Page 18 - Social Media Marketing

Dos and Don’ts
Create a Buzz
Being creative and unique with your posts will help earn you fans, but there are things you should bear in mind when using your accounts.
• Do use social media to create a buzz if you’re doing some sort of promotion – i.e. a five-day 99p promotion of your ebook.
• Do reply – in a timely manner – to anyone who interacts with you. Retweet any positive messages on Twitter!
• Do take an interest in what other people are saying and get involved in conversations.
• Do talk to other people. As well as following relevant accounts, start building up those relationships with other writers and self-publishers – it’s a great way to meet like-minded people and also share useful tips.
• Do balance your posts. You don’t want to post once every minute or only once a month. Social media only works well if you post on a regular basis. Daily is a good place to start for Twitter, every couple of days for Facebook and weekly for Instagram.
• Don’t be a salesman. Nobody wants to receive updates from a user who only urges people to go and buy their book. Mix information about your book with fun, friendly and witty posts. For example, one day you can post a link to a great review you’ve had. The next, you can post a photo of a big cup of tea with the hashtag #writingfuel.
• Don’t spam by repeating the same post – or continually contacting the same user. It looks unprofessional, it won’t help your sales and it could result in a loss of fans/interactions.
• Don’t use lots and lots of hashtags. We recommend two or three for
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