Digital Herstory

Have a conversation

One thing I’ve heard a lot in the industry is “Content is King.” However, you can have the best piece of content but it will be worthless if no one sees it or it doesn’t resonate with your target audience. Content is about more than what you post. I personally don’t even like using the word “content” to describe this part of social media planning. I had a mentor who once told me to consider how each piece of “content” either opens or engages in a “conversation.”

If you are someone who is an aspiring author and decidedly not a social media professional, this outlook will help you so much. Instead of trying to be a “brand” – be yourself and consider how you want to open the conversation with your audience. Alongside the more traditional posts, reels and content you broadcast from your profile, each comment, repost, share, quote also builds upon that conversation and strengthens your community. By becoming a part of the community, people will be more ready to listen & add on to and conversations you may begin.

Be authentic

It is no secret that AI been impacting communications and more. With that being the case people are valuing authenticity more than ever before. People want to be able to trust you – especially in a time where it is so easy to spread misinformation. This is especially the case when is comes to communicating to younger generations and those who grew up in the digital age. Because people are so inundated with being marketed to – you have to get a little creative on how to connect with your audience. A huge part of that begins by being authentic and transparent.

For an industry example – you only need to read about the recent Hugo Awards controversy in China to know why authenticity and trust is so important. Another recent example is the “review bombing” done by an aspiring writer which led to their publishing contract being cancelled. When it comes to your content – be mindful of the conversation you start.

Consistency is key

People and social media algorithms love consistency. So whatever content you plan of creating or sharing – be consistent about the approach. Someone who posts at least once a week and spends time engaging with other accounts will have much more success that someone who only comes in and posts 10+ things in a week to just drop off until months or weeks later. Be there and be consistent and you will start to use the social media algorithm to your advantage.

Put your content in the right place

When it comes to social media platforms, each one tends to have a different vibe to go with it. To be somewhat successful it is a good idea to spend time on each platform to study what gets shared and resonates with other users. You wouldn’t really want to share how your latest D&D campaign went on LinkedIn for example. Taking time to understand what each network has to offer can set you up for success. You may also find that the goals of a network don’t align with your goals and decide to drop that from your content plan.

Keep track of the “big stuff”

You’ve finally got to the point where you are actually ready to publish a book and you want it to be a success. Now what?

If you have been following others in the industry and keeping up with their wins and struggles then you are off to a good start. You can observe what they do to promote themselves and take some inspiration for your own accounts. I will caveat this by mentioning that what works for one person does not necessarily mean it will work for you. Looking back and understanding what resonated with your audience is a big part of planning content. You should be looking back just as much as planning ahead to see what worked in the past, what did quite land and what you can improve upon next time it comes up.

If you have a larger campaign or a lot of content in the pipeline it might be worth it to look into a social media calendar to keep track of it all. These vary from person to person, from using Google calendar, Trello, a spreadsheet, to a content management platform. If you do go this route, I recommend creating space to track data & performance metrics. At the very least, tracking unique interactions and the engagement rate is worth it. You want to post content that is engaging because that is more likely to go further on any platform.

Honestly, there is so much more that can be said about planning content but I will stop here. Next up is all about creating content and keeping accessibility in mind.

The other parts in this series are linked below:

• 1. Finding & growing your audience
• 2. Planning content
• 3. Creating content & accessibility
• 4. Nurturing your community