Three subjects to include in a successful social media strategy: Author Edition
[Note: This post is aimed at authors, but can be utilized by anyone.]
Using social media as an author isn’t just about selling your books. It’s about growing and maintaining a fan base, especially for new authors and indie authors.
If you can grow a following of loyal fans, you’ll already have willing readers ready when your next book comes out. And guests for your book signing events. And BETA readers or reviewers.
If you’re already a famous author, your social media is still important because it’s a way to keep connected with your audience and a way to find new readers.
But too many posts that just say “buy my book” does not a following make. You need to offer more.
Social Media Strategy
Sure, you can just post what you feel like on any given day. You could just sprinkle in those two or three book ad posts every few days amongst a picture of your animal family members. But that won't grow your audience or keep your audience interested.
Actually, those animal family members make great content, so you can continue with pet posts, please and thank you.
You need to consider your content pillars. What are content pillars? These are a set of themes or subjects you can create posts about.
Why have content pillars? Content Pillars are used in marketing strategies. The right content pillars will keep your audience around while they wait for book 3 or book 33.
Deciding and planning what content pillars to use will make it much easier for you to write targeted content rather than struggle with deciding what to write. And you can make the content pillars work for you.
Three is a magic number
Now, what you choose to discuss and share will be up to you. It will also depend on the audience you want to attract. I know, I promised answers. They will come, but I can’t tell you exactly what to write or share because I don’t know enough about who you are or who your audience is.
However, there are three areas you should cover that will allow you to create focused content for any audience.
The 3 key content areas are: business, educate, and entertainment.
1. Business
It’s all about your books, baybee.
Posts about business will be linked directly to what you are selling. For an author, we're talking book promotions, book sales, quotes from your book, quotes from book reviews, book cover reveals, and any merch. This area is for anything and everything to do with your books. The key is to avoid being too salesy.
You’ll also want some eye-catching images or social media graphics that you can reuse over and over again. Grab those eyeballs!
And please don’t stop at number 1!
2. Educate
You are a SME. We all are.
A SME is a Subject Matter Expert.
This means that you know a lot about something. The great news is that your audience wants to know about it too. Especially if what you are an expert in is connected to your book. Actually, that’s the ideal.
Is your book about gardening? Then share photos from your current gardening project. Host a Q&A session (question and answer) where you answer gardening questions from your audience. Share details about the tools you love to use or one that has particular meaning to you.
Are you a horror writer? Share what inspires you. Uplift other horror creators by promoting a book of theirs that you loved.
And don’t just focus on social media platforms.
Your author website blog is an organic, inbound marketing tool that brings potential readers straight to your website from the wilds of the internet. You could write a long blog post about the history and influences of your genre on the book you’ve just written.
Then promote your blog on social media. Bring people to where your book is.
People love to learn, and they can learn from you.
Be useful. This is about growing a community after all.
3. Entertain
To paraphrase Maya Angelou: people might not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel.
So make your audience laugh, smile, or feel something.
If you love memes, this is where your meme game can shine.
If you write fantasy and also play Dungeons and Dragons or write Weird fiction and also play Call of Cthulhu (other TTRPGs, that’s Table-Top Role-Playing Games, are available) share your fun/weird experiences. It’s highly likely there’ll be a crossover between fans of the fiction genre you write and fans of the TTRPG genre.
Be relatable to your target audience and they'll keep coming back for more.
In short, consider what you have to offer your ideal reader and give it to them.
Use these three areas in your social media strategy and you’ll be well on your way to growing your audience.
More ways to boost your social media strategy
If you’re starting a new account, there are five steps to starting a new account.
When you want to increase engagement, read the post about ten easy ways to increase engagement on social media.
If you’re making your own social media graphics, make them amazing by learning from a graphic designer. Read eight design top tips and eight mistakes to avoid.
No country for tired authors?
So you don’t have the time, the energy, or the inclination to boost your social media? If you still recognize the importance of maintaining your social media presence, you can hire help.
From strategizing your content calendar, writing your posts, or making eye-catching graphics, help is available. You can even delegate all your social media management to someone who will work to support your author career. What you need is an Author Assistant.
And you’ve already found one.