You have spent ages over a story you are excited to share. CLICK, you share it on your social media, and then you receive that dumb message from some group (Nazi) admin moderator who reminds you of the rules. Have you been caught out? You naughty writer.
No Self Promotion or advertising, no sharing links. PLEASE READ THE RULES……….. Please do me a favour!
Why do they have these rules about self promotion, and what is wrong with that anyhow? What is wrong with anyone trying to be good at something, trying to achieve some self worth, trying to improve their creativity and GOD FORBID, trying to build a business. Let me be clear, trying to build a business is the same as trying to make a living. It is something we all strive for.
As a blogger/writer, I can tell you, the money does not flow in. I do not take food away from starving children neither am I in the business of scamming or shoving adverts in people’s news feeds making them buy things they do not want. I just love writing and I love to travel. I am not here for the money and anyhow,? if I was, what is wrong with that?
If I have written an article, I am not going to copy and paste it into a Facebook post, It would be far too long and nobody would read it. Sharing a blog post is different and more enticing.
I am an over 60 solo woman traveler who loves to share stories that is all. However, the attitude of putting up boundaries to businesses or anything with a smack of commercialism is not new and unfortunately something I have come across all my working life. I have experienced success and I can say without any doubt, the more successful you become the more people will be suspicious of you. I am sure they think that you must have been devious in some way to get to where you are now. Forget the blood sweat and tears, the hard graft, and the instability you have to endure when working for yourself.
Self promotion should be rewarded. It is an insult to be granted only one day per month to share your work.
Do I take offense when told to take off my story from a group thread because it has my name on it? Yes, I do. Do I get pissed off when I am told I can share my blog posts on only one day per month? Absolutely. Do I care? Of course, I care, I know how many writers, bloggers, and YouTubers struggle to get noticed. Let’s face it, it’s not easy.
I love Facebook groups, I run a few myself and I never do the rule thing, I love free speech and self-promotion. Get out there, I say, and help to inspire others. If I can help you, I certainly will.
Obviously, there are limits, the odd advertiser can be a nuisance, people can scroll on and most do. But please treat writers differently, we share information and most of us share it free because we love to write. I believe we need respect.
So for all you travel bloggers, I have a group you are welcome to share your stories on. No group admin will slap you down for daring to self-promote your hard work. TRAVEL MATES is a face book group where bloggers can post travel stories and travel companies can share information. The travel industry needs all the help it can get.
Travel is changing all the time. Covid has caused the loss of many companies and thousands have lost their jobs in the industry. Travel groups though are still growing. They need your stories. It blows my mind when they say no to blog posts.
There are some great travel groups out there and a lot will gladly share your stories. Travelers want to read them and be inspired by you. They want to know where you stayed, how you got there and how to find the best deals. This information is often found in our stories. One of my favorite groups is ‘Stories from a Holiday Rep’. 17.4k members. Some great stories from way back then. You have to have worked in travel to join, that is the only rule.
Love to have your comments on this, Drop your thoughts below.
Lauren.
