When you think about where most people get their information, it’s largely through social media. Establishing a social media presence can be crucial for marketing your self-published book. Below we will outline how to utilize different platforms to the fullest so you can establish a following and promote your book on social media.
Do Your Research
The first step before navigating how to use social media to market your book is to conduct market research. Where does your book audience live? What social media platforms are they on? What kind of information is appealing to them? What topics are being discussed? Which social media platforms are popular for discussing your genre? Start with a Google search and go from there. This will help determine which social media platforms you should focus on based on how your audience chooses to engage on your topic.
Personal Blog
It’s important to set up a website or blog site, even if you are planning to sell your books online or in stores. Having your own website will help establish credibility as an author and serve as a space for interested readers. Your website doesn’t just help market your book, but also markets yourself as an author.
This blog or website will also be the link you will point to when setting up other social media pages to direct your followers to and should contain the most information about yourself, the origins of your book, and where people can find it. Essentially, this will be where all of your important information lives. There are a ton of free web and blog hosting sites that you will not need to pay for, making it easy to set up and get started. You can always opt to hire a designer to help make your personal blog or website more customized to your liking. You can easily find web designers on freelance websites, such as Fiverr.
If you already have a Facebook account, we recommend creating a separate page dedicated to either your book or yourself as an author. By creating a separate author page, people will be able to search your name easier and it will be more likely to come up sooner than your personal page since it will be public. Your author page will also enhance your credibility as an author, compared to using your personal page to promote your book.
On your author page, start following groups and other pages related to your book topic. You can find your audience by researching Facebook groups related to your topic and joining them. Once you are ready to promote your book, link your book in these pages and provide information to potential readers. This is also a great way to engage with your book audience directly, and it’s free!
If you do have a marketing budget in place, you can use the Facebook ads feature to “boost” or promote individual posts and create ads. For example, if you post a picture of your book linking the purchase link, you can choose to spend as low as $25 for more people to see the post on their timelines. You can also create custom audiences to target specific groups of people. For example, if you’re self-publishing a photography book, you can create a custom audience toward people interested in photography.
Facebook is also a great place to run a giveaway once your book has been printed.
Since Instagram heavily relies on images and videos to drive engagement, you may need to take a different approach when utilizing the platform to promote your book. The content creation may differ slightly from you choose to post on Facebook. Compared to Facebook, Instagram is shown to connect with a younger audience, so keep this in mind when you go to create content. Maybe Instagram isn’t right for promoting your book, and that’s okay too. For example, if you’re writing a biography, you may want to stick to Facebook or other platforms where you can easily find groups that match your book topic. If you’re self-publishing a photography book, your Instagram presence may be where you create the most buzz since it’s image-based.
Research other accounts related to your book genre or topic and start following those accounts. Start commenting and engaging with these accounts and your algorithm will start showing you similar account where you can find your audience. Pay attention to the hashtags used on these posts and replicate them on your won posts.
Popular Instagram account rely heavily on “aesthetic,” meaning there’s a clear artistic point of view when looking at the account. Think about how to present your posts and what is visually appealing.
Like Facebook, Instagram is also a great platform for running giveaways and promoting posts.
While Twitter is no longer the go-to social media platform, you can still find an audience to engage with based on your book topic. Tweets still go viral and attract engagement if it resonates with people. The more re-tweets, the more visibility for you. Take advantage of your writing abilities here by writing in your voice. Utilize hashtags in your tweets to make your posts searchable. If you write about politics or current events, Twitter may be the ultimate platform for you because you can engage with people in real time as the news is happening, giving your take.
TikTok
While TikTok is a newer social media platform, it has skyrocketed in popularity over the past couple years. TikTok is a video-based social media platform and may not be right for you depending on your genre. However, at 48 Hour Books we have seen self-published authors successfully use TikTok to gain large followings, becoming the main source of gaining readership. We recommend browsing TikTok for content about books and authors to see what kind of videos attract the most likes and shares and see where those audiences lie.
TikTok is also quite time-consuming when creating videos, so keep this in mind if you choose to use it in your marketing plan.
Goodreads
What if I told you there is a platform where book lovers are already the main audience? Enter Goodreads: a website where book lovers discover new books, keep track of books they have already read, discuss their favorite books on forums, and find like-minded readers to participate in book clubs. Goodreads is a great place to engage with readers, find your target audience, and attract reviews. We highly recommend utilizing this social media platform to the fullest.
Podcasts
There is a podcast out there for every topic. We mean that quite literally. Seriously, go to your chosen podcast-hosting platform, type in an obscure topic, and you will probably see multiple results of podcasts dedicated solely to this topic.
So, how can you use a podcast to help market your book? Simple: find popular podcasts related to your book topic or genre and reach out to them. Most podcasts have contact information readily available and even encourage listeners to reach out with questions and insights. You can contact podcast hosts to mention your book or see if you could even be a guest. Depending on how relevant your book is to their podcast, it could be a great fit for them.
Looking for free ways to market your self-published book? Opt into our social media sharing option when you place an order. You can also fill out our opt-in form and we will reach out to you with opportunities to be featured on our social media or blog. If you have any questions about these sharing options, contact our marketing department at [email protected] today!
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