Your store: Chris Currie’s Top Five Tips for Social Media Success

It’s never been more important for bookshops to have an online presence, but a store’s digital reach doesn’t end with a website. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram allow booksellers to connect with their customers—and hopefully make new ones. Chris Currie, social media manager for Brisbane’s Avid Reader and Where the Wild Things Are, offers his Top Five Tips for Social Media Success!

1. Get the basics right
The most important extension of your business in a social media sense is a Facebook Business Page. This is at the bare minimum a ‘listing’ of your business available in a Facebook search. You should include your opening hours, contact details and perhaps a listing of upcoming events. Make sure there is also a prominent link to your website. Don’t forget to choose a name for your page, giving your business a unique URL (i.e. www.facebook.com/mygreatbookshop), which is then easily searchable in Facebook. For Twitter and Instagram, set-up is a little simpler, but just make sure you have all your pertinent information present on each account.

2. Have a plan
Try to think about what results you want to see from which social media platform. Schedule your posts, either physically or automatically (Facebook and some Twitter platforms allow you to do this, and it is well worth using). Facebook and Twitter also offer some very detailed analytics of how people are engaging with your posts, and it is well worth playing around with this data. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll learn!

3. Slow and steady
A social media presence is a slow thing to build. Think of it as walking into a party where you don’t know anyone. You might be saying the most interesting things under the sun, but your audience will take time to find you and trust you. Be patient, engage with your fans and followers, and your audience will grow.

4. Content is king
The prevailing wisdom is that businesses should use the golden ratio of 30/60/10 (30% your own content, 60% related content, and 10% marketing) and this is generally a good rule. Content can come from anywhere, but it helps if you already have your own social media feeds to be inspired by. If you don’t, just follow businesses with a strong online presence and see how they do it! I use the news aggregator Feedly to keep up-to-date with relevant websites and blogs, and the website Buzzsumo, a service that allows you to see the most ‘engaged with’ content within set parameters.

5. Enjoy yourself
Your bookshop is a collection of people, not a corporate entity. This is a very good thing. Make sure whoever runs your account has a passion for social media and can give your online presence a real personality. In a digital landscape where so much is the same, originality is a precious resource. What sets your bookshop apart from the others? All these social media platforms exist primarily to drive customers to your online or physical store, but don’t forget that people visit social media sites mainly as a leisure activity. Make sure you have fun with it, and your customers, fans and followers will too!