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Let’s Talk About Your Online Platform – Avatar Edition

A lot of authors, agents, editors, etc. have gone into some serious detail about the importance of an online platform. For those of you not in the know, that’s basically what sorts of social network sites, blogs, etc. you have on the internet.

Think of the platform as a place for your little writing career to jump off of. The more people know who you are, the springier your platform is.

The thing is, with facebook, twitter, formspring, foursquare, and every other trendy worded network out there, it can be more than just a little overwhelming. (Then shouldn’t I have just said overwhelming?) So, we’re going to start simple.

With your Avatar.

What’s an Avatar? It’s the cute little picture in all your online profiles, and (don’t freak out or anything) it needs to be fabulous.

You probably knew that already, but here’s something you might not know yet:

You should use the same Avatar on every network, blog comment, website, whatever.

Invisible person in my fake audience says: What? You mean I can’t express my individuality with my avatar by uploading a thousand different cute pictures of baby animals and changing them out whenever I want?

That’s what I’m saying, invisible person. Your avatar has to be the exact same on twitter as it is on facebook as it is on goodreads as it is on myspace. How the heck are you going to build your brand and make yourself recognizable if you look different everywhere you go?

Your avatar is like your logo. Heck, for some of you– it is your logo.

So, your assignment today is to come up with a really great avatar, go through all your social network sites and blogs and make it the same.

Here are a few that stuck out when I went through the last few tweets in my stream:


Stick a link to your new avatar below in the comments. I’ll pick a few and talk about why they were great choices!

Kristie Cook

Wednesday 14th of April 2010

Yes, you are Totally the Bomb! Excellent point. I need to do this (I have two pics out there, I think). At least I have my name constant throughout. I'm with you and Tawna - if you can't get your name consistent, at least make your avatar the same.

When I get a cover, my avatars will definitely be the same everywhere. You all will be sick of it. LOL

Here's a question: If you have a FB profile and a FB fan page, should they be the same? Or should your friends who are also fans be able to tell the difference between when you're posting as a person and when you're posting as a professional? I go with the latter. Interested in your 2+ cents. .-= Kristie Cook´s last blog ..Book Fairs and Lessons Learned =-.

Jamie Harrington

Wednesday 14th of April 2010

@Kristie Cook, I'm of mixed feelings on the facebook thing, so I'm not totally sure how I feel about that. I am hoping to figure it out soon, though because I want to talk about it this week on the blog :) .-= Jamie Harrington´s last blog ..Let’s Talk About Your Online Platform – Get a Gravatar =-.

Jamie

Tuesday 13th of April 2010

testing

A.L. Sonnichsen

Monday 12th of April 2010

I was using an avatar without even knowing it! It's just a picture of me and I just ended up using it everywhere. Maybe it's not bright enough, though? Do I need to dye my hair? http://tiny.cc/quncv .-= A.L. Sonnichsen´s last blog ..Life =-.

A.L. Sonnichsen

Tuesday 13th of April 2010

@A.L. Sonnichsen, Ooh, my link didn't work, dang it! .-= A.L. Sonnichsen´s last blog ..Life =-.

MeadowC

Monday 12th of April 2010

This is a quasi-issue for me because of the whole "secret identity" nature of my blogging. I'm creating my "platform" as Meadow, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I'm ready to "come out" as myself. .-= MeadowC´s last blog ..Reading Rainbow: The House of Night Series =-.

Jamie

Monday 12th of April 2010

@MeadowC, yeah... that will hurt you in the long run, but it is fun to hide behind the anonymity... .-= Jamie´s last blog ..Let’s Talk About Your Online Platform – Avatar Edition =-.

Sarah Enni

Monday 12th of April 2010

Excellent point! Why make things more confusing than they need to be? Consistency is always good.

I agree with H -- the picture needs to be at least very bright (like Jamie's pink hair) to be easily identified.

Jamie

Monday 12th of April 2010

@Sarah Enni, that's true... you should really make your avatar stand out, because tweets and status updates fly by! .-= Jamie´s last blog ..Let’s Talk About Your Online Platform – Avatar Edition =-.