Three Social Media Tips for Authors will help you decide if you should keep the social media platforms you have or let some go. See how you are spending your time on social media. Determine which platforms best fit you.
Decide How Many Social Media Platforms You Will Use
How many social media platforms should an author have an account with? Author Society recommends five social media networks:
- Goodreads
According to dreamglow.com, however, the top five (U.S.) of the 15 most popular social media networks are:
- Facebook 2,200,000,000
- YouTube 1,500,000,000
- Instagram 800,000,000
- Twitter 330,000,000
- Redditt 330,000,000
How to Use Instagram If You’re an Author
Where do you find pictures for your website? Pixabay? Morguefile.com? Or, do you use your own photos for your website? If you answered yes to the last question, then you will probably enjoy Instagram. Let’s see what successful writers and social media professionals have to say.
Joanna Penn explains how to use Instagram as an author. However, she says she likes Twitter best: “I still like Twitter best (@thecreativepenn), and I use Facebook to connect with my readers and fans.
Social Media Tips
1. Choose the Social Media Platforms that Suit You Best
If you are struggling with finding the time to write because you spend too much time on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, it could be time for a social media checkup.
How many platforms do you currently have? Are you publishing good content on each of them consistently, or do you post sporadically? If yes to the latter, then it’s time to reconsider which social media fits you.
Make the best use of your time by minimizing social media platforms. For instance, spend quality time with two of them instead of going for quantity and not being able to keep up with each one because you’re overloaded.
2. Network Online
You are here because you are an author. Because you are needing to merge your life as a writer and finding readers who will love what you’re writing about.
Networking doesn’t mean that you have to be a top-notch guru on every social media network.
Let’s face it. Our books aren’t going to interest every person who follows us on any of the social media platforms. The world would be a boring place to live in if all of us shared the same interests.
Online networking is engaging with people. Connect with people online who show the same interests as you.
Initiate conversations. Be respectful, though, by not posting annoying sales blasts. In fact, check the guidelines of groups and forums that you join. They may not allow you to pitch your book or blog’s landing page. If you often post helpful, informative, and/or supportive posts, people will eventually recognize you in the group. The ones who are interested in your remarks and like what you have to say will want to connect with you.
3. Write to Your Audience with Purpose
Who wants to know what you are sharing? What ages are they? Women or men? Both? They are your audience. You can touch their hearts, fill a need, or answer questions concerning that purpose urging you to write because of what you’ve experienced.
Read Jeff Goins’ ebook, You Are a Writer. It includes a section on “the importance of blogging and social media and how to use it well to find more readers and fans of your writing.”
Social media algorithms change constantly, and you’re not in control of those changes. However, you do have control over your blog and can write what you know. Create an informative place for your readers to come to. Give them something meaningful that will cause them to visit your website often.
