Unlocking the secrets of social media
When I released my first book "Kathputli", I was clueless how and where to promote it. I searched google, Goodreads, facebook groups, bloggers. Though, I worked 4 to 6 hours per day but the ultimate result was below expectations. During that campaign, I have observed so many strange things and I made my roadmap for effective use of social media. In this part of the ongoing series, I would like to unlock the secrets of social media management which may give you guidance on how to use these social networks effectively.
Let's make clear why we need social media !
An author must have - Creativity, Commitment and Community
Authors want to - Create, Communicate and Sell
While we talk about community, communication and sale of books, we must consider our presence on social media.
Twitter :
We must
- have a decent profile picture and author bio so that people may know abou us.
- tweet with searcheable Hashtags like "My Book/s", "Äuthor", "Self Published" etc.
- follow the top people of our areas of interest so that we may know what's happening in oue industry or what they are sharing. it may enrich us with knowledge from their experiences.
- follow back if someone follows us so that we may get connected with more people to make our community grow faster.
What to do -
Tweet Images Daily to Boost Engagement.
Capitalize on Trending Issues so that readers may know our way of thinking or our views on such issues. It gives them an idea of how great we may write.
Make specific list from followers, like - readers, politicians, celebrities etc.
Pros :
Twitter may bring Likes to author’s Facebook page, blog, and sales for books in some cases.
Through Twitter, an author may meet social media experts, fellow authors and bloggers who retweet the author’s content which helps in spreading the message..
Twitter may put an author in contact with people who otherwise never would meet.
Cons : twitter have word limits (140 characters only) and not useful for writing.
Facebook :
We must
- use our personal account with a decent picture, author bio and links to our various author pages may be posted there.
- show ourselves as an author of our books in work area of FB profile.
- use every medium available, like articles, audio, video, pictures etc.
- not just produce; consume. It means get involved with readers, followers and friends. Respond to likes, comments, shares by the community.
- turn Facebook into our social hub.
- write at least one post per day.
Here, we may restrict our posts and pictures with privacy settings if we don't want to share something with everyone. We may have separate book pages for our books where we can share excerpts from our books and promo activities.
People ask what if we have an author page on Facebook? I say it just useless because people who like your page dont follow your page that is why if your profile post gets 1000 likes, at the same time your auther page hardly gets views. Don't follow blindly what celebrity authors are saying. Experience yourself and do what suits you better.
Goodreads :
We must
- have a complete profile with a decent picture, author bio and social media links.
- connect Goodreads blog to Amazon author page to get the blogs auto update on Amazon.
- use Goodreads to help building our platform.
- use giveaways to generate those all-important pre-release reviews.
- make it easy for fans to write reviews.
- join the discussion.
- be a good reader!
LinkedIn :
We must
- have a complete profile with a decent picture, author bio and social media links.
- publish posts to show our professionalism, building credibility. (If it’s quality content, but I know
you…it would be top notch stuff.)
- share published posts with our network, building trust and positioning ourselves as a thought/industry leader.
Blog :
- Published posts have the ability to reach the largest group of professionals ever assembled. The audience is already built-in. Unreal
opportunity.
- Published posts showcase your expertise to secure new clients, build your network, or find your next career.
- Published posts can serve as a blogging platform without any
technical set-up or know-how.
- Published posts allow others to “follow” you who are not in your network, increasing your influence as your new content then appears
directly in their LinkedIn news feeds.
Publishing Tips
- Don’t rush to publish content. Make sure the quality is high. Your brand is on the line.
- Consider the purpose (why am I writing this) and identify who your audience is before writing.
- Consider writing blog posts elsewhere to develop a voice and stronger writing skills before publishing on LinkedIn. Anonymity can
be a gift when first launching.
- Write the title last and make it super, super catchy. Lots of crappy titles out there, don’t be one of them.
- Have a publishing plan. Readers crave consistency.
- Give the gift of a response. Participate in the commenting and conversation of your posts.
Instagram : It may be used as twitter for sharing images, live videos and short links.
Ultimate Benefits :
See, you don't have to spend extra penny if you share a facebook or LinkedIn post of fellow author, if you forward an important mail to fellow author, if uou retweet your fellow authors tweet, if you send an e-mail to your readers to ask about them, if yo add your fellow authors books to your Goodreads shelves.......
There are many more things you can do to win hearts of your community (friends, fellow authors and readers) ...
So, why you wait for "they must ask you" .... You may use your idle time or "writer's block" to get benefits from your community.
Just think
- the more is your reach, the more effective is your communication and the faster your community will grow
- the more views to your posts, links etc, the more are the chances of sales.
And, last but not least, you may find suggesstions about writing, like use active voice or passive voice, use first person or third person, use self publishing or traditional publishing, use this or that ... etc.
My suggestion is based on readers perspective, "please concentrate on theme and contents", your covers look and reviews may increase your visibility but bring sales for you.
Hope this will help you.
Pls dont forget to give your valuable feedback :
prakash2484@gmail.com
https://www.pvsharmablog.wordpress.com
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B072PCYJL1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B072PCYJL1
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
https://books.pronoun.com/pvs/
https://www.facebook.com/prakaash.sha...
https://twitter.com/Prakaashsharma
https://www.pinterest.com/prakash2484/
Let's make clear why we need social media !
An author must have - Creativity, Commitment and Community
Authors want to - Create, Communicate and Sell
While we talk about community, communication and sale of books, we must consider our presence on social media.
Twitter :
We must
- have a decent profile picture and author bio so that people may know abou us.
- tweet with searcheable Hashtags like "My Book/s", "Äuthor", "Self Published" etc.
- follow the top people of our areas of interest so that we may know what's happening in oue industry or what they are sharing. it may enrich us with knowledge from their experiences.
- follow back if someone follows us so that we may get connected with more people to make our community grow faster.
What to do -
Tweet Images Daily to Boost Engagement.
Capitalize on Trending Issues so that readers may know our way of thinking or our views on such issues. It gives them an idea of how great we may write.
Make specific list from followers, like - readers, politicians, celebrities etc.
Pros :
Twitter may bring Likes to author’s Facebook page, blog, and sales for books in some cases.
Through Twitter, an author may meet social media experts, fellow authors and bloggers who retweet the author’s content which helps in spreading the message..
Twitter may put an author in contact with people who otherwise never would meet.
Cons : twitter have word limits (140 characters only) and not useful for writing.
Facebook :
We must
- use our personal account with a decent picture, author bio and links to our various author pages may be posted there.
- show ourselves as an author of our books in work area of FB profile.
- use every medium available, like articles, audio, video, pictures etc.
- not just produce; consume. It means get involved with readers, followers and friends. Respond to likes, comments, shares by the community.
- turn Facebook into our social hub.
- write at least one post per day.
Here, we may restrict our posts and pictures with privacy settings if we don't want to share something with everyone. We may have separate book pages for our books where we can share excerpts from our books and promo activities.
People ask what if we have an author page on Facebook? I say it just useless because people who like your page dont follow your page that is why if your profile post gets 1000 likes, at the same time your auther page hardly gets views. Don't follow blindly what celebrity authors are saying. Experience yourself and do what suits you better.
Goodreads :
We must
- have a complete profile with a decent picture, author bio and social media links.
- connect Goodreads blog to Amazon author page to get the blogs auto update on Amazon.
- use Goodreads to help building our platform.
- use giveaways to generate those all-important pre-release reviews.
- make it easy for fans to write reviews.
- join the discussion.
- be a good reader!
LinkedIn :
We must
- have a complete profile with a decent picture, author bio and social media links.
- publish posts to show our professionalism, building credibility. (If it’s quality content, but I know
you…it would be top notch stuff.)
- share published posts with our network, building trust and positioning ourselves as a thought/industry leader.
Blog :
- Published posts have the ability to reach the largest group of professionals ever assembled. The audience is already built-in. Unreal
opportunity.
- Published posts showcase your expertise to secure new clients, build your network, or find your next career.
- Published posts can serve as a blogging platform without any
technical set-up or know-how.
- Published posts allow others to “follow” you who are not in your network, increasing your influence as your new content then appears
directly in their LinkedIn news feeds.
Publishing Tips
- Don’t rush to publish content. Make sure the quality is high. Your brand is on the line.
- Consider the purpose (why am I writing this) and identify who your audience is before writing.
- Consider writing blog posts elsewhere to develop a voice and stronger writing skills before publishing on LinkedIn. Anonymity can
be a gift when first launching.
- Write the title last and make it super, super catchy. Lots of crappy titles out there, don’t be one of them.
- Have a publishing plan. Readers crave consistency.
- Give the gift of a response. Participate in the commenting and conversation of your posts.
Instagram : It may be used as twitter for sharing images, live videos and short links.
Ultimate Benefits :
See, you don't have to spend extra penny if you share a facebook or LinkedIn post of fellow author, if you forward an important mail to fellow author, if uou retweet your fellow authors tweet, if you send an e-mail to your readers to ask about them, if yo add your fellow authors books to your Goodreads shelves.......
There are many more things you can do to win hearts of your community (friends, fellow authors and readers) ...
So, why you wait for "they must ask you" .... You may use your idle time or "writer's block" to get benefits from your community.
Just think
- the more is your reach, the more effective is your communication and the faster your community will grow
- the more views to your posts, links etc, the more are the chances of sales.
And, last but not least, you may find suggesstions about writing, like use active voice or passive voice, use first person or third person, use self publishing or traditional publishing, use this or that ... etc.
My suggestion is based on readers perspective, "please concentrate on theme and contents", your covers look and reviews may increase your visibility but bring sales for you.
Hope this will help you.
Pls dont forget to give your valuable feedback :
prakash2484@gmail.com
https://www.pvsharmablog.wordpress.com
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B072PCYJL1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B072PCYJL1
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
https://books.pronoun.com/pvs/
https://www.facebook.com/prakaash.sha...
https://twitter.com/Prakaashsharma
https://www.pinterest.com/prakash2484/
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message 1:
by
Akshmala
(new)
Sep 05, 2017 02:19AM
Very useful information for budding authors.
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Akshmala wrote: "Very useful information for budding authors."Thank you.
I saw many authors having Facebook accounts but either not updated since a long or posts with "Friends Only"settings or messenger deacticated etc, if this is the condition how one may expect connecting with readers?
They join groups, follow each other but no response after joining or following, how one can expect something good from such activities?
We must list our regular presence in social media so that we may know each other and readers may get something from us regularly.
Sometimes it may be helpful to read the blogs of various authors on goodreads.
When I was writing my second book, I continued promotion of my first book. Ultimately, my passion rewarded me well.
Right now, I am writing my third and fourth book and promoting previous two.
Heaps i learnt out of your shared experience.Thank you for nailing the way to get ones book across the reader.
Akshmala wrote: "Heaps i learnt out of your shared experience.Thank you for nailing the way to get ones book across the reader."Thank you Akshmala.
Wish you all the best!
Very well said, Prakash. Now I know why you're averaging the amount of sales a month that you are. You've helped me to see the need to work on my FB page. And you're right, promotion of books is a constant, it never stops. Thank-you. I hope others will also learn from your experience.
Thanks Groovy !I am inspired to continue this series. Some of my FB friends also appreciated it well.
