A social media presence and a successful writing career go hand in hand. However, not every author is hardwired to excel in social media interactions. Luckily for the less experienced authors (and even more experienced ones), there are several things that can be very helpful when you are creating a social media presence.

These are some commandments that every author must obey to have a great experience in the digital frontier.

1. Professionalism: Many authors use their personal accounts to interact with their audiences in social media. However, it is important to know that there are some lines that you should draw and never cross. For instance, even if you have mostly friends and family as followers, keep off topics that are too personal. By staying professional you will be able to have a good rapport with your audience without having to exclude friends and family.

2. Don’t be too active: As an author you might be tempted to make tens of posts per hour in an attempt to get the full attention of readers. However, this is a counterproductive move because your audience will be bothered by seeing more posts from you than from all their other contacts combined. The most likely response is that they will unfriend you because you are ‘spamming’ their feeds.

3. Become relevant: Posts on your social media accounts don’t always have to be about your books and other works. However, you should always make posts that are relevant to your field or the topics covered in your books. You can make some exceptions when an irrelevant post is way too good to keep to yourself. After all, social media should not all be about serious business.

4. Quality over quantity: This point is somehow tied to #2. You should always make sure that your posts either give your audience valuable information or crack them up. Don’t write just anything because you have not made any posts in the past six hours. Sometimes it is better to avoid posting if you have nothing good to say.

5. Interact with your audience: When you have made relationships in social media, you should make sure that you engage your audience in interesting conversations regardless of the topic. People who use social media sometimes come to be distracted and taken to lands far away. You will find that people become more responsive if you have the ability to engage them in deep and interesting conversation.

6. Writing should come first: As an author, your first love should be writing, your life should come second, and lastly should be your social media presence. If for any reason your priorities no longer come in this order, you should be very concerned.

7. Never get caught in the tide: Social media tends to have a lot of waves. People often follow a trend because it’s popular. However, you should be firmly anchored and you should do whatever is comfortable for you.

8. Be adaptable: Social media changes direction quickly. Make sure that you can roll with the punches.

9. Disregard social media ‘experts’: You are the director of your social media strategy. Although it is good to listen to advice, don’t follow blindly.

10. Success is not about how many followers you have; it’s about the impact those followers have on your writing success.