How To Use Social Media to Market Your Book
Social media platforms offer amazing opportunities to build your author brand, market your book and grow your list of followers. By taking time to develop a marketing plan, you can create a fun, engaging social marketing campaign your readers will be happy to support.
Create great social media content
The whole purpose of being active on social media is to create buzz and give followers a reason to engage with you. This is where interesting content is so important. Share book reviews through Instagram stories, answer fan questions through a TikTok video, create a Facebook poll to get feedback on book cover designs, or share behind-the-scenes snapshots on Instagram. Whichever social media platform you choose, use it to give your audience a peek into your daily life, your writing process, and what makes you unique as an author.
Give something away readers will like
Show your followers how much you appreciate their support by giving away some exclusive freebies, like a few copies of your book or some cool book swag. Invite your fans to post a comment and tag a friend. This is a great way to simultaneously engage with your existing fans and invite new ones to connect, as well.
Offer a free chapter
Offering a sneak peek at a chapter can be a great marketing tool. Spread the news far and wide through your social media channels and ask your followers to sign up for your newsletter, so they can receive the chapter. Don’t forget to add “share” buttons where possible, so your readers can also share their favorite lines or quotes and attract other readers to check out your book.
Use great visuals to market your book
Social media is all about the visuals. You know the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words?” This is perhaps even more true on social media. Photos, videos, or infographics grab a viewer’s attention much faster and more effectively, and they receive more likes, shares, and engagement than simple text updates, so always think about including a funny meme, a powerful photo, or an entertaining video as often as you can.
Tag it with hashtags
Hashtags are a great way to increase views, likes, and shares when you’re promoting your work on social media. Used correctly, hashtags help people interested in your topic, genre, or book to find you and help expand your social influence and followers. However, don’t get carried away and think everything needs to be a hashtag. Using one to three hashtags that are short, easy to remember, and specific is far better than writing an entire post full of useless hashtags.
Pay to market your book on social media
Paid social media – also known as pay-per-click advertising, “sponsored” content, or display ads – have become a popular tool in many marketing strategies. Paid social media makes it faster and easier to target a specific audience, meet them where they are, and drive awareness, traffic, and sales. A paid social media campaign also costs much less than traditional advertising, so it’s a great tool to jump start your social marketing and increase your fan base.
At Publish Pros, we can help put social media to work for you when it comes to marketing and selling your upcoming or already published book. Contact us today to learn more.
