I was so impressed with Amy Rogers Nazarov when we were on a DIY book marketing conference panel together last month that I asked her to write a “how to master social media” guest post for us. Amy is a former journalist who teaches people how to use social media more effectively, with less scrolling and more serendipity. Before she launched Spark: Social Media Strategy in 2014, she was both a freelance and  staff writer. Her byline has appeared in Cooking Light, Slate, The Washington Post, and American Songwriter among many others. Be sure to check out her affordable course, Seven Easy Social Media Hacks for Entrepreneurs & Creatives, especially if you find her article helpful.

Let’s get engaged: How to use social media effectively

By Amy Rogers Nazarov

Today’s authors and writers have available to them a free and fantastic tool their counterparts a generation ago could only have dreamed of.

It is a bottomless resource of inspiration, prospective readers, generous colleagues, tips on editing and selling, leads on relevant podcasts, and a great deal more.

This free tool is social media.

And whether or not you are just beginning to explore it or have been making TikToks since the platform launched, I promise you that by intentionally engaging with followers on any social media platform, you will derive a host of benefits, from unexpected support from strangers to an idea for your next book.

What is “engagement?”

Let’s talk about that word “engagement” for a second. This is the key to all of the potential goodness waiting to be unlocked. What exactly does engagement mean where social media is concerned?

I’d sum it up this way: When we engage with others on social media, we are being a bunch of different things, such as:

• Responsive
• Conversational
• Reflective
• Curious

We are also doing several things, such as:

• Teaching
• Guiding
• Questioning
• Connecting

The dreaded boring dinner party guest

Yet in the absence of these behaviors and traits, we show up on social media as a virtual version of the tedious guest you hate to be seated next to at a dinner party: the one who goes on and on about their projects, their successes, their goals, their relationships, etc. and never once asks you about yours.

via GIPHY

It’s the kind of individual that has you dreaming up excuses to leave the gathering early. (“Sorry, Sheila, but I just got a call that my parakeet somehow escaped her cage, Gotta dash…”)

Ugh.

Online or off, don’t be the person that drives away dinner guests – or followers!

Trust me when I say your Instagram gallery or your Facebook page or your Twitter account will be much more fun to read, follow, and maintain when you are doing and being the things I just listed.

Like, comment, share, save

In practice, then, what does engagement look like?

It looks like answering a poll question on Twitter when an editor you follow posts it. It looks like weighing in on the pros and cons of newspaper paywalls, or on mergers in the New York publishing world.

Perhaps it will simply be saving an Instagram post that resonated with you to read more carefully later (note: Instagram lets you organize saved posts by topic, which makes them much easier to locate later.)

Engagement looks like following authors in your genre, or in the genre you aspire to. It might be posting thoughtful questions when an agent hosts an Instagram Live. It might be taking a stab at answering a question someone else posed.

Quality engagement = quality conversations

Through this type of engagement with others, you might be pleasantly surprised at the quality and depth of conversations with strangers as passionate about a topic as you are – and conversely disappointed by the lack of engagement with people you’ve known forever (one of my key arguments for only following, on any social platform, people and organizations who are squarely in your niche, not your Uncle Vernon. Save following him for your personal accounts!)

Best of all, engagement begets engagement. The more you thoughtfully engage, the more others will return the favor.

Generating content vs. engaging

My rule of thumb for the amount of content you create versus the amount of content you engage with: 1 to 5.

For every carousel ad you generate on Facebook, for every Reel you make on Insta, leave a comment, question, query or opinion on five other accounts. Not just strings of emojis, either, cute as rows of hearts and puppy faces may be. Type in actual words and sentences! As writers, this part should come pretty easily to us.

By the way, when followers engage with content originating from you, and you comment on their comments or answer their questions, that, too, counts as engagement!

Keep the conversation flowing in a couple different ways:

• Don’t “post and ghost.” Check back within a couple of hours on your latest posts to see if it has elicited responses from followers.
• Each time you add a comment, toss in a related question. “I see you’re a fan of Stephen King. What newer horror authors do you enjoy?”
• Loop in someone else. If you’re a food writer chatting with a journalist who covers the local food scene, tag a chef you know and invite them to join the conversation. You never know what kind of synergy this kind of additive approach to an online conversation will have.

Set a timer for 10 minutes

One of the best things about spending time on social media intentionally engaging with others is it will make your time there feel less burdensome and more serendipitous.

Try engaging for 10 minutes a day, maybe 15; set a timer if you have to in order to guard against slipping into a passive scroll.

I get that many people don’t like social media.*

While it’s certainly not without its problems, social media still enables all kinds of random and rich connections with the sort of readers, writers, and thinkers who will be intrigued by you, your work, your process, and your projects.

Go engage with a few of them today, and for the next month or so, and see what kinds of inspiration and connection you can discover. That might even convince you that it’s worth it to master social media.

What works best for you on social media? Please tell us in a comment.

(*Editor’s note: If, in spite of this excellent advice, you still have no interest in social media, take a look at my short training program, Book Marketing Without Social Media, on the Writing Blueprints site. They’re offering Build Book Buzz authors a $10 discount.)

. Through her writing and coaching, Rochelle helps writers, creatives, and entrepreneurs overcome distractions and procrastination, design a writing life, turn their ideas into books, navigate the publishing world, and connect with readers through social media. Learn more at writenowcoach.com.

Develop your author social media strategy

By Rochelle Melander

Are you a plotter or a “pantser?”

I am not talking about how you write books. I’m talking about your social media strategy.

Some people plot: laying out a careful social media plan, complete with post content and links, and follow it daily. Some people are pantsers, posting whatever comes to their mind when the mood strikes.

The truth: The best social media strategy includes both plotting and pantsing.

Plot your author social media strategy

Social media can help us with multiple tasks: researching our current novel or nonfiction book, connecting with colleagues, promoting our work to readers, and connecting with influencers and the media.

Our priorities will change depending on the season of our work. If we are writing a book, we’ll use our social media time to research and connect with colleagues. Once our book goes to the editor, we will shift our focus to connecting with potential readers and influencers.

Action step: Set a social media goal and make a list of your social media priorities.

Choose your platform

You don’t have to do all of the platforms. In fact, many social media advisors believe that it’s ineffective to spread your social media reach over multiple platforms.

Choose the one or two platforms that will help you the most. Where does your tribe hang out? Maybe you will connect with readers on Instagram, but use Facebook to connect with colleagues.

Play around with this and see what works. Where is it easiest to connect with other writers? Your readers? Where do you get the most engagement—post likes, comments, and shares?

Action step: Choose a social media platform to nurture and grow over the next month.

List your content categories

Many writers use social media as a sort of water cooler for their writing lives. We hop on to talk about our writing process, our professional challenges and successes, our book events, and our new books.

Some readers will be interested in hearing all about us some of the time. But over time, this self-focused approach may annoy followers.

The key to becoming a social media superstar is building relationships. Watch and listen to other people. Engage – like others’ posts, comment, or share.

As authors, our challenge is to get in the mind of our readers and think about what they might want to read. We can do this by paying attention to what people ask us at our book events and noticing how people engage with us on social media.

If you’re not published yet, take a look at what your favorite authors post and how it resonates with readers. Here are some topic ideas:

• Current and favorite reads
• Inside info about your book
• Photos of your setting, character inspiration, and more
• Fan art
• Q&A session with readers
• Book playlists
• Contests

Action Step: List the types of content you will post.

Develop a social media schedule

Once you know your social media goal, favorite platform, and what you’ll post, it’s time to develop a social media schedule. Just like successful blogs follow a publication schedule, you can grow your following by posting regularly.

First, decide how much time you’d like to devote to social media. You’ll need to dedicate time to creating and curating content, scheduling it to be posted, and then interacting with your followers. Then, schedule time in your week for each task.

Here’s what you need to include in your schedule.

Planning time: Develop a social media plan. Research possibilities and make a list of the best kinds of posts for you.

Content creation (1 hour): Schedule time to find or create content to post over the next week or two. Pro Tip: Create a special folder to save bookmarked posts for social media sharing.

Content sharing (30 minutes): Use a tool like Buffer or HootSuite to load up most of your social media ahead of time. Schedule your posts for the times that most people are socializing on your social media platform. (You can easily find out the times by searching for “best times to post” and your favorite platform name.)

Interacting (15-30 minutes): Finally! We get to the pantsing part! Set aside time each day to be online and interact with followers.

Review and revise

Once a quarter, review your social media reach.

Many of the online publishing tools such as Buffer offer some analytics that will help you measure reader engagement.

Then revise your plan accordingly.

What’s your social media strategy for your book? Please tell us about it in a comment.