Marketing on Social Media
THERE ARE SO MANY CHOICES ... HOW DO I KNOW WHICH PLATFORM TO CHOOSE?
TAKE THE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING QUIZ
Today there are so many more opportunities to market your books to your perfect audience than there were even five or ten years ago much less over 30 years when I first started my author adventure. What a wild ride it has been.
In this article, I want to talk about the different social media opportunities and how to promote your books on these platforms (I will share some stats later in the article). At the same time, I want you to take a serious look at which social media platforms you are using and how you are spending your time on those social media platforms. Some of you might be saying I don’t even have a social media presence, and that is ok for now, but at some point, you will want to add this to your marketing toolkit.
Again it always comes back to your readers. Who are your readers? You really have to get this dialed in and when you do then you will see your results start to move in an upper trajectory. Because as humans we are usually limited by time and money. That is a reality for 95% of people pursuing a writing career, publishing business, or author adventure. If you are spending all your time on a social media platform that your readers don’t use often then how much time and money are you wasting.
Let’s answer a few questions using A, B, C, D, E as your response. You can get a notepad and write this down and keep it somewhere close (like your writing journal or notebook and look at it often).
Whom will your book help or appeal to …
Children
Teenagers/College
Young Married
Young Singles
Mature Married
Mature Singles
Seniors Married
Seniors Single
Who will most likely purchase your book ...
Younger Women
Younger Men
Older Women
Older Men
Will your book ...
Entertain
Educate
Inform
All of the above
Once you determine the answers to just these few questions then you can look at social media platforms and determine where your ideal reader might be found.
By looking at the stats below you can see that if your reader is a Mom under 40 then Pinterest will be the best social media platform for you to spend time on. With just a little research you can see what other people are sharing and then create something similar. If it is a photo with some copy then take some of your own photos and add relevant copy to them and post. If it is a list then create a list and share it.
If your reader is a Grandmother 50-65+ then Facebook is probably your best bet. If you see other people posting questions or surveys maybe you should create your own questions or survey and post it to see if you can get your readers to engage in conversation. Maybe you share a piece of your own personal story that is relevant to your topic. And ask people to share their own stories in the comments.
If you are creating a Graphic Novel and your reader is a young male or female you probably want to look at Twitter or Instagram and talk about some of the characters, plots, or upcoming movies that you like best. You can also ask friends what or who their favorite heroes or stories are.
Pins last for 3.5 months
71% Female users
7% Male users
80% of US moms use
40% of US dads use
1 out of 2 millennials use
Median age of user is 40
50% make $50k per year
10% make $125k per year
72% use Pinterest to decide what to buy
Posts last for 19 hours
56% Female users
43% Male users
120 million Instagram users from the US
30% of users 18-24 years
35% of users 25-34 yers
72% of teens use
70% of shoppers use Instagram for discovery
Post lasts 24-35 minutes
54% Female
46% Male
18% of users are age 18-24
25% of users are age 25-34
29% of users are age 35-54
28% of users are 50-65+
75% have an income of more than $75k
Millions of monthly users from India, Asia, and Europe
96% access via mobile devices
Post lasts for 18 minutes
34% Female users
66% Males users
48 million US monthly users
14 million UK users
80% of affluent millennials
42% of users on the platform daily
38% of users 19-29
26% of users 30-49
56% of users make $50k or more
80% users access with mobile devices
Once you decide who you want to engage with then you must create a schedule of content to post: short or long articles, things you are thinking about, surveys, graphic images (like the one at the beginning of this article), photos, etc. This can be excerpts from your book (paragraphs to a chapter), strategies or tips you want to share, short stories, famous quotes from you, writers, industry or genres you work in, it might be questions about the subject you are covering, it could be a survey where you ask for feedback. Mixing it up every once in a while is also a good deal. Don’t post the same type of post all the time.
If you need a guideline for how many posts to make consider the following:
Pinterest 5-10 pins per day
Twitter 3-5 posts per day
Facebook 1-3 posts per day
Instagram 1-2 posts per day
The only thing worse than NOT posting on social media is posting poor-quality content. In a future post, I will share 31 Days of Ideas for Authors to Share on Social Media. So take some time to think about this. Start making a list or compiling information on your desktop or print and put it in a folder (photos, graphic images, type fonts, screen captures of other posts that catch your attention). Be patient. Social Media requires a commitment of time and consistency to build momentum, but remember you are creating relationships that will pay off in the future.
Let’s continue the journey, Liz