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.

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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

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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.

Pinterest

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

Instagram

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

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Facebook

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

Twitter

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

Author Adventure

Marketing on Social Media