Raise your hand—heck, raise both of them—if you’d rather do almost anything else than hang out on social media.
Keep them in the air if, when you go to make good use of the platforms we love to hate, you end up spending way too much time yet not doing much of anything productive.
Yup. Me, too.
It’s easy to go down the rabbit hole of funny cat videos, what your friends and family ate last night, or who’s saying what about just about anything.
But you can turn your social media into a money machine if you know what to do, when to do it, and how to measure results. Throw in a dash of self-control and a few other controls, and you can monetize your social media and make the time to “spend” on it worthwhile.
The other articles in this month’s issue are going to help you make the right decisions from a book marketing and time maximization perspective.
Let’s start with some book marketing tips as they pertain to social media. I suggest running any book marketing strategy through four filters: your personality, your book’s job, your budget, and your available time.
A quick breakdown:
- Your personality: Whether you’re an introvert, ambivert, or extrovert, social media can be tailored to fit.
- Your book’s job: Got nonfiction? The role of your book could be to generate new business, sell courses, or book speaking engagements. Hanging out on TikTok probably won’t connect you to clients, but LinkedIn is terrific.
Got fiction? Your book’s job is to provide entertainment and probably escape. Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook are all great places to connect with readers. I host a community on Facebook, and several fiction and nonfiction writers I follow host them there as well. - Your budget: Do you have a big or little budget? This will determine if you can invest in ads or if you need to be a little more scrappy to stretch your dollars. If you have limited spending power, try book giveaways via sites like BookFunnel, guest appearances on podcasts, or unpaid social media posts.
- Your available time: If you’ve got a lot of time, you can split it among the social media platforms that make the most sense for your book. If you’re stretched for time, go all in on one platform and perhaps focus on building deeper connections.
Identifying your perfect combination of book marketing vis-à-vis social media will allow you to create focus time and turn your minutes—and any dollars you invest—into more money.
Measuring your results takes time, so be sure to give every tactic you employ time to bear fruit. Be sure to keep track of both time and money invested, as well as your return on investment (ROI) so you can make adjustments when it makes sense.
My final tips are meant to wrap arms around both your time and money, so you waste as little as possible of both.
First, set boundaries. You won’t overspend if you predetermine your limits. Please don’t “play it by ear,” especially if you’re more artist than business person. Digging into the data will keep you on track.
Second, use a timer. I use two timers: one on my phone to jar me out of unproductive scrolling, and one regarding social media apps in general. You can limit yourself to a specific amount of time on the apps per day.
One last tip: use an app to pre-schedule your social media posts, so you only go on social media to be social and interact with readers and other authors. That will keep it fun—or as fun as it can be!
