Are you an author who’s wondering how to market your book? We could all use some tips in that area.
In this blog, we’ll cover the ways you can use your blog/website and other social media to create a marketing funnel.
How to Build a Social Media Marketing Funnel for Authors
Define Your Goal
Decide what you want to do in the next 90 days. Something that is realistically achievable and measurable.
- Grow your email subscription list by 2% so you have a larger audience for your work.
- Increase blog traffic by 5% so you have a larger following.
- Run a pre-ordering campaign for your new release.
Whatever goal you decide on, make sure you set up a system for checking in on these goals every 30 days or so. If you find that you’re not quite hitting the milestones you were hoping to hit then allow yourself to readjust your approach or goals.
Map Out a Journey of Discovery for Your Reader
First, you’ll need to know who your reader is. What is the most common gender of your reader? Where do they typically live (location such as city, town, rural)? What are their general interests from what you’ve seen online? Most importantly, where do they hang out on social media?
Here’s What a Social Media Marketing Funnel Looks Like
| Introduction |
| Awareness |
| Research |
| Word of Mouth |
|Purchase Point|
|Conversion|
|Book Sales|
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Introduction
This is where your reader first finds you either in person or online.
Tip: You can’t always direct everyone to your perfectly crafted landing page but you can take some control and weed through your online presence. Browse through all your social media profiles and make sure that everything is sending the message you want to get across and make sure it’s all up to date.
Awareness
Your reader continues into the funnel to see who you are. Right now, you’re one of many authors they’re checking out. You need to pique their interest without becoming pushy (remember the 80/20 rule of engagement).
Tip: It’s at this stage you’ll want to present some sort of value to them that doesn’t come at a cost. Whether it’s entertaining posts or free information about a particular subject, make sure it’s something your ideal reader wants to stick around for.
Research
The reader is gathering information important to them about the subject that first drew them into the funnel. It’s important that you’re answering any questions they might have, either by an in-depth post or by directing them to an FAQ page on topics relevant to them. This may be the time where they start interacting with you through posts and comments, be ready to engage them.
Tip: If you’re an author with a very specific focus, try crafting a master post that answers the questions they need about your topic. If you’re a fiction author, create a page that details the process you went through or what inspired certain parts of your writing.
Word of Mouth
Post reviews of your books, recommendations of your courses, and any other means they can see what others have said about your work.
Tip: If you’re new to being an author, join an online writing community and offer suggestions there to gain an audience in the beginning.
Purchase Point
This is the place your reader can go to purchase your book, such as Amazon, Kindle, Smashwords, or your own website or publishing company.
Conversion
After they’ve bought your book you need to give them a reason to continue on the journey with you. Be sure to add Follow buttons on your Facebook, Subscribe on your blog/website etc. Give them some way of staying in contact with you so they’ll know when you launch your next epic novel!
How a Social Media Funnel Works
What It Does.
- Presents the reader with social information on you and your work.
- Provides an easy way to purchase your books/courses.
- Gives you several ways to create Call-To-Action opportunities.
Here’s how it breaks down right now according to the best for each funnel category.
For Introduction
- YouTube
- G+
For Awareness, Research and Word of Mouth
- Tumblr
- G+
For Purchase Point and Conversion
- YouTube
- G+
- Tumblr
Whereas YouTube scores high as a social media drive, you will need to create an awesome book trailer to get noticed as an author, and this isn’t easy for introverted writers! It’s also quite expensive unless you’re able to do it all yourself.
A note about Facebook–they will run paid ads for you, let you create events, allow following, let you put a Call-To-Action button your page and you can change your cover page to showcase your books. But Facebook is changing who can see your posts if they’re not paid to boost the posts and a lot of authors find it a waste of time and resources to pay for ads.
A note about Pinterest—They are increasing their saleability for authors, so keep an eye on them. They may soon have a way to sell right from your boards instead of clicking through to another site. Keep checking your analytics and updates with them.
Disclaimer—this information was gathered from numerous sources online and streamlined to help you market your books better for increased sales. I hope the information contained is useful for you. As with all social media references, this will likely all be in need of updating in another six months! We’ll just have to write another one, so keep in touch and happy funnel marketing 😊
Lynne Collier