All You Need To Know About Social Media Marketing
Managing your book, blog and social media at the same time can be challenging. So, we have hand-picked some amazing strategies to help you increase your social media engagement.
When it comes to social media, it's the little things that matter. Here's the complete list of strategies which will help you grow as an author and blogger on social media.
DID YOU KNOW?
People now spend an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes per day on social media! The average time spent on social networks and messaging per day has almost doubled in the last 7 years. By 2026, the average time spent on social networking websites will be more than 5 hours. Almost 20% of the day spent on social media is mind-blowing.
3.48 billion people - roughly 45% of the world's population - use social media. 60% say they are constantly connected while 98% say they have used social media in the past month.
AVERAGE DAILY TIME BY PLATFORM
Facebook - 58 minutes
Instagram - 53 minutes
YouTube - 40 minutes
Snapchat - 35 minutes
Twitter - 3 minutes
MOTIVATIONS FOR USING SOCIAL MEDIA
Percentage who say the following are among their main reasons for using social media:
40% - To stay up-to-date with current events and news
39% - To stay in touch with what friends are doing
38% - To find funny or entertaining content
37% - To fill up spare time
33% - General networking of other people
32% - To share photos and videos with others
31% - To research/find products to buy
30% - Because a lot of friends are on them
BEST TIMES TO POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK
The best time to post on Facebook will depend on your book or blog. But here are some recommendations to get you started:
QUICK SPROUT:
Thursdays and Fridays, either 1 pm for the most shares, or 3 pm for the most clicks. As explained, fewer people want to be at work, the more they are on Facebook.
OPTIMIZELY:
Mondays through Thursdays between 6 pm and 8 pm.
MICROSOFT:
Thursdays and Fridays from 1 pm to 3 pm.
HUBSPOT:
Thursdays and Fridays from 1 pm to 3 pm.
Best Days to Share - Thursdays, and Fridays
Best Time to Post - Noon
Test out some of the following recommended times:
HUBSPOT:
Anytime from Monday to Thursday except from 3 pm to 4 pm.
Wednesday at 5 pm
Weekdays between 6 am and 12 pm
With the half-life of a tweet being only 24 minutes - 4X shorter than a Facebook post - your window of opportunity is tight.
Here are the best times to Tweet, according to data gathered from a variety of organizations:
HUFFINGTON POST:
For maximum retweets post at 5 pm, 12 pm, and 6 pm. Additionally, 12 pm and 6 pm also deliver higher click-through rates.
The best days to Tweet for bloggers is Monday through Friday, for authors, it's the weekends and Wednesdays.
HUBSPOT:
12 pm and 3 pm from Monday to Friday and between 5 pm to 6 pm on Wednesdays.
KISSMETRICS:
Weekdays at 5 pm, where the highest percentage of ReTweets occur.
Best Time to Tweet - 5 pm
Best Days to Tweet - MindWeek and Weekends
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING MISTAKES TO AVOID
Any effective digital marketing strategy involves an integral component that is social media. Author or not, it is one of the best digital platforms for propelling bloggers forward rapidly, provided that social media marketing is done right.
For newcomers to the digital marketing industry, making a good first impression on social media is extra critical as they only get one chance to make it right.
Losing that chance means lagging behind competitors and repairing reputation which itself a not so easy chore.
#1 MISTAKE - HAVING NO SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY WHATSOEVER
Authors or Bloggers without a social media strategy can never deliver an effective message to their audience. To execute a successful social media marketing plan, a strategy must be in place.
Among these strategies include having a distinct social media voice, conceptualizing measurable goals, developing a policy for social media, and planning a social media calendar.
Posting blindly will get your book or blog nowhere. Set a clear social media strategy and you could be well on your way to having the best and most engaging content on the web.
#2 MISTAKE - CREATING ACCOUNTS ON TOO MANY PLATFORMS TOO SOON
Many authors and bloggers create accounts on many social media channels at once despite their inability to post quality content to engage their followers and prospects.
One moment they are using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest; the next thing you know, they've abandoned the platforms altogether.
Any social media account with a couple of posts from months or years back only implores on your prospects that you are disorganized.
Keep the focus of your social media strategy narrow, then simply branch out from that point on when you are sure you can offer quality and relevant content for each channel regularly.
#3 MISTAKE - TALKING TOO MUCH ABOUT THE BOOK AND THE BLOG ALONE
Sharing the work of others is fine, especially if you know it will be useful to your followers. Reshare or re-tweet someone's post.
Let your audience know you're willing to communicate and reach out, and they'll be more than happy to participate in your activities and even share ideas of their own that can help elevate your brand.
#4 MISTAKE - USING IRRELEVANT AND EXCESSIVE HASHTAGS
There is no doubt that the use of hashtags on social media platforms can immensely help authors and bloggers to become more visible.
To combat this, limit your hashtags usage to a considerable and sensible number, and make sure they are relevant to what you are trying to convey on your post.
#5 MISTAKE - SHARING TOO MANY IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME
Posting one content after the other within minutes or even hours is a good strategy... if you are aiming to shun or turn off your followers and prospects.
As much as possible, strive to share posts consistently and regularly. Create a posting schedule and make use of online scheduling tools like Hootsuite and Buffer to space out your posts and avoid overwhelming and spamming your followers.
#6 MISTAKE - FORGETTING TO PROOFREAD
Ever noticed a tweet missing punctuation or two? How about a Facebook post with several misspelled words?
And while it may seem to be petty mistakes, sloppy grammar and spelling can hurt your online presence and credibility badly.
#7 MISTAKE - NEGLECTING THE SOCIAL ASPECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Folks on social media expect responsiveness from companies and want to feel they are dealing with real people and not corporate robots.
You do not necessarily have to reply to every comment, but responding to them builds trust and camaraderie between you and your consumers. It would also help if you can develop a voice that is light, interesting and witty.
Let your book's and blog's personality shine through by responding to queries, addressing concerns, and involving your book or blog in forums or communities. Humanize your book or blog and in doing so, you can make your audience feel more connected to you.
WHY YOU NEED A SOCIAL MEDIA CALENDAR AND HOW TO CREATE ONE
It is no surprise that social media will drive you ROI if done correctly.
74% of marketers saw an increase in traffic after spending just 6 hours per week on social media.
78% of Americans say social media impacts their purchasing decisions.
A social media content calendar should:
Help develop your editorial strategy
Cut extra time out of your content marketing strategy and help you allocate your resources wisely
Help you consistently publish high-quality, high-performing content pieces
Organize the way you curate and create content
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CALENDAR
Include icons representing each network next to the title of the post.
Easy to read and contains all the information for your content marketing strategy.
Have a separate sheet for each month, with activities further broken down by day.
WHY YOUR BOOK OR BLOG NEEDS A SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CALENDAR
Reason 1 - It helps you keep track of what's performing, so you can upkeep your content quality and consistency
CASE STUDY: Eugenie Grey from FeralCreature credits consistent high-quality content as the main growth factor behind the growth of her 216,000 Instagram following.
CONTENT MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS
According to CMI, 60% of those who have a documented strategy rate themselves highly in terms of content marketing effectiveness, compared with 32% of those who have a verbal strategy.
STRATEGY:
STEP 1 - Perform routine checks on what kind of content is well-liked by your audience.
STEP 2 - Make regular adjustments based on these insights.
STEP 3 - Set up regular check-up times to record the important metrics on your content.
STEP 4 - Use this info to adjust your publishing schedule and post content.
REASON 2 - It keeps your channels from poorly timed posts and missing posting dates
FACEBOOK: Engagement is 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays.
TWITTER: Tweets get higher CTRs on the weekends.
Fast Company surveyed 330 people on the most annoying thing on social media. 22.1% voted posting too much.
STRATEGY:
STEP 1 - Populate your content calendar with all dates important to your book or blog.
STEP 2 - Set up reminders at a reasonable interval to put the date on your radar in advance, to adjust your writing and research time to the deadline.
STEP 3 - Add holidays that may affect your book or blog, whether they mean low or high reader traffic - depending on the nature of your book or blog.
REASON 3 - It helps not spamming one social media network and neglecting another.
STRATEGY:
STEP 1 - For each piece of content planned in your calendar, assign the social media channels you want to use to promote it.
STEP 2 - If you see that one social media is updated too much, and another has not shown up in a while, it may be a sign that you need to rethink your social media promotion strategy.
REASON 4 - Prevents you from posting poorly researched and written posts
Fast Company surveyed 330 people on the most annoying thing on social media. 32.4% said "poorly written posts" are the most annoying thing.
STRATEGY:
STEP 1 - Set your publish date in advance, this allows for sufficient time to do proper research.
STEP 2 - Add protocol for proofreading for quality control.
CONCLUSION:
Start using a social media calendar to manage your social media creation and curation.
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS FOR AUTHORS AND BLOGGERS
Social Media management tools are essential as they make it easy to schedule posts and communicate with followers and fans.
HOOTSUITE
Easily manage Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Wordpress and Foursquare accounts in one place.
BUFFER
Save time by scheduling posts for Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin into pre-chosen time slots.
Easily share bits of text and images from webpages and blog posts.
RIGNITE
Monitor social media and run campaigns.
Can be used for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Linkedin.
SPROUT SOCIAL
A very user-friendly interface to help manage Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.
Smart inbox to view all the messages you receive from your social media channels.
AGORA PULSE
Manage Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts in one place and analyze performance with detailed statistics.
Facebook page apps to help you conduct quizzes, run contests, sweepstakes, offers and more.
POST PLANNER
Finds trending and engaging content ready to be shared on Facebook and Twitter.
Content types include 'Viral Photos', 'Top Content' and 'Status Ideas'.
CURALATE
Image tracking and analytics to see how your image are performing on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr.
Schedule posts on Pinterest and Instagram.
TAILWIND
Schedule pins on Pinterest.
Analytics to track your Pinterest activity.
VIRALTAG
Schedule images on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.
Integrates with Canva, Picasa, Flickr, etc. to simplify sharing of visuals.
SOURCE:
FAMEMASS - https://famemass.com/
LOGO DESIGN TEAM - https://www.logodesignteam.com/
BLOGGING.ORG - https://blogging.org/
QUICKSPROUT - https://www.quicksprout.com/
SOCIAL MARKETING WRITING - http://socialmarketingwriting.com/