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How Can I Use Social Media to Promote My Books?

Creating an online social media presence is one aspect of any successful marketing plan to promote an upcoming new release. Social media is a free tool that can be used for marketing. It is an easy to use tool for authors to directly interact with their fans and to build an online reputation. Social media is used to promote a cult following and to increase a fan base. Here are some ways you can use social media to maximize your next book release.

Twitter

Not only do you want to promote your book on Twitter by providing links to places that you can purchase online, but you primarily want to use this as a platform to interact with your audience. Numerous recommendations from twitter marketing experts recommend finding and following influencers in your target market and regularly responding and reacting to their posts. This helps you get noticed by shared followers to then grow your own following. Once you’ve acquired a following, you can occasionally promote your book by doing things such as teasing excerpts or promoting content.

Facebook

Facebook is another platform that enables you to directly interact with your fans and target audience. Ensure your personal online branding such as your website or blog contains links to your social media profiles, including Facebook. Using your Facebook URL on your blog is a great idea because it means they won’t get distracted or confused while trying to find your page. It also ensures that fans arrive at the correct Facebook landing page, and don’t get confused by user-created fan pages or parody accounts. Facebook offers a visual and interactive platform to share relevant and engaging content such as videos, celebrity or guest readings, excerpts or merchandise.

Advertise In-Person Events

While you can create a big presence online, nothing beats in-person live events. If you have book signings or a promotional tour scheduled around your upcoming launch, you’ll want to promote those events on your social media profiles to help drive your audience to your event. Some tactics for successful event marketing on social media include creating event pages, posting social media graphics showing upcoming tour stops, or by streaming live videos from the event. Find and post in groups that intersect with your target audiences like horror novel fans, or young adult fiction groups.

Use Facebook Live

The current Facebook algorithm is set to prioritize live video above most other mediums, ensuring the live video will have the best organic reach out of all the various content types. Leverage this to your advantage by hosting regularly scheduled Facebook Live discussions, readings, or even just having interactive fun. For example, you can consider hosting a bi-weekly hour-long discussion on various aspects of your upcoming book such as exploring motivations behind popular or controversial characters. This also gives you the advantage of allowing your fans to directly interact by posting questions, giving you the opportunity to build and enhance fan loyalty for future releases.

Host a Giveaway or Contest

Another way to successfully promote an upcoming book is to hosta a giveaway or other contest. You can ask your audience to do things like submitting essays, post photos of themselves dressed up as a character from your book, or videos of dramatic readings. Prizes you can offer include items such as signed limited editions of your book, merchandise, or other personal or unique items. Contests have the potential to go viral, especially when the prize is highly desired. You can also help drive sales of your book by offering a discount to all entries.

Create Your Own Hashtags

Create relevant hashtags surrounding upcoming book releases, relevant plot lines or referencing popular or likable characters for your fans and audience to use. Hashtags are easy to track, allowing you to monitor and engage in discussions surrounding your book. You can use a variety of tools to monitor posts using your hashtags giving you a consolidated topline summary of all discussions involving your new release. Encourage followers to use hashtags by posing questions and initiating other engaging discussions. 

Overall, social media platforms are a great tool to incorporate into your marketing mix for your next best-seller. Use it as a platform to engage one on one with your fans. Participate in ongoing discussions and online groups that have a crossover with your target audience to help raise awareness of your materials. Consider occasionally offering giveaways or hosting a contest for autographed editions, merchandise or other unique prizes. Ensure your digital presence such as author pages on online retailers, personal websites, and personal blogs all contain links to the appropriate profiles and that you’re using your Facebook URL accordingly. Lastly, proactively engage in ongoing discussions through Facebook Live, or by responding to comments and questions from fans in order to help build fan loyalty and increase affinity amongst your readers.
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