By Heather Kreke @HKreke

On Memorial Day a black bear wondered into our neighborhood and made himself (for the sake of this post I have decided the bear was a male) at home in a tree belonging to our neighbors three doors down. The bear stayed in the yard all day, climbing down the tree occasionally to walk around and then back up to nap. He caused quite a spectacle and people drove from miles away to  see him. We walked down the road a number of times to check on our new bear buddy. Practicing safe-distancing of course.

It’s worth it

Building our platforms should be about building relationships not about numbers. We have no idea who we’re going to meet readers, other writers, publishers, editors, maybe even our next co-writer. Sure it’s time consuming  reaching out to people but it’s worth it. We met people from all over our Township that day, and even people who used to live in our neighborhood. They had stories of when they had seen a bear, or of how the neighborhood was when they grew up there, to share.

You never know what will go viral

I posted a few pictures of the bear to a Facebook group my husband and I created for our neighborhood. Within a few hours, the post  had reached almost 100,000 people. This is how people knew to drive down our street to see the bear. Our local news station even covered the story. A reporter interviewed my family and a few others. While I stared in disbelief at the rapidly rising number of views on my post, I realized we never know what people are going to pick up on social media. 

I’m not sure  why this post went viral. Was it because I responded to each comment? The fact it was a bear? My photo of the bear, or maybe because he stayed put for so long? Other bears have been in our neighborhood before and posted on Facebook, but none of them took off like this one. So when we’re plugging along trying to build our platform, we can’t give up.

Leave a mark

Our neighbors weren’t home when the bear visited them, but he left his droppings. Twice. He also left us all with something to talk about. It’s important to leave a positive impression for our followers so they think about us when they’re talking to their friends. They check in to see if we have anything new posted or better yet they find something that inspires, grants hope, or changes them from one of our stories. The bear had all of us talking not just that day, but still a month later when we run into someone  who says, “Hey we saw you on the news.”

Have fun

Seeing the bear was fun. People were thrilled and wanted to share the experience. Give people something to build excitement, something to talk about, and something to share. 

How are you building your platform? 

Heather is a novelist who is passionate about showing teens and young adults they can find hope in God’s plan for their lives – even through the darkest times. She is published on numerous blogs and in the Christian Writers Market Guide. She also teaches a writing class at her church and completed coursework through the former Christian Writers Guild.

Heather is a mother of 3 redheaded girls and has been married to a redheaded husband since 2004.

If you would like to be featured on Blueridgeconference.com e-mail her at heather@heatherkreke.com with the subject line Blog Query.