Social Media Promotion Hacks for Self-Published Authors
If you have chosen to become a self-published author, one of the things you should think about is how to market your books. The good news is that you now have social media promotion to help you out. Through social media, you can spread the word about who you are and what you have to offer.
The Most Effective Social Media Promotion Hacks
Social media has become an essential part of our lives ... and as a self-published author, this is a good thing!
Now, reaching out to your target audiences has become easier than ever. If you want to know how to get people to start noticing you and your written work, here are some of the best hacks for you:
1. Build Your Own Website
Social media exposure is great, but if it's exposure you're looking for, you should start building your own author's website. When it comes to promoting yourself as an author, this is one of the most effective strategies to use.
A well-designed website allows you to sync all of your social media and branding activities to ensure maximum exposure. You can either build the website on your own or hire the services of professional designers to do the work for you.
The design on the website depends on your own style and the books you plan to promote. Just make sure the site contains all of the information it needs for your target audiences to learn everything they can about you.
2. Have the Best Marketing Tools
On their own, the books you write can already serve as promotion tools—you just have to plan them well. Book content is the most important aspect to focus on. But you can make it easier to market your books in the future by focusing on the following too:
- Your author bio and photo to display on your website and social media profiles.
- A book description to tell your readers why they need to read your book.
- A book title that's catchy, descriptive, and easy to remember.
- A blurb or two, preferably from someone famous who has read your book and is willing to endorse it publicly.
- A cover that looks professional and compelling.
- A landing page for your book where people can purchase it right away.
- A mailing list that you should already build even before you start advertising.
3. Create a 3D Video Mockup of Your Book
By becoming a self-published author, you must learn some new skills. When it comes to advertising, videos and video mockups will do wonders for you. Learning how to create a 3D video mockup of your book will improve your chances immensely.
Just make sure you also have a killer book cover to feature in your video mockup. As with the website, if you don't have the skills to create this video, then you can always hire a professional to do it.
4. Take Advantage of Social Media Platforms
Since we're focusing on using social media to promote your books, you might as well use the different social media platforms to your advantage. These days, social media is one of the most powerful tools for marketing you can use. These include:
Right now, Facebook is one of the most well-known social media platforms all over the world. If you don't have one yet, create a Facebook page, and start advertising. Create an author page that is separate from your personal profile.
On your author page, you can do things like post your 3D video mockup, host giveaways, add a link to your book's landing page, and other self-promotion tactics.
Instagram is another amazing platform where you should create an author profile that includes all of the marketing tools shared in hack #2.
Since Instagram focuses more on images, create amazing images and photos to advertise your book. Then keep posting these to get noticed.
You can appeal to the millions of Twitter users all over the world by launching a campaign.
For this, include important details like the title of your book (this works best if you have a short, catchy title), a #hashtag that's one-of-a-kind, and a link to your landing page.
You can even throw in a few quotable tweets from your book to generate more interest.
- YouTube
Have you ever tried searching for something on Google? If so, you might have noticed that there is usually a YouTube link or two in the top results.
Take advantage of this by creating your own YouTube channel where you feature trailers of your books along with other interesting video content to show your expertise as an author.
5. Ask For Help From Social Media Influencers to Generate a Buzz
In the world of social media, influencers are people with superpowers!
Find the right influencer to promote your book and you will surely reach a lot of audiences. Do your research on the most well-known influencers in your niche. Then see how you can reach out to them.
As the name implies, influencers have the power to influence others. If they have a lot of followers, then these followers may soon become your biggest fans too. After finding an influencer to work with, collaborate closely with them to gain popularity too.
Explore the “Lesser-Known” Promotion Tools
We have already established how social media platforms are powerful tools for self-published authors to use. But you don't just have to rely on the trendiest platforms on the internet.
You can also explore the "lesser-known" options. Surprisingly, these social media platforms can propel you to fame while allowing you to reach more audiences:
Reddit is a popular online forum. Here, people from all over the world read the news, have conversations, and find just about any kind of content. The developers of Reddit claim it is the “front page of the internet,” and you definitely want to be on the front page.
As a Reddit user, you can post images, links, text, videos, and even start conversations. What better way to introduce your book than by asking a powerful question that will get everyone else thinking?
To make the most out of being a Reddit user, you want to stick with content that is valuable, amusing, educational, and creative. Here, you don't have to promote your book(s) too much. Instead, you would interact with the other users to make them curious.
Tumblr
Although Tumblr started out as a micro-blogging platform, it is now considered as one of the most engaged and active communities online. Unlike Twitter, your posts would be shared through "reblogging."
This means that when a user reblogs something about you, all of the user's followers see it. Tumblr is constantly growing and evolving, which is why there is a growing interest in it. This interest makes it another great tool for your promotions.
The great thing about Tumblr is that you can easily customize your author blog using free themes. Impress your audiences by creating a blog that other users will notice right away. And when they start sharing your content, you will enjoy immense exposure.
Goodreads
As a self-published author, signing up on Goodreads makes a lot of sense. Here, you can interact with like-minded readers and authors while promoting your books. This site is the biggest source of book recommendations—so readers flock to it.
It is meant to help authors and readers from across the globe to share and find books. Aside from marketing yourself, you can check out the competition by reading the reviews of similar books. This will provide you with ideas on how to enhance your own content.
How Do I Spread the Word About My Book Through Social Media Promotion?
Spreading the word about yourself as a self-published author doesn't have to be a challenging thing. In fact, advertising your books can be just as much fun as writing them.
Apart from all of the awesome tips and hacks you have already learned, here are a few more:
- Reach out to thought leaders like influencers, podcasters, and other authors—then collaborate with them.
- Hire a professional book cover designer to create a killer cover for your masterpiece.
- Compose a compelling description for your book—or you can also hire a professional for this too.
- Build a community around your book on different online platforms.
- Find some interesting bloggers who will promote your books on their blogs.
- Connect with the top book reviewers who are familiar with the types of books that you write, then ask them to read and review your books.
- Offer freebies, host contests, and have other promotional gimmicks to engage audiences on various social media platforms.
Basically, you should make your presence known by getting as much exposure as possible. This is especially important if you have just written your first book and you want the world to take notice.
In Summary
Promoting yourself on social media may seem overwhelming, especially for a self-published author. Fortunately, you now have a wealth of information to guide you. Just remember that social media marketing isn't just about selling your book.
It's also about reaching out to audiences whom you will transform into engaged fans in the process. It takes time and effort, but everything will be worth it when you start to see your book flying off the shelves.
So ... what are you waiting for?
