Creating a social media plan for your book
The exact steps to take
One of the many pieces of advice that you see bandied about online about marketing one’s book is that you should aim to show up on social media regularly and talk about your book. But what does that actually mean?
First of all, I absolutely do not believe that you should feel that you have to be present and active on every social media channel. Just off the top of my head, if you were, that means you would have to try and create content for:
Instagram (reels + stories + posts)
TikTok (3-4 posts per day + daily stories)
Threads
Twitter/ X
Facebook page
Facebook groups
LinkedIn
Reddit
Susbtack (because Notes IS a social media platform, don’t deny it!)
Any and all other tools that crop up during the course of your time online
Maintaining a presence on all of these channels would be exhausting and would take up 100% of your time. This is someone’s full time job. In fact, if it’s a good place to work, it’s more than one person’s full time job.
You might already HAVE a full time job, and be writing on the side, or you want writing to be your main focus, not managing your marketing.
So, here’s how I make things more sustainable, along with the exact framework I use and recommend to the authors I work with who are struggling to come up with what to share on social media.
1/ Stop trying to do all the things on all the platforms.
I DO think that you should register your author name on any platforms you come across that seem interesting. Try to go with something consistent, and something that actually has your name in it. So, don’t go for Pixie2390_lol, or something along those lines (I know some of you are still doing this! Stop it!). Go for your name, or your name + author if needed. So - mine would be KatieSadler or KatieSadlerAuthor (and yes, if I was starting from scratch, I probably would have that as my handle everywhere, rather than using my middle name!).
Then, pick only one or two channels where you want to focus your attention. I know, that doesn’t seem like a lot, but please - less is more, I promise. These are the places you are going to actively create content for, and to engage on.
How do you pick these platforms?
Well, you want to be in the middle of the venn diagram between where your reader is spending time and where you want to spend time. Having said that, unless you go for a very niche social media platform, you are likely to be able to find your reader on most of the major platforms. So, in my mind, the place that you should focus your attention is the place where you enjoy spending time most.
What if I hate social media?
If you hate social media, I have a few questions for you:
Why do you hate it? What is it about it that you hate?
Is there a way that you can change your own behaviour to enjoy it more?
Is there a way that you can change who you interact with? Are there people you need to mute or block?
Are there boundaries that you can put in place around the way you use it?
If you STILL hate it, it’s okay to leave it! That doesn’t mean you give up your marketing - sorry, you still do need to market your books - but there are SO many other ways you can do this, without social media. Leonie Dawson’s workshop is a good place to start [aff link], and
has an amazing sounding group programme coming up that I am sure will be brilliant (everything Astrid does is ace).I personally love social media, so I won’t be leaving any time soon. And the reason I love it is because I’ve really considered how I use it, and what its purpose is, for my business, and for me personally.
2/ Have a clear sense of what you’re going to post
To make sure you don't get overwhelmed, and to give yourself the best chance to creating content that connects with an audience that might also like your book, I suggest you do the following: