Besides the lofty title “The Art of Engaging Your Audience”, this blog post outlines the how, when and what you should be doing to connect with your fan-base. But, why should you do that? Simply put, social media is where the conversation is happening and discussing your ideas and aspirations with your audience can give you invaluable feedback. This feedback can be crucial for your assessment of where your writing focus should be, who your audience is, and what they are expecting from you as an author.
Your daily goal should be to learn:
- How to improve your connection with your audience.
- The best time, place, and strategy to engage.
- Ways to enhance your presence online.
You may be exploring a new strategy, have a strategy that isn’t working, or don’t know the first thing about brand strategies. Regardless, understand this: Writing is a passion, but publishing is a business. You are a brand, your books are products and there are some essential things you must do to be successful online and offline. Here are some of those essentials:
Brand Awareness – Assess your brand in realistic terms and craft your message to the niche you consider to be your main audience. Accepting feedback gracefully and never ignoring a comment is a delightful way to start. Yes, there will be criticism. Some positive and some negative. So, be prepared to be kind in return, stay laser-focused on your goal and move-on.
Engage for Loyalty – Be pragmatic about all that you do online. You are on an open forum, so take in consideration these 12 questions before posting anything.
- Is this post going to help me sell more books?
- Am I seeking approval?
- Am I boasting?
- Is this kind?
- What’s my motive in posting this?
- Is this helpful?
- Could this post be hurtful to other people?
- How will I feel about this post in 5 years?
- Would I say this post to someone face-to-face?
- Am I amplifying frustration?
- Will this post add value?
- Is this the best date and time for this post to go out?
Crisis Management – Be mindful of worst case scenarios and be prepared to talk about it honestly and openly. The Internet today has a way to sniff out a mistake and people on social media tend to call-out others just to make a point. Auto-posting and the ability to set the date of a post to go out in the future, are usable features that require you to be alert of times when you have to pull back and stop a post from going live. You may have worked so hard on your post that you may be blinded to the fact that the timing may not be optimum for your post to go out. Be prepared to hold it back in the case of a natural or man-made disaster. You would not like to be the person posting a feel-good story during the 9/11 attacks. So, be mindful of where your audience is and the best time for your post to reach them.
Analysis to Paralysis – Do not allow your over-analytical-self to paralyze you from producing, posting and participating in the conversation. This is, after all, a part of the job you signed up for. Authors must engage. The discussion will help with or without you. So, use the discussion to improve your image, the way people feel, and create bonds that increase your fan base.
I hope this post gave you some things to think about and as a result, your fan-base increases. As written on my very first published book, The Book of CONCEPTS: Art, Life & Leadership, from way back in 1988; Education is a journey.
The Dallas social media and publishing marketing company Briggs & Schuster Agency would like to thank you for spending time with us today. The Author’s Blog is accessible to anyone interested in books, publishing and social media marketing. If you would like to guest post, just send send us an email from the contact form.