Is Social Media Really An Effective Way to Promote Your Book?

by Megan Leiter, Events and Social Media Coordinator

As someone who fulfills social media setups for AuthorHive authors and is currently acting as the Social Media Services Coordinator, I can give you a big honest YES to this question! Many of the authors I talk to daily ask, “Will anyone really read my blog?” and, “How are people going to find my profiles on all these social networking sites?”

Here are five ways to make the most of your social media profiles to promote your book:

1) Tags, Tags, Tags! :  A “post tag” is a keyword you can attach to each new post you put on your blog and essentially how people are going to find your blog site. When you attach keywords to your blog’s content, it’s more likely someone searching for those same keywords will find your blog through a search engine. Key Tip: you should always attach your pen name and book title to each post along with any other relevant keywords associated with what you’re writing about in that particular post.

2) Reaching Out:  The whole point of social networking is to be social on the internet – crazy I know! That means you’ll have to put some work into reaching out and contacting people through your profiles by sending out messages, updating your statuses in Facebook and Twitter on a consistent basis, creating event invites for book signings or speeches you may be giving, and more.

3) Fresh Content:  For a lot of people within the “blogosphere” once someone finds a blog they like, they visit it daily to check out what the contributor has to say. There’s nothing more disappointing to a devoted blog reader than going to your favorite blog(s) to find the blog contributor hasn’t posted any new content in a week or more. Keeping readers engaged through fresh content means being committed to keeping that connection alive by making the time to continuously post new content which means more than once a week.

4) Gathering Friends:  Exposure is the key to publicity. The more people you can gather to follow you on Twitter and like your fan page on Facebook, the more exposure your messages will have.

5) Time:  It takes a lot of time and commitment to build a fan base for a book so please don’t expect to be an overnight social media sensation like Susan Boyle (the Scottish singing talent discovered on Britain’s Got Talent who became an overnight sensation on YouTube.com). Just as it took time to write and produce your book, it will also take time to create your social media fan base.

I know many authors are intimidated by social media because it’s a new beast in the world and perhaps out of their comfort zone. Many authors I speak to vow to forgo the social media aspect of promotions entirely and I think the only person this is a disservice to is the author themselves. Facebook currently serves over 300 million users (and is still growing) and Twitter serves 190 million users. To me, that’s an awfully big market to be left untouched just because you may be unfamiliar with using a computer or don’t want to put the time into keeping up a social media presence.

If you’re not sure where to start, ask a friend or family member for help or call AuthorHive and we will get you on your way!

6 Reasons You Need a Facebook Fan Page

by Maggie Hames, Social Media Specialist

When Mark Zuckerburg said Facebook was ‘almost guaranteed’ to reach 1 billion users, few doubted him. After all, there are only four countries in the world that have yet to join the social network (Russia, Japan, China and Korea). Facebook has become such an integral part of web use, “many would argue that it’s second only to Google in its importance to online marketers.”(via Mashable)  So how can you use this opportunity to promote your book? Facebook Fan Pages. And here’s why:

1. It’s free and easy. You can create a fan page in just a few minutes with your book cover and website URL. This quickly gives you a platform for promoting your book online and leveraging your already developed network of friends. They key to being successful is staying engaged.  
2. Keep your fans updated. Most fans won’t visit your website everyday, but they will be on Facebook daily. Keep them up-to-date about new blog posts, book signings, book reviews and media hits.
3. Become searchable. Facebook fan pages are public, which means they can be indexed by search engines and will often show up in results first. They can also link back to your website, adding SEO (search engine optimization) value to your site.
4. Interact with fans. While Twitter only allows for 140 characters a tweet, Facebook conversations have no limit. Talk with readers about their favorite chapters, interesting characters and more. Passionate and active fans become great advocates for your book. 
5. Customize. You can create customized tabs featuring your book cover, video trailer and other content specific to your book.  After fans ‘like’ your page, they will be directed to the ‘wall’ each time they visit. But you can also create a welcome tab for new visitors to land on.
6. Facebook pages are measurable. When you manage a fan page, Facebook installs ‘Insights’ tracking everything from ‘likes’ to ‘mentions.’ This allows you to track your growth in Facebook fans down to a multiple of demographics. It is a great tool for tracking your successes and failures, allowing you to constantly grow your fan base.