How to Promote a Book on Social Media

Whether it’s a printed book or an eBook, or maybe even an audiobook, the purpose of it is to be read. But how do you get people to buy and read your book once it’s published? Influencer marketing can be one approach to take but I’d argue that the most effective form of marketing for any book is social media.

Social media is cost effective, accessible to wide-reaching audiences and you can tailor your social media strategy to suit you and your audience. Having said that, it can be a bit overwhelming to establish how to use social media to specifically promote your new book, so in this blog I’m going to be discussing how to promote your book through social media with some useful ideas you can implement today.

 Put the marketing foundations in place first

Before we consider what your social media content for your book should look like, it’s important to get some foundational elements in place first. Doing these will make your marketing so much easier to do, and more effective too.

Get excellent photography – great photography can make or break a product launch, so it might be worth paying a local specialist photographer to take a few snaps of the book. Consider photos of the book itself, but also of it being read by various people (ask friends and family to help!), and in various situations like on a bus/tube, outside on a picnic bench, etc where possible.

Make sure you know your reader – just as we use a dream client marketing avatar for business marketing, you should have an idea in your mind of what your reader looks like. By knowing them in as much detail as you can, from what their hobbies and lifestyle look like through to work and family commitments, you can use this information to inform your strategy. For example, if they’re London based, photographs of your book read on the Tube doing the rush hour commute is probably going to resonate with them better than someone reading it on the beach.

Have a website for the book – the idea of social media is to promote the book and then link back to your website where further information can be found, ability to purchase it, etc. Creating a simple website with further information about the book, behind the scenes info, articles about any research you did and couldn’t fit into the book etc is useful in getting someone to buy.

If you’re not selling the book independently yourself, make sure you link to where the book can be purchased from so it’s as easy as possible for your audience to get a copy.

Ok, so what about ways you can promote the book on social media? Well, here are 7 of the best social media marketing methods you can use today.

1 – Be creative, be a tease!

One of the best ways to hook readers in is by teasing out parts of your book through your social media posts. Whether it’s short passages, quotes, pictures, music or videos related to the plot – be creative when creating your teaser posts.

I would add that you should be creative with these posts but always ensure that they are the kind of content your audience want to see and share. Sometimes thinking too much outside of the box can create a disconnect between you and your audience.

Make sure you’re using hashtags in all of your posts about your book so people can follow the trail easily.

2 – Video promotions are great for books

Video marketing is a fantastic form of marketing that works seamlessly with social media – whether you share a YouTube Video on your social media channels, or use Instagram Reels or Facebook live specifically.

You could read out short passages of text, do a live Q&A, answer questions you’ve been asked on social media, collaborate with someone else for an interview if your book is relevant to your audience.

3 – Run a prize draw promotion

Prize draws are always popular, and you could offer a signed copy as a prize, or if your book is related to your business perhaps offer a service/product as a prize.

You could run a prize draw for a signed copy pre-release, and once released you could ask people to take photos of themselves with your book and share them on social media for entries to a special prize draw for a different prize.

4 – Use book reviews as social media posts

Had a good review from a critic – use it as a social media post (linking back to their article of course). But any reviews including Amazon, Google, from the publisher’s website, etc can be used to create a social media post you can share on Instagram and other channels to promote your book.

Always respond to followers and ask for their support, and particularly if they give you a good review or comment about your book.

5 – Run seasonal offers for your book

People may be interested in your book when you launch it but are unable to purchase at that time perhaps because they don’t have time to read it then or are short on money. By running seasonal offers throughout the year, you can remind your audience of your book at a time that might be better for them to buy and with a discount or another offer to sweeten the deal.

Make sure you use your book reviews as social proof when running offers like this, they help support what you’re saying by people happy they purchased your book, which is perfect encouragement for those hesitant to buy.

6 – Consider creating a Facebook group for your book

This approach can be particularly useful if your book is non-fiction and helpful in some way – business related, self-help, etc. By having a Facebook group that gives people direct access to you and the information in the book, it’s easier for them to ask further questions, give feedback and generally create a conversation around the book’s content.

This can be a great way for you to source content for further social media posts, but if you’re planning on writing more books, having an already engaged audience easily accessible like this can make your future book launches and promotions easier to manage too.

7 – Change your social media strategy according to your analytics

Some ideas will work well, and some will probably fall flat. The only way to know for sure is to look at your social media analytics to establish what’s working and what’s not. Once you know the kind of content that resonates with your audience and they are most likely to share, change your strategy to include more of that kind of content.

Also be aware that some social media posts will work better on some platforms more than others – so if you’ve tried a post that hasn’t worked well on Facebook, for example, consider giving it a go on Instagram or Twitter and see how it performs there.

I hope you’ve found these promotional ideas useful and they’ve got your creative juices running with how you can create social media marketing content for your book. Have you tried anything I haven’t covered here; I’d love to hear what it was and how it was received by your audience!