Marketing savvy writers—and even authors who are marketing newbies—know the importance of an author platform. It’s easy enough to get all the necessary parts: An author website? Check. One or more social media profiles? Check. But simply having these integral pieces isn’t enough to ensure success: You need to be certain that everything works together like a well-oiled machine.
How? Think of your online author platform as a car engine. Engines are made up of many parts that, when properly connected and fueled up, function in tandem to move the car forward. Your online author platform should work the same way. Otherwise, your author brand will be fragmented, clunky, and may stall.
But with a bit of careful planning, you can interlock your author website and social media accounts so that all your promotional efforts perform with extra vrooom!
Check The Social Media Alignment And Connections
Most writers simply include links to their social media accounts on their author websites, then link to their websites from the bio section of their social media profiles. However, this very basic interlink may not be enough to get visitors clicking.
First, motivate your website visitors to forge stronger connections by making sure your Facebook and Twitter social media icons are prominently placed. Then, when you’re posting on social media, regularly include links back to your site. This will keep your followers up to date on your latest news, book releases, and blog posts—and also drive traffic across your platform on a consistent basis.
Bonus tip: Most blogging platforms, like WordPress, let you connect your social networks to your blog. Your new blog posts will automatically be sent to your social networks!
Shift Into High Gear With One Idea Across Multiple Platforms
Promote your new book by hosting a contest. You can create a blog post that explains how to enter and encourages readers to help you promote the contest and your site overall.
For example, visitors who wish to participate in the contest might be asked to tweet a link to your blog post on Twitter using a particular hashtag, then comment on the blog post with a link to the tweet. Or you could request that contest entrants pin a few of your previous blog posts on Pinterest and then comment with links to those pins.
By linking to the contest rules on your social networks, you’ll bring existing followers back into your site. You’ll also benefit from more people commenting on your blog in general. In addition, anyone who entered the contest will return to your blog or social media accounts multiple times to check for your announcement of the winner.
Most importantly, when contest participants enter by tweeting the link to your blog post, their tweet will be seen by all of their followers. This new audience will be drawn to your website, and may even enter the contest themselves and tweet about it to their followers, thus expanding your reach exponentially.
Rev Up Your Standard Social Media Package With Smart Options
Of course, you’re not just limited to social media—there are many more parts that you can use to power your promotion engine. Maintaining a mailing list and encouraging readers to subscribe will help extend your reach beyond the Internet browser and right into visitors’ inboxes. And don’t underestimate the usefulness of that traditional standby—a business card prominently featuring your author website URL.
Remember, the whole point of having an online presence is to get your name out there and to make it easy for folks searching the Internet to find you and your writing.
And if you’re not sure how to set up or maintain any of these social media or website elements, don’t sweat it. We offer several awesome Web design packages and can build you a great author website, which is the foundation of your whole platform! And with our Virtual Assistant Program, we can create and maintain your Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts—any one or all three! Give us a shout!
QUESTION: What makes you want to follow an author on social media AND on the author’s website?
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