Social media is vital to spreading the word about your writing across the Web. People aren’t going to magically happen upon your website, so you have to find them where they hang out and tell them about it.

Think of an author platform as a living, breathing thing. So breathe some life into yours! Here’s our latest links roundup with a bunch of helpful hints about social media for writers.

Enjoy.

Color Combination Tester via ColorCombos.com – With this simple but brilliant tool, you can test up to four color combinations to see if they REALLY mesh together as nicely in reality as you’ve imagined in your head. If you’re planning to build a website in the future (or are going to have us do it for you), it would be worthwhile to check out this site and play around with some color combinations before you commit to a palette.

6 Tips to Build Your Social Media Strategy via CIO – If you’re going to dive into the social media ocean, you don’t want to doggy-paddle your way through self-promotion. Build the best strategy for your social media and confidently backstroke your way through successful marketing. Here are some tips from Jennifer Lonoff Schiff to help you out.

How To Improve Your Social Media Marketing With Blogging via Social Media Examiner – It’s very easy to think of your blog and your social media platform as two separate entities requiring double the work—some people will even opt to do one and not the other to avoid redundancy. But did you know that you can have them work in tandem to benefit your marketing efforts? Check out this article from Kristi Hines to find out how.

The Benefits of Google+: Video interview with Kevin Gibbons via WordTracker – You’ve heard of Google+, you may even use it, but maybe you don’t quite understand its utility for self-promotion. How is it different from all of the other social media platforms vying for your attention? Kevin Gibbons of BlueGlass gives insight into how Google+ can benefit you.

How To Attract Readers By Creating A ‘Lighthouse’ Author Brand via Bestseller Labs – One of the most important goals for many writers is to have their work read. In this article from Bestseller Labs, Jonathan Gunson discusses seven ways an author can spotlight his or her author brand in order to grow a readership.

Photo by knitsteel.