IGNITE, LEVEL 1: PLATFORM CREATION

Every writer needs to have a platform where they can relentlessly express themselves in their own style. The Internet has provided multiple platforms that make this possible, and we must take advantage of the time and age we are in. A writing platform will help get your message to your audience and will be your voice amid the crowd.

The Importance of a Platform?

• It helps amplify your voice. Everyone has a voice, every voice has a message, and every message has an audience. A platform will help you hear and be heard.

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  It gives direction. Are you a writer who has so many things to say but does not know how to say them? This is how to create a platform. The Web is a general platform, but you need to create your personal platform to be identified with your message.

• It helps monitor your growth. How do you know you are growing? A platform helps to do that through its various analytics. For example, if you were asked to write on the topic of "love and emotions" when you were 5 and then you're asked to write on the same topic at your current age, there will be a difference. What will differ? Content quantity and quality, tenacity of points, order of setting, and many other things. In the same vein, your platform will help you see how far and fast you've grown in your writing journey.

• It connects you to your audience. Every writer is unique in their own way, including yourself. Your uniqueness is expressed through the quality content on your platform, which in turn connects you to your audience.

Platforms That Promote Writers' Engagement

1. 1. Social Platforms: These include the vast variety of social media platforms available on the net. For starters, it is important to have a Facebook and Instagram account. These platforms have grown to become the most used media platforms in the World with billions of active users. Every writer who wants to make waves in their work needs to have accounts on these platforms.

1. 2. Blogging Platforms: Blogging platforms serve as an introduction to a website. A blog is a bank for your content and writing productions; these serve specifically to help you grow and advance as a writer. Blogs are public platforms that can be discovered by anyone on the net, so this gives you an edge of responsibility to continually post and engage with your blog sites.

Activity Curation: Continuous Posting

Have you ever run out of inspiration to write? It happens, and it's completely natural at this level. One thing you could do to help you is to create a schedule that will help you create content on your social media and blog accounts.

Do you want your platform to grow? 

Then, feed it. When a baby is born, feeding is one of the measures employed to take care of the baby so that he or she can grow healthily. So, if you want your social media platform and blog to grow - it is important that you continually "feed it with content". 

You don't have to wait until you're given an assignment before you post; your blog and media accounts are your personal responsibility.

I don't want to create a platform? How do you know a rich man? Basically, it's the volume of money in his account, right? Now imagine a rich man who doesn't have a bank account - how does that sound? Absurd!, right? How can you tell he's rich if he doesn't have a simple bank account? but that's exactly what many writers do.

How can you say you're a writer and not have an active writing platform? Whether you write for fun or for professional reasons, you must have an active, working, and growing platform. A rich man without a bank account is no rich man; a writer without a platform is no writer—it's as simple as that!

So, you must have active and engaging platforms both on social media and on the blog sites. 

Too busy? Tight Schedule every day? Then, create a schedule for weekly posting - this will help you prepare to post and also help your audience prepare to engage with your posts

Do you want to learn how to create a schedule for weekly posting as a writer? Then read this post here by Darla G. Denton

ASSIGNMENT

Activity: 
1. Create a Facebook and Instagram account with your original details: profile picture, name (not nickname), address, bio, and other necessary information. 

Please understand that as a member of the crew, you need to have accounts on both of these platforms—Facebook and Instagram—because they are part of our operational modes. So if you're yet to open either an Instagram or Facebook account or both, please do so.

2. Visit blogger.com or medium.com to create a blog for yourself. When creating an account with Blogger or Medium, please ensure you follow the guidelines appropriately. Your blogger URL shouldn't be capitalized, have punctuation, or have any spacing.

If you already have active and accessible accounts on these platforms, then feel free to ignore the instructions.

3. Paste your Facebook and Instagram links in the comment section below. If you have trouble commenting, please send the links to our WhatsApp group.

4. With the post by Darla you read, and the image you saw, create your own weekly posting schedule and post it in the WhatsApp group