RM Marketing Services director Rachael McDiarmid shares her advice on developing your social media strategy.
As we discussed in our recent article, social media is about starting a discussion. We shared three important lessons:
- Don’t leave it to the last minute to develop a digital and social media action plan
- If you don’t think you have enough content for social media to encourage engagement, then it’s not for you
- If you can’t define who your audience is then consider if it is really the best channel for you to be in.
You’ve worked through the article and have decided that yes, you’re interested in being on social media—it’s right for your book and for you as an author, and you’re ready to take the next step. Well done! But what exactly is that next step?
The first decision you should make is what social media channels are right for you, your author brand and your audience. Does your audience gravitate towards Facebook or Instagram? Are you more LinkedIn than Twitter? What combination of channels will help you reach your reader?
To help you decide the social media spaces you are most comfortable in, look at similar books and authors and what channels they are participating in, what content they produce and what engagement they are getting with readers. Always be thinking of your readers— who are they, what age group, where are they located, where do they get their information and entertainment from etc. Define your audience and look at what platforms they gravitate to.
Alternatively, look at each social media platform and do a word association—what comes to mind when you think of Instagram (‘visual’), LinkedIn (‘business’), Twitter (‘opinion’) and so forth. It will help you discover your own thoughts about each of them and where you are most comfortable. Twitter might be a good avenue to encourage opinions and debate on your book (mainly if you are publishing nonfiction) but a word of advice: when Twitter turns, it turns bad, so have a thick skin and be prepared! That said, one of the beauties of that platform is not necessarily for straight book (or self) promotion but rather to network and learn from other authors. ‘Writing Twitter’ is a lovely community and you can find your people there for support and guidance. I highly recommend it. It’s also quick for news and important information related to the publishing industry so follow the right people and you’ll learn a lot.
Explore the avenues so you can decide what will work for you. You don’t have to be in all at once!
The second consideration is the style of content you are going to produce. Are you going to produce content that is static or dynamic? Video content has more engagement than static and there has been a great explosion of content in this space. TikTok is the hottest place to be, but can you produce the right content for it or work with those that do? Stories, Reels, YouTube clips—if you’re not in this space you can be overwhelmed by it relatively quickly. There’s nothing wrong with static posts—flat images, which can be accompanied by good text and calls to action. Always think about the questions your reader will ask: is it available now, and if not, when will it be published? Where can I read more about the book? Where can I buy it? Incorporate the answers to these into your posts.
In our last post we presented a range of ideas to determine your goals for social media and book promotion. Let’s develop those ideas further with a quick brain dump.
- Share artwork from books/illustrator profile
- Author profile and bio—tell people about yourself
- Behind the scenes video/photos
- Photos from an event (author signings, talk, launch etc.)
- Cover reveals
- Photos of bookshop visits/instore displays featuring your book
- Unique downloads for readers—sample chapters/Look Inside the Books
- Endorsements for your book
- How to’s/video showing how something was done or made
- Celebrate and share industry news & awards content as part of the writing community
- Share links/blog posts to your website to encourage visitors
- Quote from book reviews
- Quotes from the books—first sentences or favourite paragraphs
- Shared content (book reviews, author and bookseller posts, readers with the book etc.)
- Special offers/link to digital marketing campaigns
- Trends/interests to your followers, or white papers if you’re in an academic or specialist field
- Upsell other products and services you might have or offer.
The above is just a starting point. What else would you like to add to the list above? There’s plenty of content you can gather! You might want to steer away from everything about your own books and concentrate on something else within the industry to start building a following. The choice is yours.
In our next post we’ll look at the creative side of how to put it together and how to schedule content across the social media channels you’ve decided to participate in.
Remember, there is no right and wrong here but a final word of caution—if you go down the social media path, it’s a commitment. Give it your all and have some fun with it!
Rachael McDiarmid is the director of RM Marketing Services. You can contact RM Marketing Services for consulting and special project work via their website or email.
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