authors | Social Media Aspirin™

September 1, 2017August 28, 2017

Cultivating a Community for Your Readers

Writing is the heart of your business, but so is developing a community for your readers. Self-promotion is a necessity in today’s modern author world. If you’re tempted to run away, don’t. Hear me out. It takes days, weeks, months, and sometimes years to develop a book. A reading community can’t be built in a day. It takes time and effort.

Do you have ten minutes in your day that you can spare for those who support your work? Of course, you do!

Here are some quick tips to cultivating your readers that take ten minutes or less:

Set up Google Alerts to track where you’re mentioned. You need to know what they’re saying about you! You can set up an alert for your name, book title, Twitter handle, Instagram handle, site URL, and more. When you find people who have mentioned you and your work, stop by and give them a thank you and show your appreciation for their support of your work. It’s an excellent way to connect with new readers.
Use polls to connect with your readers. You don’t have to create book-only polls. If you’re having trouble with Photoshop, or struggling to figure out which font to use in Canva, set up a poll and ask for help. If you do choose to go with a particular person’s (or group’s) choice, make sure you give them credit.
Surround yourself with those you admire. This doesn’t mean you should look down on anyone, but your reputation is important. If you hang around with someone (especially online) who is shady or shifty, their behavior will reflect on you as well. By that same token, if you only associate with national and international bestsellers, you may come off as snobby and unapproachable. Stay true to yourself and only recommend and support those you would in real life.
Update your bios on all platforms. You should have a bio that says who you are, what you write, and list all your important links, titles, and awards. A long bio will also list the books you’ve published. Develop four sizes of bios. One should be a tagline (perfect for Twitter, and for starting your other bios), the next should be two sentences max (great for Instagram, and Facebook’s short bio), the third should be two paragraphs (Facebook long bio, Author pages, summary information for article writing, and more), and the final should be a page long. That page should be a template you pull your other bios from, and it should, at a minimum, be on your website. The page long should list your books, all social media links, and any bonus content you offer for them signing up to your newsletter.
Do you look at pictures of your favorite authors? Chances are you’ve sneaked a peek at one or two behind-the-scenes photos. Whether it’s book- or life-related, showing that extra insight into your world can help bring your readers with you.
Go for interaction! Create a prompt event. Use a theme, image, riddle, or whatever you like to create a place for your readers to connect with you. Ask a single question and use a single call to action to cut down on confusion. It’s a great way to interact with your community, and it doesn’t take very much time. If you’re looking for a great way to host a contest, this is a fantastic place to start. For everyone who leaves a comment (with the correct answer, if you’re asking trivia or riddles), enter their names into a contest for a drawing. That way you reward those who interact while still giving back to your community.
Reply to comments! Thank anyone who has used your free content or downloaded your book during a quick sale. If you spend time being grateful to your readers, they will show their support in ways you won’t expect.

Cultivating a community takes time, but it’s worth it. You want to take potential readers and turn them into loyal fans. Choose one tip to work on at a time. Your book wasn’t written in one day and neither will the development of your reader community. Which of these will you try first?

August 9, 2017August 6, 2017

Finding the Right Balance of Self-Promotion When Marketing Your Book

Are you trying to promote your next book but don’t want to risk sounding too arrogant or pushy? No one cares for an author who comes off like a salesman. As an author, it can be tricky to find the perfect balance between growing your network and bragging about your writing. Here is a six-step guide to finding a balance when it comes time to promote your next published project.

Show, Don’t Tell

Rather than telling people about how skilled or talented you are in your given field, show potential customers how you add value to their life. Naturally, people want to know what you provide, especially if it’s something they wouldn’t be able to either do themselves or find someone else to do for them. However, don’t spend a lot of time creating content with the intent of convincing your audience that you are worthy. Show them what you are up to. Take photos and post videos, answer questions, and share content of value. Just like with your writing, showing your followers is going to be more powerful than telling them.

Consistency

By having a consistent presence on marketing platforms, you will build up your credentials. When the time comes that you are ready to sell your work, your followers will be more willing to respond. Nobody wants to be overly bombarded with sales pitches but if you have a presence that involves more than promotion, people will enjoy and engage with your content and brand. This is going to mean developing an editorial calendar and sticking to it. You can post a week, or a month, worth of content in one sitting. Let go of the frantic need to come up with something new to post each day by doing some pre-planning.

Boundaries

An author that markets their books all the time doesn’t have time to expand their marketing and provide valuable content to their audience. It’s important to set boundaries to avoid burn out and maintain a healthy balance. Schedule out the times of the week you will work on your marketing and stick to those guns. It’s easy to get distracted and prioritize ineffectively.

This concept also applies to your potential customers. You should not be constantly pushing out sales pitches on all of your marketing platforms because then you will not only burn yourself out but your potential customers as well. Marketing posts should be 80% educational, informational, and entertaining; and only 20% sales pitches. This will keep your followers engaged while also promoting your value. If you don’t have time to create additional content of this nature, do a search for similar posts to share that your audience will appreciate.

Build Your List

It is always useful to expand your network, not only for the sake of increasing sales but also for the sake of potential partnerships down the line. If you create valuable relationships, you are more likely to have positive engagement down the line when it’s time to launch your book. Your network will already trust you and will be more willing to recommend your business to their friends. Don’t only grow this list when you are about to launch a new book – get in the habit of building this list all year round.

Engage

People love knowing that there is a human being on the other side of a marketing platform. If you respond and engage with your potential customers, your audience will feel connected and valued. Rather than having an automated tech service respond to your network or worse, not responding at all, show your followers that you care and send a personal response. Build in a timeframe that works for you to respond to comments and engage with your followers. Don’t stay plugged in all day long – your productivity (and possibly sanity) will suffer.

To find the right balance for promoting your published work, you will need to dedicate some time to creating a list of priorities, developing a calendar for content, and setting aside time to schedule posts and engage with your readers and fans.

April 12, 2017May 17, 2017

Using Social Media to Promote Your Next In-Person Event

Finally! Your book is officially published. It’s been a long road to get where you are, but you’ve made it. Now comes the part many authors avoid: promoting it.

A common promotion tactic for authors is to host an in-person book launch event. These can be great for getting the word out about your work while connecting with people in person. This only works if you can actually get warm bodies in the room.

How do you get the word out about your event? You use social media! Here are 6 suggestions to motivate readers to come to your next book signing or other promotional events.

Build Your Online Presence

Before you write the first word of your next best-selling novel, get your social media accounts in order. Think of these profiles as your written 30-second elevator speech. Make them succinct and information-rich.

In the “about” section tell people what you are working on. Or if you already have books available, add links to where readers can buy them. This way the next time you host an event, people can easily look you up to find more information about you. Of course, you may already be behind the 8-ball on this one. Don’t worry – better late than never! Get those profiles built and start posting consistent content and teasers of your work.

Maximize Your Profiles

Once you determine which social media platforms are best for you, spend time making the most of each site. Each social media option acts as its own search engine so make your descriptions robust. Include images and links to your other work. Leave no field empty and no stone unturned. If you know anything at all about keywords, insert them into your copy, but keep your tone and flow natural.

People can tell a lot about a person by just looking at them. Make your first impression a good one by using a high-quality photo of your face, and only your face. Your profile photo should tell people that you are a likable person and someone they can relate to.

But wait, it’s always fun to see pictures that include family members or pets. You can still show off those pictures by creating an Instagram account. Personal images will show who you are behind the scenes and enhance your brand online. Readers love to see what an author’s life is like.

Create Branded Material

Posting only all-word text updates will do more harm than good. Even though it is your job as a writer to write, your message will get lost in the (very large) sea of social media posts. Plus, some of the platforms penalize posts that are text-heavy or text only. To combat this, add a photo, image or video with each post. Links work well too! Adding media better catches the reader’s eye.

If you are creating your own content, brand it with your logo, name or website. That way – if it gets shared – the source is always visible to the audience. Word of caution: make sure you have permission to use the content as copyright infringement is a serious issue.

Not sure where to start to create your own branded graphics? Check out Canva.com, a free drag-and-drop design tool, perfect for creating quick images.

Learn Your Platforms

Often people will post the same thing to each of their social media accounts. Instead, use the different designs and options of these networks to your advantage. For example, the intention of Facebook is to reach out to people you know like friends and family. This is contrary to LinkedIn where here you promote your skill set to a group of strangers. The dimensions of an Instagram post will vary from a Facebook one.

Understand the audience on each site, your purpose for using that platform, and how to best utilize the site with your marketing. Format your message to each platform, which will, in turn, grab the attention of your key audience.

Engage!

Social media is…well, social. That’s the whole point! Use social media platforms to post about more than just your book or upcoming event. Ask your readers questions to get a discussion going, and don’t forget to respond to their comments. Even if the comment is a negative one, don’t take it personally. Your audience is watching so thinking carefully about how to respond – don’t avoid it.

Use social to network with bloggers and other authors. Share their posts with your audience and most of the time, they’ll do the same for you. Consider influencer marketing and give it a try. When done correctly it can be surprisingly effective for reach.

Reuse Your Content

You don’t need to think of something new to post every time you hop on your accounts.

The algorithms filter your content so your followers may not see your original message the first time around. Using the same posts more than once is okay if you do it appropriately.

Remember, your intention is to create buzz about your event, not to spam your followers. Brainstorm ways you can repurpose the same content. You can pull quotes from a blog, build an infographic on Canva, do a short video, or create a branded image – all using the same piece of content!

Now all you have to do is prepare to speak in front of a massive crowd waiting to know about your book!