Chapter 4

What Social Media Should I Use?

Every author has a different comfort level with social media. You may be a real star at creating content for your channels but get tired of the constant attention your social media presence requires of you. Or, you may have only discovered recently that social media is a part of the author experience, and you are now trying to figure out how to best use your time in what can be an overwhelming world of likes, retweets, shares, tagging, friending, following, listening, and sharing stories. So what social media should authors use? And how should they use it?

Whatever your experience level, ask yourself a few questions to better plan your social media presence for your author brand.

1. Who do I want to connect with most?
2. Do I like to take photos (and have a good enough camera or phone for them to look decent)?
3. How much do I want to write for my social media?
4. How much time do I have to devote to my online presence?

These questions will help guide you toward implementing a social media plan that can keep you posting and connecting with other authors and readers alike. With your answers in mind, weed carefully through the social media platforms detailed throughout the following chapters in this course. They can all be great ways to reach an audience, but you’re encouraged to determine which are the best use of your time and energy. Sometimes focusing your efforts on less can truly lead to more if you are spread thin or simply dislike the way one of the social media sites functions. It’s about picking the platforms and experience that’s right for you, your audience, and your books.

This course specifically covers the most popular social media channels for authors, each of which have their own chapters, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Amazon Author Central. Are there other platforms? Yes, and a few more will be mentioned in this course that you may enjoy using, but they’re likely not as relevant as the ones we’ll focus on specifically in terms of building connections with readers and other authors.

Whichever platform(s) you choose to get active on, remember that having fun is a key part of the experience. Really enjoying socializing through these apps is the best way to not only connect authentically but also to let your book marketing “workload” feel a little lighter.

This chapter was compiled from the following posts on the IngramSpark blog:

What Social Media Should Authors Use? By Sara Wigal, Senior Manager at JKS Communications

Using Social Media to Drive Book Sales by IngramSpark