Are the Social Media + Book PR Stories True?

There are many opinions and just as many stories about promoting books on social media. Interestingly, most are true, even though they may conflict. As book marketing pros will tell you, much depends on the book's genre and author. The size of your following is a factor, along with the quality of your posts, but there are other factors. It's wise to set goals for your book marketing campaign rather than over-rely on social media, especially for your first book. If you don't have "Plan B" in mind, if your posts don't produce much action, you may end up in a jam. 

Planning and implementing a marketing program with various elements is your best bet and the way to success for most authors. Some of your target readers may be ardent social media mavens and respond to your posts. But others may not spend their lives online and be less plugged into your posts. Now that there is over a decade of experience promoting books with social media included, it's safe to say more is understood and settled. Authors who are natural extroverts with excellent timing and an appropriate sense of humor do well and have large followings. For others, the process is not as natural.

Regardless of where or how you promote your book, understanding what messages will motivate your target audience matters. It's also common for books today to have more than one target audience. Each one may have unique interests that you need to address. The more you zero in on their interests and speak to them, the more chance you'll have of sparking interest in your and your book. Throughout your marketing and promotional efforts, setting goals and planning tactics to achieve them is paramount. You can adjust as you go, but an organized approach consistently outperforms random actions.

Checking out the competition never hurts, and if you can find authors in your genre who are social media stars, watching what they do can be an excellent inspiration. Copying them won't work, but finding ways to take what they do and put your twist on it can be effective. Creativity always wins the day, but keeping things exciting and understandable to your target readers is essential. If you've already been active on social media and understand the best posts for you, continuing and maximizing them is an excellent approach. Things also evolve, and you may find new things that work better than the old ones.