Hi! This is Erin, Social Media Maven for Illumify Media Global.
And yes, that really is my title!
I’m here to help you navigate the murky waters of the online book community. This week let's chat about the FREE marketing tools at your disposal.
The online book culture has exploded in recent years. Instagram is at the height of its popularity within the book community. Many accounts have over 100,000
followers, most of whom interact with their account daily. These influencers can single-handedly drive sales by recommending a book through their page. Beautiful photography and great reviews are the name of the game.
Twitter is another powerful site for authors to interact with their fans and promote their books. Some of the most prominent authors today use Twitter regularly. Stephen
King, Neil Gaiman, and JK Rowling have mastered Twitter and fan contact. It is a fast-paced, conversation-based platform that allows you to directly interact with fans on your terms.
Facebook is, perhaps, the most familiar of these platforms. Most people have a Facebook page, but did you know Facebook has events capability,
linking to sales platforms, and an ad structure? It has morphed into a multi-faceted tool for authors!
So how do we manage to keep all of these straight!?
Easy! Here are three steps to help you get started!
1. Create and connect all of your accounts.
Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have a beautiful feature that, once all the accounts are connected, will all post simultaneously. Add in posting to Linkedin, and automatic sharing when using WordPress and you have cut your posting time in half!
2. Develop a posting schedule.
By creating a posting schedule, you take the guesswork out of what to post every day. I like to do mine a month at a time with a block style calendar and ideas for what to post each day.
3. Interact with your fans!
The most significant advantage to Social Media over in-person interaction is the speed at which the interactions occur. Influencers and fans can tag authors and publishers in their posts. You are notified when this happens, and it gives you the unique opportunity to chat with your fans about books quickly and casually. Plus, the fans love
it!
Cool! Now, where do we go from here?
Find influencers who will read your book and then write a review. Every view they accumulate on their post about your book is free marketing. Some of these posts have 10,000+ views daily!
Find hashtags that work for you. Hashtags are the driving force behind searches and help to direct users to your posts.
Post regularly. The more you interact, and the more consistent you are, the more you will beat the dreaded algorithm.
Algorithm?! I didn’t know I was going to be doing math…
No math involved here, just a constant battle against the system! Creating your posts in a certain way will boost the number of views. An internal formula (which continuously changes) for each platform determines your post's visibility. But all hope is not lost. Certain strategies can help you beat that pesky algorithm and increase your visibility
regularly!
Let Illumify Media Global help you every step of the way. We recently created social media packages where I can train you on various platforms or I can do all the work for you.
Click below to schedule a no-obligation phone appointment and learn more about social media packages or publishing your book with Illumify:
Mike Klassen
Karen Bouchard
Thanks!
