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Introduction

Social media has become an essential tool for book marketing and promotion. It’s an excellent way to connect with readers and spread the word, but it can be difficult to figure out how to get started. This guide is a resource for authors looking to learn about social media, either dipping their toes into the social waters or diving right in.

Social media and how it works is constantly shifting. It’s important to stay agile and flexible. There are a lot of different options for social networks to consider and a lot of information on how to make the best use of the medium. Don’t get overwhelmed. Peruse it in pieces. Find the platforms that make sense for you and start where you can. Be authentic and persistent.

Go get social!

Basic Tips for Effective Social Media Strategy

Start Early

The sooner you start building your social media profile, the better. Building an audience takes time. Social media works best when you consider it a way of building a relationship with your readers. They want to get to know you and interact with you. Don’t think of social media as a marketing tool that you use only short-term to market your book.

Reserve Usernames on All Major Social Media Services…

…even if you don’t use them. This includes: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, and any other popular or emerging platform. While this should be done in the spirit of being proactive and with the intention of engaging with the community, it’s also a smart way to protect your identity. You don’t want someone else registering your name and commenting with it in an active community.

Start with One Platform, and Do It Well

The social media landscape is constantly evolving—new platforms pop up all the time. At the moment, the most popular platforms for authors are TwitterInstagram, and Goodreads. Don’t feel pressured to do everything. Focus on the networks that feel most natural to you and expand from there. It’s better to engage deeply with readers on one platform than to spread your efforts an inch deep and a mile wide. Another way to decide which social network would be best for you is to follow some other authors and see what approach speaks to you. Your marketing manager will be glad to provide strategic advice.

Define and Find Your Audience

Think about the target audience for your book(s). Take a look at comparable authors and interest communities, and connect with these audiences through your own social media accounts. You may find that more specialized interest groups interact more with one another than with broader reader communities. Once you start being active on social media and gain followers, your social networks analytics will provide valuable audience insights that you can use to further refine your approach.

Find Partners and Reach Out

You’re not really starting from scratch—take advantage of existing blogs, influencers, and online communities. There are several ways to do this, like guest blogging or connecting with other influencers offline to find ways to partner. Reach out to other authors, especially the ones who write books in the same genre as yours. You can tweet at them, review their books, or share your favorite parts of their books on your channel. Tag them in your posts when possible. A little can go a long way.

Be Social on Social Media: Interact, Comment, Share

A lot of value in social media is not in what you own but in how you help others on their channels. Comment on the blogs you read, seek out niche forums in your market, share interesting posts with your followers, and participate in the conversation wherever it’s taking place. Interact with anyone who mentions anything relevant about you and your book—even if it’s just to say thank you for reading! Do not post too much promotional content or make it all about you. This comes off as annoying at worst and boring at best. Nobody wants to read constant sales pitches.

Use Hashtags

We recommend using popular hashtags in your posts to increase visibility…but don’t overdo it! Your own book has an official hashtag that we assign to it. Make sure to stay consistent with that hashtag so anyone can click on it and see all the content associated with it. Not sure what your official hashtag is? Reach out to your marketing manager, and they’ll let you know!

Check Out What’s Trending

Look at the popular topics of the moment for inspiration. Is there a way you can make it relevant to your book?

Go Behind the Scenes

Give people a behind-the-scenes look at your writing process with pictures of your workspace, your book in interesting settings, galleys arriving in the mail, etc. Did your book get a good review? Share your appreciation and, if you can, include a link or picture of the review along with it. You can also repost/retweet and comment with a section from the review. You may also want to share what you’re reading at the moment, or what is currently giving you inspiration.

Make It Visual

Even though we’re all readers and book lovers, photos and videos can help break up the text and complement the content that it accompanies.

A few mobile photo editing apps that we love: Adobe Lightroom (iOS/Android), Snapseed (iOS/Android), VSCO (iOS/Android)

Livestream

Experiment with live streaming to share what’s happening in your day-to-day life. All platforms have a form of livestreaming, but the best ones to use are Facebook and Instagram Live.

Pro tip: If you’re planning a livestream, please email your marketing manager about the social channel you’ll be using or make a post and tag us so we can help promote it.

Not ready to broadcast live? No problem—there’s always Instagram Stories, which becomes increasingly popular each passing day. You can take snapshots and videos of your day and add captions/filters/stickers before sharing.

Don’t Be Afraid to Repurpose Content

A lot of platforms let you simultaneously post across other social media platforms, but this has become less popular in recent years. If you post something on one social media platform, consider whether you can repurpose it on another platform. But make sure to adjust the style and messaging for each platform.

Pro tip: Asking other people for permission to repost their content with a credit to them as the creator is a great way to build relationships with readers, especially if you don’t have the time or means to create lots of original content. User-generated content is very popular right now. The best practice is to DM (direct message) the creator and ask for permission to share their post on your account with a credit to them in the post.

Keep It Classy

Keep in mind that nothing you post on social media is truly private. As a rule of thumb, if you wouldn’t say it on broadcast TV or to an individual’s face, it’s probably not a good idea to post it on social media.

Pro tip: Don’t engage with trolls—best to avoid them!

Keep Your Profile Up-to-Date

Keep your profile picture, cover photo, and bio up to date so that any visitor can see what you want them to know as soon as they get on your profile. Update cover photos across all social media platforms, where relevant, to include elements of your book cover. Your marketing team has an image available for you to use.

Let’s Be Friends on Social

Tag your publisher any time you post about your book and related events—tagging us guarantees our ability to share something that you’ve posted and expand the reach of your post.

If you include your publisher in your Instagram and Twitter bios, it increases your visibility because your profiles will show up when users search for our handle. It also allows readers to know who your publisher is, and they can follow us for more bookish news.

Remember: Be patient. Be creative. Be yourself. Your efforts on social media will shine most when you forget you are promoting yourself and your work.

Ideas for Promoting Books via Social Media

Now that we’ve covered the basic underlying structure for your social media efforts, we can discuss ideas for engaging with an audience online. Here’s a list of ideas to consider: