I’m T.L. Hines, and I launched Social Media Scout following five years of social media trial and error for my own products: books. Novels, specifically. I write what I like to call “Noir Bizarre” thrillers, books that mix mystery with oddity.
Along the way, I’ve conducted several blog tours, created unique online promotions, tracked dozens of social media communities, and tested literally hundreds of tactics for online interaction. (In fact, my social media efforts have earned coverage and interviews with outlets such as Publishers Weekly and Media Bistro.)
But that’s only part of the story. Before I began writing fiction full-time, I worked in the advertising and marketing field for 17 years–12 of those years as an ad agency owner and Creative Director. In that time, I developed marketing plans and promotions for clients ranging from local mom and pops to international membership organizations. After all that time, it’s still impossible for me to fully take off my marketing hat. That’s why I launched Social Media Scout as a service–to combine the technical aspects of social media interaction (”How do I set up a Twitter account?”) with the research-based methods of marketing (”What’s my ROI?”).
So, am I a social media “expert”? Well, the ugly truth is: no one is a social media expert. It’s too new, too volatile; the terms “social media” and “social network” didn’t even exist before 2006. All of us, including the people who call themselves experts, are constantly learning. We’re all babes in the woods, and the woods are growing faster than we are. So let me say: everything I can do for you, you can do for yourself.
Unfortunately, you’ll probably need to commit a thousand hours to study, experimentation and refinement.
Of course, because I’ve already done that, I can help you get ahead of the curve. And because I’ve developed a six-tiered system that blends marketing research and tracking with social media interaction (I call it Social GPS), I can also help you break your social media efforts into a manageable, concrete plan.
I short, I’ll be your scout in the social media wilderness.
