Cailin Riley Books

Marketing your book on social media sites can be a great way to reach potential readers.

That said, there are certainly limits to the power of social media and success marketing your book through these channels depends on a wide variety of factors.

I see a lot of people in the book world ( and outside of it!) get frustrated when promoting their book on social media doesn’t yield sales like they expected. A common expectation withh social media marketing is that the more you post and put your stuff out there, the more likely it is that you’ll see returns such as book sales or website visits.

Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as that. There is such a thing as posting too much about your book on social media.

In addition to being an author, I work full-time as a writer, editor and social media manager for a midwestern university. For more than 8 years, I have gradually learned what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to social media marketing.

Let’s go over some of the “dos” and “do nots” when it comes to marketing on social:

DO include all the relevant info

It does readers no good if you post about your book title and desciption but then forget to include a link to more info or the Amazon listing. Make sure that when you post, you include all the relevant info about your book (genre, title, short description, link to more info.)

DO maintain an authentic voice and branding

This may be a “No, duh” but robotic-sounding voices rarely inspire people. As an author and a writer, you have a certain tone and your marketing should follow a similar suit. Is your voice funny and casual? Or are you mysterious and intriguing? Maybe your voice follows the genre that you write. In any case, make sure that you maintain your voice across all of your posts and keep your branding the same. That means using the same color scheme if you design your own graphics, using a personalized logo, etc. The more people see your branding over and over, the more likely they will recognize your work.

DO NOT over-post

I personally try not to market my content over social channels more than 2-3x a week, and that’s across X, Instagram and Facebook. If you post the same thing every single day, you will likely end up ignored and marked as annoying. This is especially important if you want to post about your book in Facebook groups, as it will be way easier for people to track your posting. Everything you post should be well thought out and have a purpose.

DO give readers an action to complete

To that end, ask for an action response in your posts. That could be anything from asking them to check out your book on Amazon, to asking for beta readers to give feedback. People are more likely to actually engage with your content if you give them something to do.

DO NOT have overly high expectations

Every social media platform is already a cess pool of activity and competition for attention. You have to go into it with the realistic expectation that most of the time, your content will either be passed over or ignored. However, if you stay consistent, you might see over time an increase in engagement, as people start to recognize your content.

Social media marketing can be a great way to raise awareness and excitment for your book. Just remember that like anything, it’s all about how much you put into it!