There are two ways authors can use social media … the right way … and the wrong way.
The wrong way is to spam your fans or followers with some version of “Buy my Book NOW!”. If 50% or more of your posts are some version of “Order my book NOW!”, you are killing your fan base. A sad reality of today’s world is that people are excellent at tuning out marketing messages. And why shouldn’t they be? People hear hundreds of marketing messages every single day! You can’t expect them to act on every single one of them. Imagine what would happen to your bank account if you acted on every single marketing message you hear. Regardless of how wealthy you are, you’d be bankrupt fairly quickly. Spamming fans with link to your book sales page will not only slaughter your book sales but also erode your fan equity.
So, what’s the right way? Be informative! Be funny! Be empowering. 90% of your posts should educate, entertain or empower your fans! The rest 10% can be sales pitches. When you do that, people will look forward to messages from you. And when you ask them to “buy your book” once in a while, guess what? They actually will.
Several years ago, I heard a phrase. I am not who said it, but it goes something like this – If you want to be in the classes, look at the masses and then do the exact opposite. What do most authors do? They repeatedly post “buy my book” messages. You do the opposite. Add value to your fan’s life. Make them smart. Make them happy! And in turn, they will reciprocate by buying your book and referring countless others to you.
Some examples of what you can post on social media channels:
- Where did the book idea come from?
- An interesting experience you had while doing your research
- If you are writing a mystery, ask your readers to solve a puzzle. Get their brains churning.
- Ask your audience to come up with a name for one of your characters.
- Describe a character and ask your fans who it reminds them of.
Hope this helps! Remember, if what you are doing is not working, do the opposite. It just might work.
Until next time,
Mayur
