social media | Social Media Aspirin™

January 2, 2019January 11, 2019

Our Fave Social Media Ideas for Authors and Writers

Is social media marketing a puzzle to you?

Writers and authors often have these fears: fear of sharing too much information, not sharing enough content, of being too “sales-y”, or not being “sales-y” enough.

Don’t worry, we’ve taken the mystery out of it. Here are a few of our favorite social media ideas.

Before we share the goods, there are some key points to remember about social media:

Gear your campaigns for the specific social media platform you’re on. What works on Twitter won’t work on Instagram, and what hits on Facebook will take a nosedive on LinkedIn. Even ad campaigns are far different.
The internet is forever, so be careful what you post.
Make sure your brand is clear and that people have a way to follow up with you (and get your books!). You can’t post a picture with a link written on it and expect people to type it in. More than 80% of social media is viewed using a mobile device. That means your fans are using apps, and they usually won’t open a new browsing window–it’s too much work.

Without further ado, here are some of our favorite social media ideas for writers and authors.

Host a Q&A Session

Hosting a Q&A is an excellent way to connect with your audience.

You could run a live Q&A (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are excellent places to go live) where your followers can ask you questions that you’ll answer while live streaming.

Another option is to start a comment thread on Facebook or Instagram where you encourage readers to ask questions, and you pop in and answer them throughout the day. Some authors will post to each social media platform, pull from those questions, and create a YouTube video of their Q&A’s. The sky’s the limit when it comes to this type of interaction.

Fan Interaction

Whether it’s a vote for the next hero in a story or a fanart contest, get your audience involved! Offer different choices for what a character might wear, for the next book cover design, or the name of a fictional town. Then announce the winner to all your fans and offer a little prize. Rinse and repeat.

Show Some Behind-the-Scenes Props and Production

Does your main character in the story drive a particular car? Do they work with magic or use props?

Create a Pinterest board that shows all the scenery, props, and other inspirational imagery used in your book. Some authors create individual character boards, as well, with costume inspiration ideas. If you have sketches or outlines, consider showing some of those on Instagram and Facebook to get people interested (without spoilers, of course).

Update Your Fans

Let them see what you’re working on today. Show them the beginning, middle, and end, so that they’re right there with you during the journey.

Did you write 10,000 words today? Tell them. Go on a research trip and tour of Easter Island for an upcoming book? Share photos every day of that trip and interesting tidbits you’ve learned. Fans love this stuff.

The Writer’s Life: A Glimpse

Post pictures of your writing space, your writing board, or anything else that shows your fans how you write. Don’t feel as though you need an epic desk shot.

If your cat loves to lay on your writing surface – as happens for so many writers! – take a pic and post.

Share Your Book

When you share your book, choose a quote or something easily read while on the go. Make sure it’s in an image and that your book buy links are in the description.

Stories Gathered at the Kitchen Table, Melody Jones - Writer — Melody Jones has three pieces published in this anthology.

If you’re on Twitter or Instagram, share a link to your website where all the buy links are available. Keep in mind that you’ll need to change your bio in Instagram to reflect the new link. Keep a consistent format that reflects your brand.

When it’s all said and done, sharing our expertise and selling books and content is what we do as writers and authors. Don’t forget to share your work.

Which of these ideas will you tackle in your next social media campaign?

Melody Jones is Dispenser-in-Chief of Social Media Aspirin™ for Writers and Authors. She helps take the pain out of social media! Check out her services and learn how your can reduce your social media pain – and get back to doing what you love.

December 17, 2018January 11, 2019

Create a Partnership with Your Social Media Manager

If you’re a writer or author, you know that leveraging social media while building your writer platform is not optional – it’s necessary! Partnering with a social media manager helps tremendously.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, WordPress blog, Goodreads, Pinterest, Snapchat…did this partial list of social media sites overwhelm you? Does the social media beast seem enormous, time consuming, and hard to tame? The answer: partnership.

Partnering with a social media manager relieves the daily maintenance stress of your social media presence, AND you don’t have to keep up with the daily changes happening on every social media platform.

Social media managers work within your marketing plan (you do have one, right? complete with a budget for social media, right?) to ensure your online presence supports your writer and author goals whether you want to drive traffic to your blog, build awareness for your products or services, or increase book sales.

Based on your writer and authors goals, your manager helps develop a social media game plan including setting up profiles if needed, devising and managing a consistent posting schedule, and engaging with your fans through online conversation.

A good social media manager reviews progress with you every month, suggests improvements or changes when necessary, keeps up with social media changes and news, researches your industry for engaging content to share with fans, and communicates with you immediately if an issue or question arises.

Choosing to work with a social media manager is an investment of your resources and some of your time. They are also investing in you as a client. Work with them as a partner in your writer or author journey.

It’s worth it to invest in a productive social media manager partnership.

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?