3 Tips for Mastering Social Media Marketing
"Marketing is first and foremost about connecting."
— Wendy Paine Miller
Many of us writers have chosen this profession because we prefer our solitude. It can be difficult to come to grips with the reality that you will probably need to market yourself on at least one social media platform if you're going to be writer, even if you'd rather do anything else.
INCLUDE A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Any fan of your work will thoroughly enjoy hearing about your life and your personality. If you've worked in law, accounting, education, or any other field, don't be afraid to tell them so in your bio. You'll also want to include information about where to find your published work.
SHARE YOUR WORK
It's important to share snippets of your novel or various short stories you've posted. This is a great way to advertise your work and build a following. You may even want to start a blog and share it with your network!
KNOW YOUR BRAND
The best authors understand their target audience and share posts accordingly. Most authors will consistently share news about their books, novels they're enjoying, and anything else that is related to the craft of writing itself.
They rarely post information about anything else, although they sometimes choose to be political activists: Famous people can make a huge impact when it comes to urging others to fight for a more equal world. Unfortunately, they also often face a great deal of pushback.
You'll want to decide whether you'd like to focus solely on your work or include activism in your marketing efforts. Keep in mind that people who remain neutral about politics often have a broader audience as a result.
Social media can be wonderful or awful depending on the type of attention you're receiving, but it can be an enormous asset when it comes to marketing your work: Thousands of people can follow your work who wouldn't be unable to do so otherwise. If you monetize the blog you're writing every month or so, that could significantly affect your earnings!
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
