent hiatus my comic was on until a couple of weeks ago.

Not that my work is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but this evidence as pictured above does give weight to an article I read on a blog awhile back that so long as you put in the work and are consistent with it, people will find and subscribe to your content. And this person didn't even touch social media until his audience from his blog was big enough to where he could justify opening an account on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc. Unsurprisingly, his social media following is minimal, but when you get more engagement with your content outside of Twitter or Instagram or Youtube or what have you, its really telling that social media isn't all that its cracked up to be as a content creator unless again, you already have a huge following elsewhere.

[Rayenae]

I'm still pretty new to things, so I can't really give much of an opinion as to whether or not it's a waste of time, but I will say it certainly is stressful! I always find myself avoiding it in favor of finding other things to work on. Apparently Social Anxiety applies to Social Media too.

[yoda510]

I think it is mostly a waste of time. Let me rephrase that. If you like to do social media anyway, it can bring a few more eye balls to your work. If you don't like it though, I think you are better off making more content. Although I haven't tried Instagram yet and I hear some people really having some luck with that.

[Testaccount]

Personally, I feel like Social Media is a waste of my time. The only thing that has ever paid off for me was my blog. Other than that, everything else is pointless.

I've also found that most followers don't care about the writer much, and they just want the free stories, so more than likely, they won't follow you to a different platform. But, I've found loyal readers are different. Loyal readers will follow you, but it depends on many loyal readers you have.

Then again, that has just been my experience. I'm curious what everyone else says.

[Luminosophy]

I don't think it's useless. It can be very useful simply depending on how you do it. Instagram has above all been very huge for me. Deviantart pretty much went dead after all the staff got fired and news of the wix acquisition. It's all about using different sites based on their advantages. Twitter is great for short announcements like streaming, or keeping people updated on page progress. IG is great for building an audience on your comic if you do TONS of content related to your characters, outside of comic pages. On a previous series I got fanart and generated a lot of interest in one character by doodling him in my free time.

My friend who does a graphic novel (99% text, 1% illustrations) gets a shit ton of fanart because the only thing he ever draws is his characters, over and over. You curate an audience based on what you put up.

The important thing is to just not waste too much time on there. The other thing to keep in mind is that a big audience takes years to build. If you're only say 2 years into a comic you're still new in the grand scheme of things. You can show how good of an artist you are immediately but it takes much longer to convince people you're a good writer.

[Testaccount]

You can show how good of an artist you are immediately but it takes much longer to convince people you're a good writer.

This is so true about writing. I've been writing online for about two years now, so I guess I'm still new.

[fleetinginfinity]

I'm going to have to wholly disagree. Because even if for some reason you can't manage to get other people looking at your comic through it, there are other creators out there that you can speak with and get advice or opinions from through social media and more often than not most of them are willing to listen or help you out if they're not too busy. That's not even bringing up all the different hashtags and Twitter chats there are where different creators all get together and talk, and often times just readers to see what creators there are. It definitely has not been a waste of time for me.

[Kayke]

Everyone's experience with social media is going to be different and I think it depends on what you're looking for.

Social media has been most rewarding for me in personal connections. I have gotten jobs off, made friends to table and stay with at cons, gotten commissions, and been able to connect other people with jobs (which is something I really like to do). Twitter has connected me with a lot of people I wouldn't have connected with otherwise, especially living in a rural area. I also have been able to connect to readers in a way I don't think I would have otherwise. I love how easy it is for people to approach me over Twitter, where sending an email might be more intimidating for readers (especially younger readers).

So for my goals: being accessible to my readers and networking with other artists, I feel like social media has served me very well. But I also enjoy it, so it doesn't feel like work for me. I enjoy checking in on what my friends are up to, making jokes, and talking to people. I think if I were freelancing from home all the time without social media to act as a sort of digital break room where I could chat with other cartoonists I'd probably go a little batty.

[Kirstin]

I've actually found a number of awesome comics out there on twitter that I probably wouldn't have found otherwise, so as a reader it certainly helped me, and to the artists behind those comics, I'd say it helped them too.

There are plenty of really successful artists with huge followings on instagram and all sorts of other platforms, so to say that it's a waste of time to put your work on social media isn't totally true.

Personally I haven't had that much luck with it, but that can be attributed to my social awkwardness and lack of actual art content I post on there. It's hard to find time to draw the extra content to put on it lol... I'll never understand how some people can draw so much so fast.

[69Michi]

In my personal opinion, I use social media (mainly Twitter) as a way to connect with other creators and my readers, rather than to promote my content. I post silly tweet, meme, unrelated personal art, from time to time my comic stuffs but not always. Although you probably see me talking with other creators more than posting, trying to promote my comic to some invisible audience out there. I think it's another way to boost your online presence. Try to reach out to other peers in your field and talk to them, make your posts interesting. Nobody likes a deserted social media that just mindlessly post the same thing about some personal project.

Social media is in a way, your personal playground after all. If people find you as a creator to be interesting to follow, they ought to take interest in whatever comic or story you are working on too.

[joe_galindez]

There's no advantage to social media marketing if everybody's doing it. You're just one voice out of many and everyone knows that your only inputs are effort and time. I do enjoy connecting with my readers. However, I can't rely on them to spread the word. I'd much rather pay for advertising.

(EDIT: When it comes to this sort of shouting match, money talks louder.)

That said, I'm not sure how to go about promoting my serial. It's not a webcomic so I can't market it through the usual channels. It's not a print book so I can't buy ad space on Amazon. It's a gory, testosterone-laden fantasy adventure on a website full of romance novels. What am I to do?

[moodyfd]

I honestly think it depends on how you use social media. I'm on Tumblr and have been for awhile. I think only a handful have followed me from story to story but many have followed me do to shared interest. Mainly reblogging and sharing art, gifs, and stories. Again maybe not the best way to gain readers but a good way to make friends within a community. It feels a little more genuine than simply promoting my stories.

[Croik]

Twitter is kind of a mystery to me, but I've found Tumblr to be a fun way of meeting and interacting with fans. Our comic has gotten a few big boosts thanks to shoutouts from popular blogs, too. Though it also helps that both me and my artist had tumblr followings before hand, thanks to participating in fandom and her doing commissions.

[Cera_OMalley]

Thanks for the post Aspie. I've had the same exact frustrations.

Since you have 3x the number of subscribers and 6x the number of page views it really puts things in perspective.

[joe_galindez]

What's this? Some kind of furry?

EDIT: Hidden? Reported? Well some people failed a spot check. FYI, my profile pic is that of an anthropomorphic cat.

[moodyfd]

There's a bit of a collaborative effort on Tumblr in general. So many authors and artists come together to make fabulous stuff. I've met some of my best friends through Tumblr fandoms. Every so often my fanfictions will get shout outs which definitely helps readership. I agree though. Twitter is still a mystery to me too lol. I'm not sure how you really get followers or use it effectively.

[audeshattuck]

It really depends on what you want. I don't get much from Tumblr, and thus, Tumblr doesn't respond much to me. I mostly use it to regurgitate my Instagram.
However, Insta and Twitter are places I genuinely enjoy the content posted there and I have the greatest amount of engagement.
I think that there is a certain amount or reciprocal engagement needed, too. You can post and hashtag until the cows come home, but if you want comments, likes, and such- you have to give it.
I've made some cool online friends by just going to the new posts on any given hashtags that I enjoy seeing, and liking and commenting the crap out of stuff I find cool.

[moodyfd]

^^^ I can agree with this.

[Daknight]

I use social media and though promoting is me mostly posting some art and message my comic is up, it hasn't brought much engagement. But in all honesty posting in your own page about stuff isn't going to do much, commenting in other peoples work, and being active is what will make people visit your social media page and in turn read your comic. BUT it can indeed be a time hog that might not bring in results, but it is a free tool for advertisement in the end (outside of course consuming time). Some people might get a use of it, other might not and still gain a following.

[Rayenae]

It's sounding to me, after reading this thread, that Social Media is a lot like art. Whether or not you like the project your working on, ultimately shows in the final product. So what I'm taking away from this is that I should rework my social media plan in a way that I can really have fun and enjoy it.