Using social media to promote your book.
Building Audience:
The main thing to remember when you start using social media is that building an audience takes time. It’s exciting when you first get started and everyone hopes that their social media posts will go viral overnight. Very occasionally that happens, but not usually. Building an audience on social media has been compared to running a marathon, rather than a sprint.
Here are a few ideas to get you started building your social media audience:
Tell everyone you already know that you have a profile (or two or three) on social media.
If you have a newsletter list on your website, make sure that your social media URL’s go out on every newsletter you send.
Make sure that you are following people who will be interested in what you do. Like the Facebook pages of book retailers in your area. follow other authors and book readers on Twitter. Pin content from people who are interested in books and reading on Pinterest.
Follow people who are influencial. They might follow you back. They might see something you post that interests them and so they share your post to their many followers.
Be consistent posting on your social media platforms. Make a flexible plan, and create some interesting content, for at least for 3 months initially. This will help you to remember to post every week so when someone discovers your social media pages there is interesting content for them to engage with.
Talk about your Facebook page/Twitter profile/LinkedIn page (any social media profiles you have) to everyone new you meet and ask them to engage with it.
Talk about your Facebook page on your Twitter account and vice versa for all your profiles. Ask people who follow you on Instagram to like your Facebook page, or follow your Pinterest Board. People who use social media often are using more than one platform.
Add links to your social media accounts on your website so it’s easy for your readers to find you. (talk to your website provider if you don’t know how to do this).
Most importantly, have FUN! Social Media is a great way to market your book. Remember that it takes time to build an audience so enjoy the journey.
Anthea Livingstone
www.smme.co.nz