Part 2: What Social Media Channels Are Right for You?

This post is the second installment in a series of articles designed to help you elevate your social media presence and author profile.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok—these are just a few of the social media channels vying for our attention daily. As an author, you may wonder, “Which one is best for me?”

Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple answer. Just like authors and their books, every social media network is different. Each channel has its own unique personality, and every one presents different opportunities and challenges. What may work for one author on one channel, may fall flat for another. The secret is finding the social media special sauce that works for you.

To help you decide which social media outlets would be most effective for you and your book(s), we created this overview of the top four social media channels popular with authors.

Facebook

With nearly three billion active users, Facebook is king when it comes to social media platforms. This makes it an excellent place to find and engage with readers. But you must do it right. The key to success for an author is creating a dedicated Facebook Author Page. With an Author Page, you can highlight your books, promote events, share excerpts, and give readers a strong hub to learn more about you. Written Word Media shared an excellent article providing step-by-step instructions for setting up and making the most of an Author Page. If you are not currently active on social media, Facebook is a great place to dip in your feet and test the water. Not convinced? Read this piece highlighting sixteen authors expertly using Facebook to their advantage.

Twitter

Want to build a community and establish yourself as a thought leader? Twitter is the place. Tweeting regularly can enhance your status as an expert, give you access to readers and influencers, foster connections, and expose you to fresh ideas from people all over the world. (And expose them to your ideas as well.) You can use Twitter to post about your book(s), share relevant articles and photos, highlight media coverage, promote (and sometimes secure) speaking engagements, and more. Most importantly, you can use it to follow along and engage in conversations that readers—your greatest asset—may be having about your book. When using Twitter, and other social media channels, it’s important to stay active. Hootsuite, a company specializing in social media scheduling, recommends Tweeting one to two times per day.

Instagram

Instagram is all about the visuals. More than 1.4 billion users use the platform daily to share photos, videos, reels, and more. For authors, Instagram provides a creative space to share images of you and your book, post videos such as author interviews and book trailers, and share content other users may be posting about you and your book. It’s also a great venue to host book giveaways. Instagram giveaways are an excellent way to gain followers, engage readers, and get Amazon reviews. For example, you can ask people to follow you and comment on your post for a chance to win a signed copy of your book. Most of Instagram’s audience are millennial or Gen Z users, so it’s a good place to reach a younger demographic. It’s also a place where using hashtags can help amplify your message. Popular Instagram hashtags for authors and readers include: #bookstagram, #bookish, #readersofinstagram, #booklaunch, #author, #bookworm, #booklover, #booksofinstagram, and #currentread.

TikTok

TikTok? Isn’t that the place where kids go to do dance challenges? Well . . . yes, but there is so much more to TikTok that overlooking this platform would be a mistake. According to Hootsuite, TikTok has been the most downloaded app three years in a row and has more than one billion active users. The channel has adapted to amplify many different types of content and communities—including a strong reader community, called BookTok. BookTok is a TikTok subculture where book lovers openly discuss the books they love. As of this year, TikTok posts tagged #BookTok have more than 61.9 billion views, with some individual videos reaching upwards of 100,000 likes. Several publishers and book retailers, including Barnes & Noble, have jumped on the BookTok bandwagon, recognizing it as an incredibly strong promotional tool. If you want to start a TikTok profile and be a part of the BookTok community, get ready to be comfortable on camera, authentic, and open to engaging with other members. Popular hashtags include: #booktok, #booksoftiktok, #booktiktok, #readersoftiktok, #readertok, #authorsoftiktok, #authortok.

Overall, social media can be an incredibly effective way to reach readers and expand your author profile. Just remember to be authentic, post regularly, and don’t oversell. A good rule of thumb is to follow the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule indicates that 80 percent of social media posts should be useful to your audience—meaning the posts educate, entertain, or offer solutions to problems—and only 20 percent should explicitly promote yourself or your book.

Most importantly, have fun and don’t overextend yourself. If you are new to social media, start small. Find one or two platforms to concentrate your efforts on and then add more as your comfort level increases. It’s always better to do less and do it well, than to do more and struggle. If you have questions about social media strategy or coaching, Greenleaf can help. Email us to learn more.