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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/utility/feedstylesheets/rss.xsl" media="screen"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"><channel><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract</link><description /><dc:language>en-US</dc:language><generator>Telligent Community 10</generator><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract</link><pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 2022 14:02:31 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Current Revision posted to General by Author Learning Center on 6/1/2022 2:02:31 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to the writing platform EduBirdie, &lt;a href="https://edubirdie.com/blog/3-8-billion-people-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there and that you can maintain a consistent presence there. If you can connect with these potential readers on a regular basis, you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or helpful content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic and easily link to their blog articles, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors put in the time and effort&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;to create and share relevant videos, they can strengthen their brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, &lt;a href="https://gosparkpress.com/an-introduction-to-authortube/#:~:text=What%20is%20AuthorTube%2C%20and%20Why,to%20the%20writing%2Fpublishing%20process." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;)&lt;/a&gt; sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you&amp;nbsp;need the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing platform for sharing highly visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are&amp;nbsp;trending&amp;nbsp;with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with&amp;nbsp;quality content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;. Aesthetically pleasing photographs, a keen sense of style, and meaningful responses to user comments can make your user account stand out. In addition to showing off your creativity in photos or short videos, Instagram allows users to run giveaways, create 24-hour stories, and run ads.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners in their 20s and 30s, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/linkedin/3007/social-media-more-about-linkedin---article" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;this is the ideal place to be&lt;/a&gt;. In addition to linking to your blog or website, LinkedIn allows users to post their resumes and credentials. Your user profile can essentially act as your calling card, making you the authority or expert on your topic. There are groups and communities for writing organizations, professional organizations, speaking organizations, and more. If you&amp;#39;re looking to network with others in your industry or to find new opportunities to take your author platform to the next level, LinkedIn can provide that foundation while also connecting you with potential readers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who might be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users are female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing personal moments&amp;nbsp;and snippets, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, or what inspires their stories, while nonfiction authors share helpful or trending pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of others and participating in &amp;quot;Twitter Chats&amp;quot; are popular activities and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/7560/twitter-basics-and-best-practices-beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities. The more you can get involved in popular discussions and trending topics, the more you can build your following. If you&amp;#39;re looking to connect with literary agents, media outlets, or other authors, Twitter is also a great place to network.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart-2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you&amp;#39;re still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/43</link><pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 13:33:16 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 43 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 5/19/2022 1:33:16 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://edubirdie.com/blog/3-8-billion-people-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there and that you can maintain a consistent presence there. If you can connect with these potential readers on a regular basis, you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or helpful content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic and easily link to their blog articles, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors put in the time and effort&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;to create and share relevant videos, they can strengthen their brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, &lt;a href="https://gosparkpress.com/an-introduction-to-authortube/#:~:text=What%20is%20AuthorTube%2C%20and%20Why,to%20the%20writing%2Fpublishing%20process." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;)&lt;/a&gt; sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you&amp;nbsp;need the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing platform for sharing highly visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are&amp;nbsp;trending&amp;nbsp;with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with&amp;nbsp;quality content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;. Aesthetically pleasing photographs, a keen sense of style, and meaningful responses to user comments can make your user account stand out. In addition to showing off your creativity in photos or short videos, Instagram allows users to run giveaways, create 24-hour stories, and run ads.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners in their 20s and 30s, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/linkedin/3007/social-media-more-about-linkedin---article" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;this is the ideal place to be&lt;/a&gt;. In addition to linking to your blog or website, LinkedIn allows users to post their resumes and credentials. Your user profile can essentially act as your calling card, making you the authority or expert on your topic. There are groups and communities for writing organizations, professional organizations, speaking organizations, and more. If you&amp;#39;re looking to network with others in your industry or to find new opportunities to take your author platform to the next level, LinkedIn can provide that foundation while also connecting you with potential readers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who might be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users are female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing personal moments&amp;nbsp;and snippets, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, or what inspires their stories, while nonfiction authors share helpful or trending pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of others and participating in &amp;quot;Twitter Chats&amp;quot; are popular activities and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/7560/twitter-basics-and-best-practices-beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities. The more you can get involved in popular discussions and trending topics, the more you can build your following. If you&amp;#39;re looking to connect with literary agents, media outlets, or other authors, Twitter is also a great place to network.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart-2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you&amp;#39;re still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/42</link><pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2020 18:33:26 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 42 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/22/2020 6:33:26 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there and that you can maintain a consistent presence there. If you can connect with these potential readers on a regular basis, you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or helpful content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic and easily link to their blog articles, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors put in the time and effort&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;to create and share relevant videos, they can strengthen their brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, &lt;a href="https://gosparkpress.com/an-introduction-to-authortube/#:~:text=What%20is%20AuthorTube%2C%20and%20Why,to%20the%20writing%2Fpublishing%20process." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;)&lt;/a&gt; sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you&amp;nbsp;need the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing platform for sharing highly visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are&amp;nbsp;trending&amp;nbsp;with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with&amp;nbsp;quality content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;. Aesthetically pleasing photographs, a keen sense of style, and meaningful responses to user comments can make your user account stand out. In addition to showing off your creativity in photos or short videos, Instagram allows users to run giveaways, create 24-hour stories, and run ads.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners in their 20s and 30s, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/linkedin/3007/social-media-more-about-linkedin---article" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;this is the ideal place to be&lt;/a&gt;. In addition to linking to your blog or website, LinkedIn allows users to post their resumes and credentials. Your user profile can essentially act as your calling card, making you the authority or expert on your topic. There are groups and communities for writing organizations, professional organizations, speaking organizations, and more. If you&amp;#39;re looking to network with others in your industry or to find new opportunities to take your author platform to the next level, LinkedIn can provide that foundation while also connecting you with potential readers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who might be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users are female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing personal moments&amp;nbsp;and snippets, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, or what inspires their stories, while nonfiction authors share helpful or trending pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of others and participating in &amp;quot;Twitter Chats&amp;quot; are popular activities and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/7560/twitter-basics-and-best-practices-beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities. The more you can get involved in popular discussions and trending topics, the more you can build your following. If you&amp;#39;re looking to connect with literary agents, media outlets, or other authors, Twitter is also a great place to network.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart-2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you&amp;#39;re still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/41</link><pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2020 12:10:45 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 41 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/22/2020 12:10:45 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there and that you can maintain a consistent presence there. If you can connect with these potential readers on a regular basis, you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or helpful content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic and easily link to their blog articles, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors put in the time and effort&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;to create and share relevant videos, they can strengthen their brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, &lt;a href="https://gosparkpress.com/an-introduction-to-authortube/#:~:text=What%20is%20AuthorTube%2C%20and%20Why,to%20the%20writing%2Fpublishing%20process." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;)&lt;/a&gt; sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you&amp;nbsp;need the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing platform for sharing highly visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are&amp;nbsp;trending&amp;nbsp;with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with&amp;nbsp;quality content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;. Aesthetically pleasing photographs, a keen sense of style, and meaningful responses to user comments can make your user account stand out. In addition to showing off your creativity in photos or short videos, Instagram allows users to run giveaways, create 24-hour stories, and run ads.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners in their 20s and 30s, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/linkedin/3007/social-media-more-about-linkedin---article" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;this is the ideal place to be&lt;/a&gt;. In addition to linking to your blog or website, LinkedIn allows users to post their resumes and credentials. Your user profile can essentially act as your calling card, making you the authority or expert on your topic. There are groups and communities for writing organizations, professional organizations, speaking organizations, and more. If you&amp;#39;re looking to network with others in your industry or to find new opportunities to take your author platform to the next level, LinkedIn can provide that foundation while also connecting you with potential readers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who might be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users are female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing personal moments&amp;nbsp;and snippets, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, or what inspires their stories, while nonfiction authors share helpful or trending pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of others and participating in &amp;quot;Twitter Chats&amp;quot; are popular activities and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/4776/twitter-101-the-beginning-and-driving-sales---video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities. The more you can get involved in popular discussions and trending topics, the more you can build your following. If you&amp;#39;re looking to connect with literary agents, media outlets, or other authors, Twitter is also a great place to network.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart-2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you&amp;#39;re still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/40</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 20:11:28 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 40 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 8:11:28 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there and that you can maintain a consistent presence there. If you can connect with these potential readers on a regular basis, you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or helpful content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors go&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;beyond the&amp;nbsp;book trailer to create and share other relevant videos, they can strengthen their author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, &lt;a href="https://gosparkpress.com/an-introduction-to-authortube/#:~:text=What%20is%20AuthorTube%2C%20and%20Why,to%20the%20writing%2Fpublishing%20process." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;)&lt;/a&gt; sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing platform for sharing highly visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are&amp;nbsp;trending&amp;nbsp;with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with&amp;nbsp;quality content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;. Aesthetically pleasing photographs, a keen sense of style, and responding to user comments can make your user account stand out. In addition to showing off your creativity in photos or short videos, Instagram allows users to run giveaways, create 24-hour stories, and run ads when you sign up for a business profile.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners in their 20s and 30s, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/linkedin/3007/social-media-more-about-linkedin---article" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;this is the ideal place to be&lt;/a&gt;. In addition to linking to your blog or website, LinkedIn allows users to post their resumes and credentials. Your user profile can essentially act as your calling card, making you the authority or expert on your topic. There are groups and communities for writers, professional organizations, speaking organizations, and more. If you are looking to network with others in your industry or to find new opportunities to take your author platform to the next level, LinkedIn can provide that foundation, while also connecting you with potential readers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users are female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, while nonfiction authors share helpful or inspiring pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of others and participating in &amp;quot;Twitter Chats&amp;quot; are popular activities and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/4776/twitter-101-the-beginning-and-driving-sales---video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities. The more you can get involved in discussions and trending topics, the more you can build your following. If you&amp;#39;re looking to connect with literary agents, media outlets, or other authors, Twitter is also a great place to network.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart-2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you&amp;#39;re still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Tags: article, fiction, Nonfiction&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/39</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 20:11:05 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 39 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 8:11:05 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there and that you can maintain a consistent presence there. If you can connect with these potential readers on a regular basis, you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or helpful content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors go&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;beyond the&amp;nbsp;book trailer to create and share other relevant videos, they can strengthen their author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, &lt;a href="https://gosparkpress.com/an-introduction-to-authortube/#:~:text=What%20is%20AuthorTube%2C%20and%20Why,to%20the%20writing%2Fpublishing%20process." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;)&lt;/a&gt; sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing platform for sharing highly visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are&amp;nbsp;trending&amp;nbsp;with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with&amp;nbsp;quality content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;. Aesthetically pleasing photographs, a keen sense of style, and responding to user comments can make your user account stand out. In addition to showing off your creativity in photos or short videos, Instagram allows users to run giveaways, create 24-hour stories, and run ads when you sign up for a business profile.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners in their 20s and 30s, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/linkedin/3007/social-media-more-about-linkedin---article" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;this is the ideal place to be&lt;/a&gt;. In addition to linking to your blog or website, LinkedIn allows users to post their resumes and credentials. Your user profile can essentially act as your calling card, making you the authority or expert on your topic. There are groups and communities for writers, professional organizations, speaking organizations, and more. If you are looking to network with others in your industry or to find new opportunities to take your author platform to the next level, LinkedIn can provide that foundation, while also connecting you with potential readers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users are female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, while nonfiction authors share helpful or inspiring pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of others and participating in &amp;quot;Twitter Chats&amp;quot; are popular activities and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/4776/twitter-101-the-beginning-and-driving-sales---video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities. The more you can get involved in discussions and trending topics, the more you can build your following. If you&amp;#39;re looking to connect with literary agents, media outlets, or other authors, Twitter is also a great place to network.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart-2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you&amp;#39;re still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/38</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 20:02:03 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 38 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 8:02:03 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there and that you can maintain a consistent presence there. If you can connect with these potential readers on a regular basis, you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or helpful content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors go&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;beyond the&amp;nbsp;book trailer to create and share other relevant videos, they can strengthen their author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing platform for sharing highly visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are&amp;nbsp;trending&amp;nbsp;with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with&amp;nbsp;quality content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;. Aesthetically pleasing photographs, a keen sense of style, and responding to user comments can make your user account stand out. In addition to showing off your creativity in photos or short videos, Instagram allows users to run giveaways, create 24-hour stories, and run ads with a business profile.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners in their 20s and 30s, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/linkedin/3007/social-media-more-about-linkedin---article" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;this is the ideal place to be&lt;/a&gt;. In addition to linking to your blog or website, LinkedIn allows users to post their resumes and credentials. Your user profile can essentially act as your calling card, making you the authority or expert on your topic. There are groups and communities for writers, professional organizations, speaking organizations, and more. If you are looking to network with others in your industry or to find new opportunities to take your author platform to the next level, LinkedIn can provide that foundation, while also connecting you with potential readers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, while nonfiction authors share helpful or inspiring pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of others and participating in &amp;quot;Twitter Chats&amp;quot; are popular activities and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/4776/twitter-101-the-beginning-and-driving-sales---video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities. The more you can get involved in discussions and trending topics, the more you can build your following. If you&amp;#39;re looking to connect with literary agents, media outlets, or other authors, Twitter is also a great place to network.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart-2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you&amp;#39;re still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/37</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 19:45:37 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 37 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 7:45:37 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or helpful content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors go&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;beyond the&amp;nbsp;book trailer to create and share other relevant videos, they can strengthen their author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing platform for sharing highly visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are&amp;nbsp;trending&amp;nbsp;with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with&amp;nbsp;quality content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;. Aesthetically pleasing photographs, a keen sense of style, and responding to user comments can make your user account stand out.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners in their 20s and 30s, this is the ideal place to be. In addition to linking to your blog or website, LinkedIn allows users to post their resumes and credentials. Your user profile can essentially act as your calling card, making you the authority or expert on your topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, while nonfiction authors share helpful or inspiring pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of others and participating in &amp;quot;Twitter Chats&amp;quot; are popular activities and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/4776/twitter-101-the-beginning-and-driving-sales---video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities. The more you can get involved in discussions and trending topics, the more you can build your following. If you&amp;#39;re looking to connect with literary agents, media outlets, or other authors, Twitter is also a great place to network.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart-2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you&amp;#39;re still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/36</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 19:42:13 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 36 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 7:42:13 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or helpful content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors go&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;beyond the&amp;nbsp;book trailer to create and share other relevant videos, they can strengthen their author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing platform for sharing highly visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are&amp;nbsp;trending&amp;nbsp;with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with&amp;nbsp;quality content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;. Aesthetically pleasing photographs, a keen sense of style, and responding to user comments can make your user account stand out.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners in their 20s and 30s, this is the ideal place to be. In addition to linking to your blog or website, LinkedIn allows users to post their resumes and credentials. Your user profile can essentially act as your calling card, making you the authority or expert on your topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, while nonfiction authors share helpful or inspiring pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of other users is a popular activity and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/4776/twitter-101-the-beginning-and-driving-sales---video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities. The more you can get involved in discussions and trending topics, the more you can build your following.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart-2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you&amp;#39;re still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/35</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 19:37:49 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 35 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 7:37:49 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or helpful content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors go&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;beyond the&amp;nbsp;book trailer to create and share other relevant videos, they can strengthen their author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing platform for sharing highly visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are&amp;nbsp;trending&amp;nbsp;with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with&amp;nbsp;quality content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;. Aesthetically pleasing photographs, a keen sense of style, and responding to user comments can make your user account stand out.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners, this is the ideal place to be.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, while nonfiction authors share helpful or inspiring pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of other users is a popular activity and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/4776/twitter-101-the-beginning-and-driving-sales---video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities. The more you can get involved in discussions and trending topics, the more you can build your following.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart-2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you&amp;#39;re still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/34</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 19:31:11 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 34 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 7:31:11 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or helpful content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors go&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;beyond the&amp;nbsp;book trailer to create and share other relevant videos, they can strengthen their author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing platform for sharing highly visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are&amp;nbsp;trending&amp;nbsp;with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with&amp;nbsp;quality content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;. Aesthetically pleasing photographs, a keen sense of style, and responding to user comments can make your user account stand out.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners, this is the ideal place to be.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, while nonfiction authors share helpful or inspiring pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics, in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of other users is a popular activity and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/4776/twitter-101-the-beginning-and-driving-sales---video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you are still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/33</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 18:10:28 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 33 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 6:10:28 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or educational content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors think of video marketing for their books they often think of book trailers,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;but going beyond the video trailer to create and share other relevant videos can be an excellent way to strengthen your author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing social media platform for sharing visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are on-trend with younger audiences can also appeal to these users. &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with the content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;re a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing a book geared toward professionals, executives, and business owners, this is the ideal place to be.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, while nonfiction authors share helpful or inspiring pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics, in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of other users is a popular activity and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/4776/twitter-101-the-beginning-and-driving-sales---video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you are still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/32</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 18:07:18 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 32 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 6:07:18 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or educational content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors think of video marketing for their books they often think of book trailers,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;but going beyond the video trailer to create and share other relevant videos can be an excellent way to strengthen your author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing social media platform for sharing visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are on-trend with younger audiences can also appeal to these users. &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with the content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;e a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing about an area of expertise, this is the place to be.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, while nonfiction authors share helpful or inspiring pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics, in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of other users is a popular activity and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/4776/twitter-101-the-beginning-and-driving-sales---video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are communities for all book genres on Twitter, but you have to take the time to build relationships and properly network to find these communities.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you are still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/31</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 18:04:42 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 31 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 6:04:42 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or educational content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors think of video marketing for their books they often think of book trailers,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;but going beyond the video trailer to create and share other relevant videos can be an excellent way to strengthen your author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing social media platform for sharing visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are on-trend with younger audiences can also appeal to these users. &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with the content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;e a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing about an area of expertise, this is the place to be.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, while nonfiction authors share helpful or inspiring pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not always about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short discussions or opinions on current and trending topics, in 280 characters or less. According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, &lt;a href="https://media.twitter.com/en_us/articles/how-to/2019/how-to-be-conversational-with-readers-on-twitter.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform:&lt;/a&gt; &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&amp;quot;Retweeting&amp;quot; the posts of other users is a popular activity and a great way to gain followers, as is &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/twitter/4776/twitter-101-the-beginning-and-driving-sales---video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;using popular hashtags to make your content easily searchable&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you are still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/30</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 17:58:35 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 30 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 5:58:35 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or educational content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors think of video marketing for their books they often think of book trailers,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;but going beyond the video trailer to create and share other relevant videos can be an excellent way to strengthen your author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing social media platform for sharing visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are on-trend with younger audiences can also appeal to these users. &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with the content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;e a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing about an area of expertise, this is the place to be.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you. Fiction authors use this platform to share visuals of their characters and worlds, while nonfiction authors share helpful or inspiring pins related to their book&amp;#39;s topic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short, straightforward discussions or opinions on current and trending topics, in 280 characters or less. &amp;quot;Re-tweeting&amp;quot; the posts of other users is a popular activity, as is &amp;quot;Twitter Chats&amp;quot;, . According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform: &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you are still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/29</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 17:53:42 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 29 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 5:53:42 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or educational content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors think of video marketing for their books they often think of book trailers,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;but going beyond the video trailer to create and share other relevant videos can be an excellent way to strengthen your author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing social media platform for sharing visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are on-trend with younger audiences can also appeal to these users. &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with the content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;e a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing about an area of expertise, this is the place to be.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short, straightforward discussions or opinions on current and trending topics, in 280 characters or less. &amp;quot;Re-tweeting&amp;quot; the posts of other users is a popular activity, as is &amp;quot;Twitter Chats&amp;quot;, . According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform: &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you are still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/general/7604/top-ten-tips-for-navigating-social-media-when-you-re-not-a-millennial" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Sometimes having just one, really active platform is enough to generate a decent readership&lt;/a&gt;. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/28</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 17:44:02 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 28 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 5:44:02 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or educational content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, and more, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors think of video marketing for their books they often think of book trailers,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;but going beyond the video trailer to create and share other relevant videos can be an excellent way to strengthen your author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing social media platform for sharing visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are on-trend with younger audiences can also appeal to these users. &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with the content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform. If you&amp;#39;e a nonfiction author that&amp;#39;s writing about an area of expertise, this is the place to be.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to women ages 25 to 44, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twitter is built for engagement so it&amp;#39;s the perfect platform to interact with readers, other authors, and industry professionals. On Twitter, it&amp;#39;s not about posting pretty images or eye-catching videos. It&amp;#39;s about short, straightforward discussions or opinions on current and trending topics, in 280 characters or less. &amp;quot;Re-tweeting&amp;quot; the posts of other users is a popular activity, as is &amp;quot;Twitter Chats&amp;quot;, . According to Twitter&amp;#39;s media site, there is an active community of writers and readers on the platform: &amp;quot;The #BookTwitter community is vibrant and vast, spanning numerous fiction genres to nonfiction, poetry and essayism. Whether it&amp;rsquo;s plot discussions or taking part in hashtag holidays like #ReadABookDay, people love talking about what they&amp;rsquo;re reading.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you are still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/27</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 16:41:04 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 27 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 4:41:04 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or educational content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, user tags, and hashtags, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors think of video marketing for their books they often think of book trailers,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;but going beyond the video trailer to create and share other relevant videos can be an excellent way to strengthen your author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing social media platform for sharing visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are on-trend with younger audiences can also appeal to these users. &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Instagram users are highly engaged with the content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a unique platform because it is highly visual. It allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to middle-aged women, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Unlike Instagram, Pinterest is less about sharing the little moments of your day and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/pinterest/7352/how-authors-can-use-pinterest-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more about sharing information and creative ideas.&lt;/a&gt; Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you are still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/26</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 16:33:20 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 26 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 4:33:20 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or educational content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, user tags, and hashtags, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7505/facebook-for-the-writer---intermediate-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;targeted advertising&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors think of video marketing for their books they often think of book trailers,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;but going beyond the video trailer to create and share other relevant videos can be an excellent way to strengthen your author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing social media platform for sharing visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are on-trend with younger audiences can also appeal to these users. &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Users on Instagram are highly engaged with the content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a unique platform because it is highly visual. It allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to middle-aged women, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you are still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/25</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 16:28:46 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 25 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 4:28:46 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By researching the various platforms and reviewing the user demographics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or educational content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, user tags, and hashtags, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7417/facebook-for-the-writer---beginner-level" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity&lt;/a&gt;. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and targeted advertising.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors think of video marketing for their books they often think of book trailers,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;but going beyond the video trailer to create and share other relevant videos can be an excellent way to strengthen your author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing social media platform for sharing visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are on-trend with younger audiences can also appeal to these users. &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Users on Instagram are highly engaged with the content&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;but expect a certain amount of creativity to get their attention.&amp;nbsp;If you have a strong author brand or essence, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/instagram/7055/how-authors-can-use-instagram-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;let your personality and passions shine&amp;nbsp;in your posts&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a unique platform because it is highly visual. It allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book. Seventy-six percent of Pinterest users report being female, so if your book&amp;#39;s theme or topic appeals to middle-aged women, you can easily reach a large pool of potential readers here.&amp;nbsp;Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Twitter is great for trending and in-the-moment conversations with like-minded people." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Twitter-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you are still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Top 6 Social Media Platforms for Authors and the Types of Readers They Attract</title><link>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract/revision/24</link><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2020 15:47:59 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">809ccca5-04d2-44bf-8f5c-ff0a6d33c80b:9f02f819-e777-476f-aec5-a2ecf02112a3</guid><dc:creator>Author Learning Center</dc:creator><comments>https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/marketing/social-media/w/general/7922/top-6-social-media-platforms-for-authors-and-the-types-of-readers-they-attract#comments</comments><description>Revision 24 posted to General by Author Learning Center on 9/21/2020 3:47:59 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to creative agency We Are Social, &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;more than half of the world&amp;rsquo;s total population now uses social media&lt;/a&gt;. That&amp;#39;s 3.96 billion people interacting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For authors wanting to create a social media strategy, that&amp;#39;s a lot of potential readers! But, how do you know where to focus your author platform and book marketing efforts without getting overwhelmed? By researching the various platforms and reviewing the platform demographics. Understanding the types of users on the various social media platforms can greatly inform which platform you choose to focus on. The key is to make sure that your&amp;nbsp;target readers are actively participating there. If you can connect with these potential readers you can increase awareness for your work, build a following, and sell more books. Here are 6 of the most popular social media platforms available to authors and a snapshot of the types of readers that can be found at each.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Facebook&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms with over 2 billion users and more features than any of the other platforms in this list. If you already have a personal account on Facebook and are familiar with the user interface, &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/facebook/7037/facebook-for-authors-5-ways-to-market-your-book-and-reach-your-audience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;it&amp;#39;s fairly easy to get yourself set up with an Author Page and custom Group&lt;/a&gt;. Facebook has the broadest reach of all platforms, attracting users from all age groups and readers from all book genres. Fiction authors can search for and find genre-specific Groups where they can interact with their target readers, or they can create and build their own Groups. Nonfiction authors can&amp;nbsp;use the platform to share interesting or educational content relevant to their book&amp;#39;s topic, which attracts readers searching for answers or solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Facebook posts can include text, photos, videos, memes, links, user tags, and hashtags, providing authors with a lot of flexibility and room for creativity. Additional features that make Facebook so&amp;nbsp;useful for&amp;nbsp;authors are newsletter signups, event creation and tracking, and targeted advertising.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Facebook is the largest of all social media platforms and is a great option for authors because of all of its features." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/0028.Facebook-chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;YouTube&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;YouTube is one of the internet&amp;#39;s largest search engines, second only to Google. With around 2 billion users, YouTube has a high penetration across all age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;Because the content that is shared on YouTube is video-based (vlogging), &lt;a href="/marketing/social-media/w/youtube/7637/how-authors-can-use-youtube-to-promote-and-sell-books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;many authors feel this platform is outside their technical skillset&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;When authors think of video marketing for their books they often think of book trailers,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;but going beyond the video trailer to create and share other relevant videos can be an excellent way to strengthen your author brand, attract readers, and build a fan base. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Video is an incredibly powerful way to communicate on all topics, including books, which is why there is a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;huge subset of&amp;nbsp;the YouTube community called &amp;quot;BookTube&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt;. This community has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide with videos on book reviews, bookshelf tours, bookstore hauls, discussions, and more. Young adult fiction, genre fiction, and children&amp;#39;s fiction are particularly popular in this community, but all genres are covered. In addition, there is a large community of authors (&amp;quot;AuthorTube&amp;quot;) sharing content related to their books, writing advice, publishing advice, and more. There is definitely a place for all types of authors on YouTube, but you must have the skills and discipline to create and maintain a steady stream of quality video content&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;&lt;img alt="YouTube is the second largest search engine and can be a great way for authors to communicate and connect with readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x225/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/YouTube-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/910875/us-most-popular-video-streaming-services-by-monthly-average-users/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;***Source: &lt;a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Instagram&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instagram is a popular, fast-growing social media platform for sharing visual content such as photos and short videos. This platform can provide great exposure for authors, especially those targeting a younger reader. Seventy percent of Instagram&amp;#39;s 1 billion users are age 34 and under. Book genres that generate a lot of interest on Instagram include young adult, genre fiction, poetry, and graphic novels or comics. Topics that are on-trend with younger audiences can also appeal to these users.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Instagram is a popular social media platform for younger readers." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x260/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Instagram-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;LinkedIn is the world&amp;#39;s largest professional networking platform.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;&lt;img alt="LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform and is a great option for nonfiction authors who are an expert on their topic." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x240/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Linkedin-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Pinterest&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pinterest is a unique platform because it is highly visual. It allows users to share and discover interests by posting (&amp;ldquo;pinning&amp;rdquo;) images and videos to organized boards (a collection of pins, usually with a common theme). With over 400 million active users, this social site aims to connect people through the things that interest them, which means it can be a great platform to find people who would be interested in your book (especially if your book targets women!).&amp;nbsp;Think of it like a virtual scrapbook of all the things that interest and excite you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="Pinterest is a highly visual platform and can be a good match for authors with books that solve problems." src="/resized-image/__size/1000x280/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-02-10/Pinterest-Chart.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;*Source: &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/"&gt;https://www.statista.com/statistics/995071/pinterest-app-mau-region/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;**Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Twitter&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:75%;"&gt;Source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/more-than-half-of-the-people-on-earth-now-use-social-media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:inherit;"&gt;If you are still struggling with where to put your time and effort, look at what successful authors in your genre are doing and where they have a presence. No matter which platform you decide to focus on for your social media strategy, you need to be consistent and create a strategy that informs, entertains, or solve problems, and doesn&amp;#39;t just sell. Most importantly, always be authentic with your communications.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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