How to Use Social Media to Connect with Readers and Build Your Fan Base

Social Media, whether you love it or hate it, is a powerful tool to build your fan base if you’re an author. But with so many options where do you start? And how do you make it work to attract your fans? Here are a few tips to get you started:

Choose the Right Social Media Platforms

There are lots of choices out there: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, X (formerly known as Twitter), TikTok, and Goodreads just to name a few. First, you have to decide how much time and energy you are willing or able to devote to feeding these marketing engines. Platforms like TikTok, Threads, and X required pretty much daily, even multiple times a day, posts to be effective. They also work better when the posts/videos are done by you personally.

A less time-impacted option, and one that can be done on your behalf by a marketing specialist, is Facebook, which also owns Instagram. That means you can prepare a series of posts in advance and schedule them to be posted at selected times. Plus, they can be posted to both platforms simultaneously. For a reasonable cost, you can also select an audience based on a variety of interests that relate to your subject matter and do what they call “boost” the post directly to that group.

Create a Professional Profile

Whatever social media platform(s) you choose, be sure to create a professional profile for yourself. It needs to have a professional photo, an interesting bio of yourself, and a link to your website. Even if you have a personal Facebook profile, for example, you’ll want to create a separate “author” profile page. Also, make sure it includes whatever your author brand is: colors, logo, and messaging style.

Create Posts that Engage People

Pretty pictures are great, but if they don’t generate some type of engagement from your audience, they don’t do much for you. Create something that invites your audience to act and go to your website for: get a free download related to your book(s), get a free sample of your book, learn the latest inside scoop on what’s happening with you, read a blog you just posted, etc. The important thing is to keep your audience engaged. Even more importantly, you want to collect all those names and emails you get from the free download offers to create a database of people who are known fans you can continue to engage with via email campaigns or newsletters.

A word regarding how often to post on Facebook and Instagram: there are a variety of schools of thought on this topic. Some say every day or as much as five times a week. In my experience, that’s too much and can border on annoying. I advise a maximum of three times a week or at least weekly. Keep in mind that you want interesting, engaging posts and that’s hard to do daily. You do want to be consistent however and keep the excitement alive!

How can Marketing Influence help?

Looking for ideas to create social media posts that attract and keep your readers engaged? Just drop us a note here and we will be happy to give you a free consultation on topic ideas and how to keep your fan base following you!