We all know that social media is one of the best tools to market your book. But can there ever be too much online marketing? Well, there is such a thing as too much of the WRONG kind of online marketing. Your goal as an author should be to update and entertain your visitors, not overwhelm them with useless information.
We all follow someone on Twitter who posts way too many self-promotional links and tweets. And frankly, they’re annoying! When marketing your book via social media, you want to avoid any of these irritating tendencies.
Don’t post twenty links a day, especially when they send your followers to your website, Tumblr, Facebook etc. If you bog down the Twitter-sphere with links, your followers will get annoyed and will be less likely to click that link. One (maybe two) posts that link to something important to your authorpreneurship, like a blog post you just wrote or an event on your Facebook page, can be really helpful in trying to get people to learn more about you as an author. Post one tweet that is casual yet compelling, and use a link at the end to keep it looking succinct.
Make sure you talk about other people. If you only post tweets about you and your book, your followers will think you are self-involved and are too concerned with self-promotion. While this is probably your goal with using social media, you might want to tweet at some of your favorite authors or retweet them every once in a while. Just because someone else is writing a book, it doesn’t mean yours won’t sell. Other authors should be a point of inspiration for you, not competition! You can also make some cool new author friends this way.
Switch it up from time to time. If you post “MY NEW BOOK IS COMING OUT IN 100 DAYS!” every day for the next 100 days, you will be sure to lose some followers. Mention your book in a subtle way while posting different things in between. Maybe post some pictures, articles, or videos that give your followers some insight into your personal side. While you want to keep it professional, you don’t want your social media personality to be repetitive because it will get boring quickly. It’s all about a balance in the content that you decide to post.
Having said that, only post the good stuff. This doesn’t mean that you have to be unexciting; you should have fun with social media! But your followers don’t need to know what you had for breakfast. As an author, you should mainly be posting about events, the status of your book, and anything else that is related to you as a writer. By all means post a silly picture every once in a while, but keep it interesting and attention-grabbing.
Keep it minimal. You don’t need to tweet 1,000 times each day. Two to four tweets are a good amount that will help market your book without annoying your followers. For blog posts, one post is usually enough for the day but if you have some good ideas, more posts won’t hurt! You want your followers to be aware of your presence as an author but it only hurts you if you try to force it on them. On Twitter, make sure to prioritize quality over quantity.
These tips can be useful if you are trying to maximize your social media presence, but don’t be upset if you have difficulty with following these guidelines. Just remember to keep it simple and have fun!
Are there any social media habits that annoy you?
My social media pet peeve is the unreciprocated share or tweet. I’ve voluntarily promoted others, but seemingly have to BEG to have others do the same for me.
In general, marketing on Tweeter by authors — indie or otherwise — has gotten out of control. I do believe some are following such tips as the ones you outline here, but in aggregate feeds are being inundated with explicit and stealth marketing, which in volume is creating the opposite effect of its intentions. Twitter has become like TV before VHSs and DVRs, full of unavoidable commercials.
I understand Anthony. It’s just the nature of the game sometimes. Just try to reach out to more people. The odds are someone will be grateful for you tweet, and pay it forward.
Marketing to me always feels sort of like groveling, especially when your just starting out.