Susanna King

Latest Author Features

Equestrian Social Media | Aiken Bella Magazine

Equestrian Social Media

Social media is great for finding people with similar interests, and equestrian sports is no different. Whether you’re an experienced equestrian, just learned to ride, or prefer to watch from the sidelines, there’s an online community for you. I asked around and compiled a list of the best websites and social media groups for horse people here in Aiken. The Chronicle of the Horse (chronofhorse.com) Everyone I asked mentioned this site as the best place to find horse-related information. The site is based around the Chronicle of the Horse magazine, and it also hosts active blogs on a wide variety of subjects, forums where you can ask and answer questions,

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Social Media | On Tolerance | Aiken Bella Magazine

Social Media | On Tolerance

If we’re transparent and honest, negative comments can become opportunities to improve customer relationships. If you’re on social media for any length of time, you’re eventually going to offend someone, even if you don’t mean to. It’s bad enough when you accidentally anger someone on a personal account, but when one of your business’s social accounts offends someone, that can be particularly fraught. Online reviews and reputation are hugely important to businesses nowadays, so much so that companies will mention Yelp or other reviews in their advertising, and sometimes even hire reputation management consultants to make sure nothing negative shows up in a search. Realistically, it’s impossible to have only

Read More »
Social Media In Balance | Aiken Bella Magazine

Social Media In Balance

It’s January and your New Year’s Resolution is to give up social media entirely. You spend one day feeling virtuous, then a few more days feeling anxious as you wonder what you’re missing out on. By the end of the first week, you’ve caved, reinstalled all the apps on your phone, and spent hours binging on Facebook and Instagram. Spending too much time on social media isn’t healthy, but you don’t have to give it up entirely. If you’re worried that your virtual life has overtaken your real life, try going on a social media diet instead. When you go on a food diet to lose weight, you don’t stop

Read More »
Creating a Social Community | Aiken Bella Magazine

Creating a Social Community

There’s a common misperception that Twitter is nothing but a cesspool of hate, celebrity worship, and advertising. While all those things do exist to some extent, wonderful special interest communities also thrive on the platform. One example is the writing community. Made up of both aspiring and successful authors, this group uses the hashtag #writingcommunity to connect with one another. Writers ask for advice about their current projects and writing careers in general, promote their latest work, and sometimes just chat. Members frequently do something called a #writerslift, where new writers with not many followers describe their work, and other members of the community follow them. This lets people who

Read More »
Timely Social Media Tips | Aiken Bella Magazine

Timely Social Media Tips

The influence of social media on our lives has been both good and bad for holiday planning. On the up side, it’s easy to get all kinds of great ideas for gifts, recipes, and decor. On the down side, seeing all the picture-perfect crafts and family outings online can make us feel like our efforts don’t measure up. The challenge, then, is to find what’s good about social media — what makes our holiday celebrations more meaningful and fun — and ignore all the rest. First of all, let’s step back and think about what makes social media so popular in the first place: it builds connections between people. You

Read More »
Social Media for Artists | Aiken Bella Magazine

Social Media for Artists

Social media gives artists an unprecedented opportunity to be seen and heard. No longer are galleries, clubs, and journals the sole gatekeepers of the artistic world. You can reach the entire world directly… in theory. But how can an individual artist stand out in the crowded online landscape? And what’s the best use of an artist’s limited time for self-promotion? The first thing to figure out is what you hope to get from a social media presence. For a visual artist, it might be selling work online or getting commissions or gallery shows. For a musician, perhaps selling albums, booking gigs, or increasing plays on streaming platforms. For a writer,

Read More »
Equestrian Social Media | Aiken Bella Magazine

Equestrian Social Media

Social media is great for finding people with similar interests, and equestrian sports is no different. Whether you’re an experienced equestrian, just learned to ride, or prefer to watch from the sidelines, there’s an online community for you. I asked around and compiled a list of the best websites and social media groups for horse people here in Aiken. The Chronicle of the Horse (chronofhorse.com) Everyone I asked mentioned this site as the best place to find horse-related information. The site is based around the Chronicle of the Horse magazine, and it also hosts active blogs on a wide variety of subjects, forums where you can ask and answer questions,

Read More »
Social Media | On Tolerance | Aiken Bella Magazine

Social Media | On Tolerance

If we’re transparent and honest, negative comments can become opportunities to improve customer relationships. If you’re on social media for any length of time, you’re eventually going to offend someone, even if you don’t mean to. It’s bad enough when you accidentally anger someone on a personal account, but when one of your business’s social accounts offends someone, that can be particularly fraught. Online reviews and reputation are hugely important to businesses nowadays, so much so that companies will mention Yelp or other reviews in their advertising, and sometimes even hire reputation management consultants to make sure nothing negative shows up in a search. Realistically, it’s impossible to have only

Read More »
Social Media In Balance | Aiken Bella Magazine

Social Media In Balance

It’s January and your New Year’s Resolution is to give up social media entirely. You spend one day feeling virtuous, then a few more days feeling anxious as you wonder what you’re missing out on. By the end of the first week, you’ve caved, reinstalled all the apps on your phone, and spent hours binging on Facebook and Instagram. Spending too much time on social media isn’t healthy, but you don’t have to give it up entirely. If you’re worried that your virtual life has overtaken your real life, try going on a social media diet instead. When you go on a food diet to lose weight, you don’t stop

Read More »
Creating a Social Community | Aiken Bella Magazine

Creating a Social Community

There’s a common misperception that Twitter is nothing but a cesspool of hate, celebrity worship, and advertising. While all those things do exist to some extent, wonderful special interest communities also thrive on the platform. One example is the writing community. Made up of both aspiring and successful authors, this group uses the hashtag #writingcommunity to connect with one another. Writers ask for advice about their current projects and writing careers in general, promote their latest work, and sometimes just chat. Members frequently do something called a #writerslift, where new writers with not many followers describe their work, and other members of the community follow them. This lets people who

Read More »
Timely Social Media Tips | Aiken Bella Magazine

Timely Social Media Tips

The influence of social media on our lives has been both good and bad for holiday planning. On the up side, it’s easy to get all kinds of great ideas for gifts, recipes, and decor. On the down side, seeing all the picture-perfect crafts and family outings online can make us feel like our efforts don’t measure up. The challenge, then, is to find what’s good about social media — what makes our holiday celebrations more meaningful and fun — and ignore all the rest. First of all, let’s step back and think about what makes social media so popular in the first place: it builds connections between people. You

Read More »
Social Media for Artists | Aiken Bella Magazine

Social Media for Artists

Social media gives artists an unprecedented opportunity to be seen and heard. No longer are galleries, clubs, and journals the sole gatekeepers of the artistic world. You can reach the entire world directly… in theory. But how can an individual artist stand out in the crowded online landscape? And what’s the best use of an artist’s limited time for self-promotion? The first thing to figure out is what you hope to get from a social media presence. For a visual artist, it might be selling work online or getting commissions or gallery shows. For a musician, perhaps selling albums, booking gigs, or increasing plays on streaming platforms. For a writer,

Read More »