By Porter Gale
Gone are the days when authors relied on publishers for handling the entire process. With an increase in self-publishing, it’s crucial to implement the right social media tactics for effective promotion. In this choice, every aspect of the book including writing, editing, packaging, marketing, etc. is handled by the writer himself.
No author should underestimate the immense power of engaging with targeted readers through different social platforms. Social media ensures that there is no boundary to marketing and you can let people know about your book all over the world. Engaging with the right people helps you create a loyal fan base in the long run.
Today, we will look at the social media tips that worked well for some of the most successful authors.
Organize Frequent Q&A Sessions
Your readers are likely to have questions if you are just about to get your new book out in the market. Even with your old books, they might have some interesting takes. Organizing these sessions will help you improve your relationship with your target audience. You can also collaborate with fellow authors to organize these sessions together. This is an exciting way to connect with people who are looking forward to knowing more about your journey. Use platforms like Facebook or Instagram Live, Google Hangouts, etc. for organizing these sessions.
Remember that these sessions act as a medium to engage with your audience. The discussion doesn’t necessarily have to be about writing or reading. You can encourage users to ask varied questions outside this niche as well. Every industry can equally benefit from Q&A sessions. For example, even the best router table manufacturer can organize such sessions to answer users’ queries regarding the same.
Show Your Journey Through Videos or Short Clips
Writing a book is a process that demands consistent effort. Sharing this entire journey with your readers will help you build a strong connection. People are often caught up in the myth that writing is easy for authors who are already successful. You can show them how you deal with your phases of writer’s block before you come up with something exciting. Apart from the regular writing process, you can take up exciting challenges.
Chris Fox, best-selling author of books like Write to Market, 5000 Words Per Hour, and more, took up a 21-day writing challenge. He uploaded his entire journey of 21 days on YouTube. In the end, he published his book on Kindle and the people who viewed his journey were curious to know what came out of it.
Ask Your Audience for Their Opinion
People love being asked about their opinion on a specific area. While posting consistently on social media, make sure you are motivating them to share their opinions. When are short of content ideas, post a snippet of your book along with an open-ended question in the caption. To encourage users to participate in the conversation, tell them about your view after asking the question. Here is a great example of how you can engage your audience to interact in the comment section.
Develop Your Presence on Platforms Like Quora and Twitter
There are millions of people out there with a dream of becoming a writer. But they are often confused as to where they can start. Or they are often stuck amidst the writing process.
Quora is a great platform where you can find and answer the questions in your niche. Don’t hesitate in going out of your niche for answering questions. Some of the most successful authors talk about everything including tips on writing a book, starting a blog, or thriving as a journalist.
Some authors are quite consistent with posting on their Twitter accounts. They keep their audience updated with the happenings of their lives. Social platforms should never be used for blind promotion of your products. The goal is to develop a lasting relationship with the users.
Paulo Coelho is a great example of an author with a timeline that’s always interesting to browse through.
Like the above example, it doesn’t necessarily have to be related to writing. You can update your timeline with other things that you love doing. For example, your love for traveling will give birth to experiences you share with your target audience.
Start a Hashtag Campaign on Twitter
Let’s say you are an author of a self-help book. You can start a hashtag campaign to encourage visitors to share their experiences. If you have a step-by-step guide, you can motivate them to discuss how every step turned out to be for them.
But make sure you don’t stay rigid to specific platforms. Try starting a podcast for a change to discuss your book or journey.
Offer Freebies to Your Website Visitors for Promotion
Do you know that avid readers have an entire community where they discuss and recommend books?
Here is a community of readers on Reddit (Book Suggestions) with 526K highly active members who discuss and recommend books.
You can use this to your advantage by offering freebies to your visitors for sharing your link to their social channels. People are likely to pay attention when a reader promotes something instead of the author himself.
Guy Kawasaki, the author of fifteen books, made use of this effective book marketing tactic to promote his self-publishing book. In return, he offered a lot of useful free material including book design templates.
Approach Bookstagrammers
Instagram is no longer just a photo-sharing platform as it has immensely helped businesses grow. As for authors, apart from maintaining your profile by continuous engagement, you can reach out to bookstagrammers. These are people who read and review books to give ideas regarding the next read to their community.
Bookstagrammers bring forward the idea of the book through their perspective and opinion. Along with that, they click and post your book’s picture along with visually aesthetic items. While making a choice, make sure you go with the ones who promote less but thoughtful authors.
Join Facebook Communities In Your Niche
There are many Facebook communities where writers and readers come together to engage in discussions. They talk about everything revolving around the struggles, success stories, crazy experiences, etc. Make it a point to regularly engage in these groups. They will help you learn a lot from fellow authors along with improving your reach.
Summing Up
Make sure you keep experimenting with various social tactics to see what works best for you. A perfect blend of the above-mentioned tactics will help you reap results. Consistency is the one thing that will help you make the most of your social media efforts. The point here is to be seen among your target audience using different mediums. Keep up with the effort and you are likely to see results.
Porter Gale is Editor-in-Chief at Sleepation. She has 7 years of experience in developing data-driven content for brands, SaaS businesses, and agencies. When not writing you can find her playing her guitar or binge-watching time-travel movies.
