Social Media Content Ideas for Authors
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Sometimes, it can be overwhelming for authors to maintain all of their social media sites regularly. It’s not enough to post once in a while. Authors need to be engaged, and it can be hard to come up with content ideas other than news about your books. Here are some ideas.
Hobbies - Post pictures of your hobbies, crafts, cooking, or interesting projects you’re involved in.
Pets - Your furry, finned, or feathered sidekicks are always a hit and get a lot of attention.
Your Thing - Find something that interests you, and post about it regularly. I have several friends who take a walk each day with their dogs. They post each morning about their adventures. A lot of my author friends post what they are reading and ask for readers to chime in. I have one friend who starts a daily chat about exercise. I have another friend who goes antiquing a lot, and she posts pictures of her latest finds.
Your Adventures - Take pictures when you go places and do things. Share interesting exhibits, classes, and places. I know this is harder as the pandemic continues, but take pictures of Zoom calls. You can use your Print Screen button on your keyboard to capture a screen shot.
Shout outs - Recognize and celebrate with others. (Make sure to tag the person or organization.) If you attend events, workshops, or meetings, take pictures and share.
Look for Your Hook - Make a list of all the things that appear in your book. For my Delanie series, its Southern Sleuth, Female Private Eye, 80s Rock Singer, Richmond, VA, Computer Hacker, Sleazy Strip Club Owner, English Bulldog, Sears Catalogue Houses, etc.) Then look for posts to share. Look for groups with similar interests. I was asked to do a blog post and some interviews about the Sears Catalogue house in my stories with some folks I met on Facebook. Also post pictures or links to interesting research that you do.
There’s A Day for Everything - Google “Funny Holidays” or “Daily Holidays.” There are tons of lists and calendars out there. Make a list of things that interest you or relate to your books. At the beginning of the month, I schedule posts for my holidays. For the Mutt Mysteries series, I made a list of dog and pet days. This also gave the group some ideas for themes for Facebook parties.
Pinterest Boards - I make a Pinterest board for each book and topic that I’m researching. This helps me see what the characters and setting look like. A publisher asked me one time what the main characters looked like, so I pointed him and his cover designer to my Pinterest board.
Funny Memes - Funny memes garner attention, and these can be used to generate questions or discussion on social media.
What else would you add to my list?
