Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 1 Volume 8 | Page 35
S MARTER A UTHOR P LATFORM (C ONT ’ D )
B UILDING A B ELIEVABLE S TOP F OCUSING ON S OCIAL M EDIA N UMBERS AND L OOK AT Y OUR L EAD G EN
S TRATEGY I NSTEAD
When social media was still relatively new, there was a lot of focus and atten-
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tion on the numbers. How many followers do you have? How many likes? How
many shares?
While numbers are still a surface-level indicator of your platform strength, it’s
too easy to boost social media activity in an artificial way, leading to numbers that
are fairly meaningless. (Even with my own 224,000 followers on Twitter, which is
100% organically grown, a good portion consists of fake accounts that contribute
nothing to my platform.) This is why there’s been more attention and focus lately
on email newsletters—which indicate more highly engaged readers or followers,
not casual or fake ones—and authors collaborating to cater to rather specific au-
diences or markets, such as Tall Poppy Writers.
A strategic author should evaluate their platform strength on three levels:
ability to reach new readers,
ability to engage existing readers, and
ability to mobilize super fans.
Social media can be disappointing when it comes to uncovering new readers if
you aren’t spending ad dollars, but it does a great job at engaging people who are
already aware of you and your work. Discounts and freebies—regardless of where
they’re offered—tend to be better tools for finding new fans. I often hear from
authors who feel they aren’t reaching new readers, and it can often be blamed on
a lack of good lead generation. A lead generation tool is a way to entice new peo-
ple to your door, and usually represents the easiest or most frictionless way for a
potential reader to try out your stuff. This is why BookBub deals are so sought af-
ter: They represent marvelous lead generation.
If you struggle to reach new readers, think about what you have in your arse-
nal, or what you could create, that could be a valuable lead gen tool. Novelist
Scott Sigler has long used free, serialized audio versions of his work to lure people
in. Bestseller Rupi Kaur uses Instagram. Some authors have been successful on
Wattpad. Virtually anything can be a great lead gen tool if you find that sweet
spot between audience, content, and quality.
H OW S OCIAL M EDIA I S M OST U SEFUL (E VEN I F N OT T RUSTWORTHY )
Social media is constantly in flux. The platforms evolve and may restrict who
you reach or how you engage, plus who uses them changes over time. However,
social media does make it easier to reach the required threshold of three, four,
five or more impressions that you need to make on a reader—so they first have
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE
P AGE 27
S PRING 2018