Social media doesn’t work for authors. At least not how most authors are using it.
Hearing that social media doesn’t work might be shocking to you, considering how popular social media is right now. Every author dreams of sending out a tweet and selling 10 books as a result.
Unfortunately, when is the last time you saw someone post “buy my book!” and you actually went and bought it? Never? Me either.
I think we can both agree that there a real opportunities to sell books online, even on social media, but most authors don’t possess the marketing skills or understanding to leverage social media for book marketing success.
So, how can you increase your book sales using social media? In this post we will discuss it.
How To Sell More Books Using Social Media
It is important for authors to have the right mindset about social media. Traditionally, authors look at social media as a place to connect with other authors and potential readers and to sell books. Authors that find success on social media realize that social media should be used to improve all other areas of book marketing. That means social media should help you define your target audience. Social media should help you grow your email list. Social media should help you find guest posting or speaking opportunities. And yes, social media should help you sell more books.Mark Dawson’s Proven Social Media Strategy
So, what does a successful social media strategy look like? Let’s take a look at a strategy used by best-selling indie author Mark Dawson. His strategy uses Facebook Ads, but can easily be adapted to use the advertising platform on your social network of choice.
Dawson’s strategy has two main objectives:
- Grow his email list
- Drive direct book sales
Here is a quick summary of how it works:
- Set up a Facebook Ad that is highly targeted
- Offer something of value in exchange for an email (eBook, webinar, etc.)
- Use growing email list to support other marketing activities and sell more books
- Repeat the process and use your email list to refine your Facebook Ad targeting
