As a marketing-savvy author, you know building a social media platform is vital to your writing career. That’s why you post frequently, respond to all comments, and monitor your social media platforms throughout the day. But at Web Design Relief, our experts know that sometimes your online book marketing strategies don’t show any real results. What should you do when the number of your fans and followers flatlines—despite all your best efforts?
Updated Tips, Tricks, And Adjustments To Tweak Your Online Book Marketing Strategies
Ask Your Social Media Followers A Question
One of the best ways to increase engagement with your current followers and fans is to ask questions! Quick, easy-to-answer multiple-choice queries grease the ease of engagement. E-books or print? Vampires or werewolves? Coffee or tea? Sometimes a simple question gets the best results.
Another way to keep your fans engaged is to always be upbeat, even when sharing less-than-happy news. A positive outlook is always appealing. Fans and followers will respond to your optimism.
Share Eye-Catching Images In Your Posts
Data suggests that across social media platforms, posts with graphics get more attention than those without. If the thought of wrestling with the knotty tangle of photo copyright restrictions makes you twitch, consider checking out some free or low-cost graphic-design-tool websites such as Canva or BookBrush to create the most eye-catching posts you can. Another good strategy is to post your own graphic quotes using Quozio.
Take Advantage Of Available Data Analytics For Book Promotion
Numbers and statistics might make your head spin, but they can help you determine what to post for maximum engagement, and when to post for maximum exposure.
- For Facebook, go to the Insights tab on your business page for information about which posts have the greatest reach and data about when your followers are most active.
- For Twitter, check out impressions and engagements of a particular tweet by clicking on the three vertical bars icon under the tweet. Or check out “Analytics” on the drop-down menu beneath your Twitter profile picture.
- Instagram business profiles have an “Insights” feature that will give data on posts, stories, and your audience.
Boost Your Best Efforts
Using data from the analytics above, you can magnify your reach on Facebook by boosting your best posts. Facebook allows you to pay to “boost” posts so that they will be seen by more of your followers, their friends, and other possible targets based on age, gender, location, interests, etc. You can choose the duration and the budget, which can be as short as one day and as affordable as one dollar per day. You can also pay to boost Tweets and Instagram posts too!
Be Innovative About Book Marketing And Book Promotion
Although one of the ultimate goals for building a social media following is to sell your books, constant posts that scream “buy my book!” will only drive followers away.
Instead, promote your book by building interest in you as a writer and the story itself. What first interested you in the setting or the premise of the book? Where did the first germ of the idea come from? Share stories about how you came up with character names, or why you hope your nonfiction will help people with a specific problem. The more your followers feel involved with the story and the process, the more likely they’ll respond when you finally do ask them to buy your book.
Plan And Schedule Your Book Promotion Efforts
It can be exhausting to spend every day coming up with new, fresh, interesting content and the graphics to go with it. To make better use of your time, do your social media post planning all at once and then take advantage of schedule-ahead options:
- Facebook author pages allow you to schedule your posts. Use the drop-down menu of the “Publish” button on your post to access the scheduling feature.
- Check out TweetDeck for scheduling Twitter posts.
- Look into Hootsuite for scheduling across multiple social media platforms.
Online book marketing can easily become overwhelming. Many companies hire whole departments of social media professionals to promote their brands. But there’s only one you, so be sure to avoid social media burnout by focusing on what’s really important: writing more books.
Question: Of your recent social media posts on any platform, which post has had the largest level of engagement, discussion, or sharing?
I have newly self-published on KDP after publishing two books previously with traditional publishers. Currently exploring effective strategies to promote my print and e-book on Amazon/ KDP.