Social media offers a wealth of opportunities for promoting your book. Self-published authors no longer need to rely on the gatekeepers of the publishing industry to get themselves known. You can reach your audience directly through sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Here are some methods for making the best use of social media to promote your book.
Go Visual
Every social media site loves visuals. Creating visual content doesn’t always come naturally to writers who are used to working with words. But there are very simple ways you can create visual content that you can use for social media engagement.
One of the simplest is to take quotes or snippets from your book and create quote images with them. Use a stock image site for beautiful and inspiring pictures related to your topic. Then use a photo editing software to put text on the images, or Canva to create social media graphics.
Live Stream
Many social media platforms such as Facebook allow you to live stream, where you share a moment live with your readers. This is a great way to make announcements, hold events, give tutorials, and share tips in real time.
Explore the live streaming options on the platforms you use. Start telling people about the event far ahead of time. Create a strong description telling people what they can expect to gain from it, emphasizing the benefits for the viewer.
Run a Contest
Social media platforms have built-in features that allow you to run contests. Give your audience a challenge. Ask them to do something like share an image related to your topic or a story of how they overcame their challenges. Reward the winners with free copies of your book. Each site has its own rules for contests, so read them carefully.
Add Retweet and Share Buttons
Wherever you’re promoting your book online, add retweet and share buttons. These allow users to share your content with their network with just the click of a button. If your book is digital, you can add these buttons into the book itself to allow your readers to share sections or chapters. This way, others can see a sample of what’s in your book, which may entice them to purchase so they can read the rest.
Get Savvy with Hashtags
Hashtags are keyword terms preceded by the # symbol that are used to label and categorize content on social media sites. When you use hashtags on your posts, it makes them more easily searchable.
Use hashtag terms related to your book’s theme whenever you post about it. You can find good hashtags to use by looking for content related to your book or by simply searching on social media. You can also create your own hashtag and encourage your readers to use it whenever they post about your book.
Engage Your Audience
Whichever tactics you choose to implement on social media, keep the focus on engagement. Give your audience something to do. For example, rather than just posting your opinion, ask everyone about theirs. Share a tip but also say, “What has worked for you?” Try to get them commenting, sharing, and doing something. This is the main thing that makes social media different from other types of marketing channels.
If you use social media right, you’ll see continued sales of your book long after its launch.
Want to learn more? Check out my new course – Market Your Business Book. It teaches you how to promote and market your business book so you see continued sales long after it’s published.