1. Each platform is different. Facebook is a great relationship and website-hits builder. Twitter reaches new readers if you follow people regularly. Instagram and Pinterest are good for brand building. Goodreads can build community, if you have time to invest in it.
2. Use tools such as TweetDeck.com and Bufferapp.com.
They will save time.
3. Different Facebook posts work in different ways:
Pictures are good for engagement & shares, not always for click thrus.
Link posts are better for generating hits on your sites.
General updates are good for questions and feedback.
4. Make your headlines work hard. Headlines that ask questions get answered in the comments. Headlines that tease get clicks.
5. Tag people you talk about in your posts. It helps people to discover your posts.
6. Enhance your pics. If you are in any way visually inclined you can use Picmonkey.com or Canva.com to make them even more interesting.
7. Engage. Answer all comments and notifications. When possible, of course! I allocate 30 minutes at the start of the day for getting back to people.
8. Be positive & excited. People can read between the lines easily. Real excitement is contagious.
9. Keep Tweets less than 100 characters if you can. Keep it short and sweet!
10. Tease. Inspire curiosity. Ask if people know (Do you know . . .) or want to see, or can guess.
11. Tweet the same content again. It’s called Evergreen content. Weave it in again!
12. Try short videos. You can do a lot in 30 seconds.
See BookTrailers4You for some examples. Most were made by us for $99. If you have a creative urge try Instagram or Vine video clips you make yourself.
13. Use a blog to extend your book online. Write posts related to your book and use images. For more advice on blogging for writers click here.
14. Join writing groups on Facebook to find advice and support. To join our author group click here.
If you want to try our low cost & high value book promotion services, designed to help you reach a large audience of readers click here to join BooksGoSocial.com.
Publisher or author, we work hard to help you sell your books.
Very handy advice! Social media is a must nowadays; authors and publishers alike must learn to embrace its use.
I have to agree that social media is a must these days. Building relationships with people on Facebook and Twitter could lead to you reaching out to people who would not likely get to see the content you are sharing.
Hi O’Bryan,
Great post indeed with some great tips for effect social media marketing. Find some new tips here and hope those will help me to boost my blog traffic with social media.
BooksGoSocial didn’t work for me. Having said that, I did get my money back.????
Good info. Also, don’t forget to do an author profile on amazon (uk and US) if your book is on sale there. Amazon is effectively a giant search engine and you can link up your blog and twitter feeds too.
If you’re writing non-fiction I would say a blog is essential (possibly for fiction too but that’s not my area so i can’t comment) . If you do nothing else you need to use a blog, FB and Twitter