By Karen Cioffi
As an author, it’s important to promote your books.
So how do you go about doing this?
Well, one of the first steps, aside from creating an author website, is to use social media to bring your book to the world.
But, it’s important to use social media effectively.
Some social networks, like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, have optimization features for shared blog posts. It’s similar to how you’d optimize the blog posts on your website.
Here is a list of 3 social network features to be aware of (and take advantage of):
1. The post title.
Along with creating a keyword effective and powerful blog post title, you should try to keep the characters to 40.
Search engines only pick up the first 60 characters of the titles.
What does this mean for you?
Use those characters carefully. According to webinars by Marketing Experiments, make your title a complete thought. Along with this, be sure to include your keyword.
Just as important, you should make the title ‘WIIFM’ (what’s in it for me) effective. To do this, think of the benefit the reader will want.
If you’re a fitness writer, your title might be:
Lose 7 Pounds in Just 7 Days
Notice the title is a complete thought, it has the WIIFM (look your best), it’s keyword effective, and it’s under 30 characters.
2. Create a brief, but powerful description.
Along with the post title, you’ll be able to add a description of the article.
Most social networks allow for this additional search engine optimization. Absolutely take advantage of it.
See the example below. You have plenty of room to show your reader what the article is about. And don’t forget that search engines use descriptions to further categorize content.
So, how would you write a description for the article “Are You Overthinking Your Story?”
Here’s what I wrote:
(1) When writing for children, some new authors have difficulty realizing when the story is at the publishing or submitting stage. They may overthink the storyline, the characters, or even the sentences.
Another description might be:
(2) Knowing when your story is done can be tricky. How can you avoid overthinking it?
Either of these two descriptions is fine. The first though, gives more information, but its’ a bit long.
In (1) above, there are 169 characters, and I have several keywords. Along with this, the description is clear and to the point.
In (2) above, there are only 74 characters, but it’s not as informative as the first. On the flip side, it poses a question that may motivate the reader to click on the link.
So, you can see that they both have the potential to grab the reader and help the search engines find and categorize the content.
3. Use hashtags where applicable.
Most social networks allow you to use hashtags to let users find your topic.
Hashtags are a powerful marketing feature.
So, what exactly do hashtags do?
They’re basically keywords or tags that are relevant to your article’s topic. They help the social engines on the network you’re posting to identify and categorize your content.
Hashtags also allow other users to quickly find posts that are relevant to the topic they’re looking for.
Hashtags work. Hashtags are powerful. You should use hashtags where applicable.
Summing it up.
There are lots of other social media publishing optimization strategies, but these are the top three in my opinion. They help boost engagement and help the search engines find, categorize, and share your content.
References:
https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-improve-your-google-plus-marketing/
https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2327748/5-brilliant-ways-to-use-hashtags-in-social-media-marketing#
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen’s children’s books include Walking Through Walls and The Case of the Stranded Bear. She also has a DIY book, How to Write Children’s Fiction Books. You can check them out at: https://karencioffiwritingforchildren.com/karens-books/.
If you need help with your children’s story, visit: https://karencioffiwritingforchildren.com.
MORE ON BOOK MARKETING
How to Get a Wealth of Social Media Content
SEO for Authors – Keywords and Descriptions
A Marketing Story to Inspire Authors to Renewed Efforts
6 comments:
Karen,
Thank you for these valuable insights about social media. I'm active on social media and some days I wonder if anyone is reading it--and about that time someone comments or engages with me on a post. The reality is someone has to hear about your book at least seven or eight times before they buy it and it is important to highlight the benefits of your book--not just say "buy my book" (common).
Terry
author of Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success (Revised Edition)
Terry, I think social media is so bombarded that it's common not to get too much engagement. As for my blog posts, on my children's writing site, I get pretty good traffic, but hardly any comments. Yes, the seven touches in marketing - it seems now it must be higher because of all the noise on social media and the internet. And agreed that you need to state the benefits of your nonfiction book. I try to do that. Thanks for the input!
Karen, the tips in your post are very helpful for authors. As Terry said, we need to keep information about our books constantly available so that readers will eventually buy. Thank you for sharing your valuable insights.
Thanks, Linda. It really is all about promotion. It's the visibility that eventually leads to sales.
Thanks Karen, these are powerful tips every writer needs for engagement with readers. And the same tips help writers and authors create the best info to deliver.
Thanks, Deborah. It can be work and take a bit of time, but social media is an effective way to engage with readers.
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