An author is not simply just an author these days, as social media has taken off and has created a new world for marketing opportunities. As a result of this, becoming a successful author isn’t just about writing a great book, it’s also about selling your book and being great at marketing through the internet as well. However, there are many that are unsure or feel a bit hesitant when it comes to social media marketing and they may not see why social media is essential for a writer. So, for today’s post, I’ll be talking about 10 reasons why every author needs a social media account and why they’re important.
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1. Direct Access to Your Audience
One of the biggest reasons why social media accounts are important for authors is the fact that you get direct access to connect with your audience and engage with them on an open and accessible platform. Unlike traditional marketing channels that used to be popular, social media basically gives you a real-time connection with your readers. This is great, as you can build a personal relationship with your readers and give them insight into who you are beyond the words you write on a page.
TikTok is a big one these days, but there’s also Instagram and Twitter and you can share updates about your writing process, answer reader’s questions, host live sessions, and so much more!
2. It’s Cheaper
Marketing is always one of the more expensive parts of any business, especially if you’re an indie self-published author who may not have the budget of a major publishing house to back you up. The nice thing about social media is that it’s basically free if you want to grow organically and the ad system on social media is relatively affordable and you won’t need a huge budget. You can also run targeted ads through social media to get your target audience to actually see your content.
3. You Can Work on Your Brand
Being an author these days isn’t just about writing great books, but it’s also about actually building a brand for yourself. Social media is a great tool for building a brand through your posts and videos, showcasing your unique style and your voice. You can share excerpts from your writing, talk about your preferences with writing, and just show your day-to-day life and how you are as a person. It’s a great way to build up a brand for your author name.
4. Networking
Pretty much everyone has social media nowadays, whether for personal or for professional reasons. However, one of the things that social media helps with a lot is being able to connect to people that work in your industry. So, you can connect with other authors, with literary agents, publishers, professionals in things like editing and more. These connections can help you meet people that can get you things like book collabs, speaking events, publishing deals, and more.
5. Your Personality is On Display
Readers nowadays are also interested in who is writing the book that they are reading and they like to know more about authors that they engage with. So, putting your personality on display using social media is a great way to show who you are as a person. The personal touch that social media gives to authors makes you feel more like a person and less like just a name on a book cover.
It’s also a great way to help show your readers what your writing process is like, as well as things that you just generally enjoy. Maybe you’re a gamer and an author, and you want people to see that too. You can do that with social media!
6. You can Learn From Your Readers
Social media offers a great way to get information about your audience and you can learn from your readers what works and what doesn’t work in the stories that you are writing. By paying attention to the types of posts that generate the most engagement, the questions your readers ask, and the content they engage with, you can gain valuable insights into their preferences and interests.
This information is really helpful when it comes to planning your next book, deciding on your cover designs, and even choosing what strategies you’ll use for promotional purposes.
7. You Stay Relevant
Another big thing that social media provides is relevancy and remaining relevant in today’s competitive and relatively saturated market. Every year, thousands of books are published across a wide range of genres and people are always hunting for their next read. Having an active and present social media account means that you will stay on reader’s minds and you stand out against those that don’t have social media, making your name more out there and well-known.
If you constantly update your social media and you stay relevant with fresh, trending content, then you will be able to ensure that your audience constantly sees you and that new readers will be able to easily discover you.
8. You Can Get More Reviews
One of the biggest things that any author needs is to get reviews for their books, as reviews help to show others if this book will be a good read or not and it will help others see if this book will match their standards and wants. Reviews are also important for rankings on websites like Amazon where many books are sold every day.
By having a social media page, you’ll be able to get readers to pay attention to you and you can also request for your readers to leave reviews so that your book can be pushed out there. You can share excerpts from your reviews on social media as well and that might encourage others to leave reviews too.
9. Launches and Giveaways
If you get a following on social media, then you are in the perfect place to launch your books, run contests, promotions, and giveaways. You can create these events in a way to generate excitement around your book and increase audience engagement. Giveaways are always a big one, and you can hold a giveaway to boost comments and engagement on your posts.
Another big thing is the idea of launching your book. When you have a new book that is coming out soon, you want to launch that book and run some sort of event before the book comes out to get people to actually want to read that book. So, holding a virtual book launch and allowing for pre-orders to exist before the launch is a great way to actually get readers to engage with your content.
10. Analytics
The final reason why I think every author needs social media is the ability to actually track and analyze your performance and learn from your mistakes using the analytics features. Most social media platforms have analytics dashboards and tools that allow you to see how your content is performing as well as who your audience is, where they’re coming from, and how they are engaging with your content.
Analytics can then help you figure out what your social media strategy will be, what works, and what wouldn’t work. If you regularly check in with your analytics, you’ll be able to continuously tailor your marketing campaigns and continue to reach broad and wide audiences of readers.
Conclusion
Although social media seems difficult or somewhat intimidating, it’s something that you should get used to using and using frequently as social media marketing is pretty much the dominant form of marketing in today’s digital world. With social media, you can increase the potential of your book being sold, your name becoming more of a brand, and you can increase your audience reach. Social media is really helpful, and I really recommend that every author have at least one social media account.
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