Social media presents an opportunity for authors to build a community of people who know and relate to their message and their brand. Writers have the chance to nurture their following and to be ambassadors for their work. Social media is the best place to create a buzz and even receive pre-orders when gearing up to release a new book. However, the many social media avenues today can be overwhelming for a writer. Still, it’s possible to pick a few channels and execute a strategy consistently. Here are some suggestions…
1. Use Facebook to Join a Community Writers
With over 2.9 billion monthly users, Facebook is a great place to market yourself as a writer. It’s ideal for long-form content and sharing links to your own website. If you can funnel users to your personal website, you can build an email list. It’s advisable to have a dedicated author page alongside your personal profile. The author page allows fans to engage with each other and share feedback with you.
On Facebook, it’s advisable to join relevant author groups and engage with members. Consistent participation will make people curious about your work as an author, and your author page will benefit from it.
As indicated, Facebook is great for long-form content. This can be videos, photos and plain text. You should develop a content strategy and stick to a consistent schedule. For instance, you can write short stories and share them at a set time every week. With time, your audience will always be looking forward to it.
4. Use Twitter for Engagement and Speaking Your Mind
Twitter is a great platform to speak your mind. While you should keep off unnecessary controversies, you should not shy away from engaging in current affairs or sharing your knowledge in a particular area. It’s also a great platform to engage and learn from other authors. You can write short stories as threads on the platform to build a following and be discovered by new readers.
3. Use Instagram to Interact with Fans
You can use Instagram to share the human side of you as an author. People would want to get a peek into your life, and you can use Instagram stories to share images and videos of your day-to-day life. You can even tease an upcoming book. You can use IGTV to share longer videos, such as a breakdown of a newly released book or upcoming events. Instagram is also great for giving away or promoting your merchandise because your followers can see it.
4. Remain Consistent
Whatever platforms you pick, you must remain consistent to get results. People do not follow you on social media because of your past work. They follow you to see what you will do next. It’s a need you must satiate, or you’ll lose the following. Besides posting content, you must also take time to respond to comments, questions, and compliments you receive. Build a connection with the fans, and they’ll be drawn even closer to your work. Replying, liking, or retweeting a comment means that you took the time to read it and humanize your brand.
Are there other social media platforms you can and should consider? Most certainly. Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, and many others all have potential. However, unless you have a sizable team behind you, it’s not likely that you can consistently post in all the social media platforms that are available to you. So be strategic and choose wisely.
If you are an author seeking help to build, market, and grow your brand, HigherLife Publishing and Marketing can help you develop and execute a strategy. You have a message, and we will help share it. Get in touch with us today. Click here to book a free call or email info@ahigherlife.com.
