Know your audience
Sounds obvious, but it’s easy to overlook. As a writer, you have a specific audience in-built: people who would enjoy your book. As tempting as it is, a general approach will make your time on social media harder.
Get specific: genre, age, location.
As a writer, your audience also includes fellow writers, reviewers, bloggers and podcasters. These connections help you to cross-promote and grow your audience. More below.
Images and video
People are visual creatures. We like to see clean, crisp photos and we like to see people’s faces. Take the time to create good quality images of you, your books and related content. You can take these pictures yourself or use a free online generator such as: http://diybookcovers.com/3Dmockups/# for book cover images.
Short videos of yourself chatting about your work, writing journey or sharing tips, are a great option too. When people watch you talking, the connection they have with you is increased and they are more likely to follow you.
Connect with community
Cross-promotion is a powerful tool. There are many other creatives out there who are also trying to grow their audience. So help each other out! Chat with fellow authors, reviewers, bloggers and podcasters who work within your genre. Reach out and ask if they would like to review your book, or interview you for their blog. Keep an eye out for promotions and community groups that you could be involved with, and like and share. The more connections you make, the more people you are cultivating to share your work. That exposure leads to followers.
Specific post ideas to create engagement and increase followers
Competitions: create a competition to win a free copy of your book. All people have to do is: follow, re-tweet/ share and tag a friend. This is a great way to grow your followers and reach a wider audience.
Encourage interaction: run polls. Ask questions that relate to your audience: what is your preferred genre; who is your favourite author? This gets people to interact with your feed, leading to follows.
Tag other creatives: regularly post about the authors, reviewers, bloggers that you have been interacting with and tag them in your post. They are then likely to retweet/ share your post to their feed and tag you in similar posts in the future, again creating more exposure for you.
Share reviews: One of the most powerful tools to gain a reader’s trust is a great review. Share them regularly. Don’t forget to tag the reviewers too!
Cross-promote your own social media: share your own posts from different platforms so people can find you across the internet, follow you and share your posts in more places.
Share your journey: create posts about your writing experience– anything that has been part of your journey. This will help you connect with other writers, growing your community and exposure.
Give back: start your own blog, newsletter or other, to connect with and promote other creatives.
But the greatest tip of all? Don’t give up! Try new things. Experiment. Find your social media voice. And enjoy the journey.