Social Media Promotion Tips for Writers

In this blog post, learn from 5 promotion tips for writers on LinkedIn and Facebook highlighting the importance of using social media to promote your writing career. Read on for tips to:

Build a strong profile.
Share your work.
Engage with your audience.
Collaborate with other writers.
Leverage paid advertising opportunities.

A writer’s superpower is the ability to communicate with more than one person at a time and reach hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people with the written word. This is accomplished by amplifying your published work on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook. Your accounts can also be viewed as publishing accounts from where you share your talents.

Promotion Tips for Writers

Build a strong social media profile

The first step is to build and maintain a strong profile on LinkedIn and Facebook. After all, this is the best place for the quality of your writing to stand out to potential clients and associates.

Promotion Tips for Writers on LinkedIn

The ‘About You’ section on LinkedIn should be angled towards the reader. I recommend writing inclusive text here to show the benefits of working with you in addition to focusing on your own accomplishments. Here’s your chance to introduce yourself to recruiters too, so the headline is important and I recommend choosing your words wisely.

Profile sections show more variety and the different aspects of your work. You could include fiction writing, content writing, non-fiction writing, journalism, editing, or any other skills and roles that apply.

A banner is a good idea and should clearly show what kind of work you do. If you don’t have a big budget to spend on a designer, I suggest using Canva.com, it’s affordable and easy to use. As you can see from my LinkedIn profile, I’ve also included a link to my services website. It’s your creative choice what you include but do remember to keep it practical so it’s easy for people to find you and hire you!

Promotion Tips for Writers on Facebook

On Facebook, the emphasis is more on the social side rather than the business side of marketing your writing services. There’s merit in using the same graphics to maintain your personal brand consistency across each platform, and at the same time, use more photographs of yourself carrying out your work. In this way, your friend connections can relate you with your work and in the best case, help spread the word about your services or your latest work.

I recommend starting a Facebook page with your name and title, e.g., Sarah Fenwick Author. From there, you can add a shop for your written works and post photos and links to your books and articles. There’s a featured section on Facebook Pages where you can add promotions, as in the image below.

Share Your Work

Sharing your work and news about your writing projects is crucial for building an audience and attracting potential readers, clients, or collaborators on LinkedIn and Facebook. Remember that social media platforms are very busy and highly competitive environments where users are bombarded with information and content on a daily basis. It’s natural to feel daunted if you don’t get an immediate response to your posts or updates, but don’t give up. Stopping the scroll to make a genuine connection with your community is the name of the game.

To overcome this challenge, experiment with different timings to see if there’s a sweet spot that works best for your audience. This means trying different days of the week, times of the day, and even different types of posts (text, images, videos, polls, etc.) to see what resonates with your connections and followers. Some writers might find that posting in the morning gets more engagement, while others might have better results in the evening or on weekends. The key is to pay attention to your analytics and track your results to refine your strategy over time.

In addition to experimenting with timings, post consistently with quality and frequency. Social media algorithms favour accounts that post regularly and provide value to their audience, whether it’s articles, inspiring quotes, personal stories, or entertaining content. By posting daily or at least several times a week, you increase your chances of being seen by your connections and appearing in their feed. Just make sure your content is relevant, interesting, and engaging, and that you use the appropriate hashtags to expand your reach and visibility in LinkedIn search results.

Engage with Your Audience

Engaging with your audience on LinkedIn and Facebook can be challenging for many writers, especially for introverts and those who aren’t confident about their communication skills. Still, it’s vital to remember that social media is essentially a tool for building relationships and fostering connections, like any workplace or social situation you might find yourself in. If you approach it as a conversation rather than a monologue, you might find it easier to connect with your audience and build a loyal following over time.

One way to engage with your audience is to answer each comment on your posts. Even if the comment is a simple thumbs-up or emoji, taking the time to respond with a thank you or a follow-up question shows that you are attentive, friendly, and interested in what your audience has to say. By acknowledging their presence and contribution, you make them feel valued and respected, which can lead to more engagement and loyalty down the line.

Another way to engage with your audience is to add new information to your posts as a comment. For example, if you’re sharing your latest blog post, you could include a brief summary or teaser in the post itself, and then add:

a comment with a link to the full article,
some background information on the topic,
or a personal anecdote related to the post.

By providing additional value and context, you increase the chances that your audience will read, share, and comment on your content.

Finally, show up for your followers on a regular basis. This means being consistent in your posting, responding to comments in a timely manner, and sharing updates and news about your writing career. A loyal following can help you go far, whether they’re business contacts, close friends, or acquaintances. They recommend your work to others, provide feedback and support, and even become beta readers or collaborators in the future. Therefore, nurture your relationship with them and make them feel part of your journey as a writer.

Engaging with your audience on LinkedIn and Facebook requires some effort and creativity, but it’s a crucial aspect of promoting your writing career and building a loyal following over the long term. By treating social media as a conversation, responding to comments, adding value to your posts, and showing up for your followers, you create a positive and productive environment for your writing career to thrive.

Collaborate with Other Writers and Industry Professionals

Collaborating with other writers and industry professionals is a great way to expand your network, learn new skills, and get your work in front of a wider audience. LinkedIn and Facebook offer many opportunities for writers to connect with like-minded individuals by joining writing groups and communities, and participating in virtual events and workshops.

By collaborating with other writers, you share your knowledge and expertise and get feedback on your work, leading to opportunities to co-author projects or cross-promote each other’s work. Similarly, by partnering with industry professionals such as editors, agents, and publishers, you can gain access to valuable resources and insights and increase your chances of getting published or recognized. Collaborating with others requires communication, flexibility, and mutual respect, but it can also be a fun and rewarding experience that takes your writing career in the direction you want it to go.

Leverage Paid Advertising

Leveraging paid advertising on LinkedIn and Facebook is an effective way to promote your writing career and reach a wider audience. While organic reach and engagement help you connect with your followers, paid advertising is an additional boost to your content and helps to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors.

For example, on LinkedIn, you could create Sponsored Content or Sponsored InMail campaigns to promote your latest blog post, book launch, or writing course to professionals in your field or industry. By using relevant keywords, job titles, and company sizes, you can ensure that your ad reaches the right people at the right time. To sponsor a post on LinkedIn, you need a Page and to decide on your target audience and goals.

Similarly, on a Facebook Page, you can use boosted posts or ads to target users based on their location, age, interests, or behaviors. For instance, if you’re promoting a novel, you can target users who have shown interest in similar books or authors, or who have engaged with related content in the past. The Boost button is beneath each post on a Page as you can see below.

Boosting your posts reaches more people.

By leveraging paid advertising on LinkedIn and Facebook, you reach a much wider audience, amplify your message, increase your visibility, and generate more leads and sales for your writing career.

To summarize, writers have an advantage because of their natural talent for self-expression. Companies pay good money for writers, so your services are valuable. It’s a matter of putting your name forward as you would do when writing for one of your clients. LinkedIn and Facebook are excellent tools for community building, so my bonus tip is to engage with your followers’ posts in a way that reflects your values and expresses how much you value the relationship with them.

Originally published on www.contentwritercy.com.