Content marketing trends for authors are part of the promotion if you are a publishing your own book. If you are going to market your book, do it in a way that does not look like you are directly selling to your potential readers.
Instead, tell a story. Regale your readers with an idea of why your book makes a good read and how your story – or the views you espouse or the tips you share – will benefit them. Tell readers why it is a good investment to buy and read your book.
According to Writetodone “Content marketing boils down to sharing real solutions to real problems for real people – and doing it for free”. It is the ability to understand your goal about your book and your journey to your readers. It is a strategic way of acknowledging what’s the value of your book to your readers and turn readers as your internal influencer.
Let’s consider also that as technology changes, so with the customer behaviour as well. The competition among authors to attract readers increase over time. Especially the ways and the manners on how marketing is done. Technology here is the great influencer.
Adapting to the demand of the digital age. Self-published authors learn new marketing and promotional strategies by adapting to different marketing trends and these are:
1. Invest in the long-term
Content marketing trends for authors are a long-term strategy and commitment – with long-term benefits. This requires perseverance.
Its powers in building your author brand come from your ability to generate long-term, organic, sustainable growth for your brand (particularly through your author website and social media). That means you need to publish quality, dynamic, engaging content on a consistent basis.
2. Do video
Give your ideal readers content that they can consume on the go. Give them the means to communicate your ideas faster. Give them video – lots of it.
Videos are all the rage in the digital age. Self-published authors can try their hand at video content marketing by making a book trailer and uploading it to their author website and social media.
It is really worth using a book trailer to market and promote your book. Videos are all the rage in the digital age. Videos capture your readers’ interest instantly, keep them engaged, and sustain their interest and excitement for your book.
3. Combine SEO and content
Increase the power of content – and the effectiveness of content marketing – by following best practices.
By optimizing your content (and author website) with the right keywords, you increase your chances of getting discovered by readers via organic search. SEO-rich content will help increase conversion rate and rake in more book sales while driving more traffic to your website and boost your social media engagement.
4. Use user-generated content
No celebrity endorsements for your book? Slim chance of getting into The New York Times Best Seller list? Why not turn to your readers for help?
Encourage readers who have read your work to post positive reviews and give you five stars on Amazon and Goodreads. Ask readers what they think about your book, would they recommend it to friends, create engagement to your content to spark conversation between you and them… and display their content on your website, social media, and even on your print-outs for your book event. or what they expect next.
5. Diversify
For self-published authors, diversification in content marketing is two-fold:
- One, create different forms of content: blog articles, book trailer and other types of videos, images, infographics, e-books (usually the first chapter of your books), and thought leadership articles.
- Two, send or spread content in different ways: email marketing, social media marketing, video marketing (even live streaming), article marketing, etc.
To spread your message further, you must create different forms of content for readers who access and consume them in different ways.
By diversifying the design and delivery of your message, you make your readers feel happy you do not leave them out of the experience you offer.
6. Advertise on social media
If you have something to offer that will guarantee a better experience, people would pay more to get it.
It so happens that social media has the tools that will guarantee more people will read your content. Will you pay… more?
You should.
Content marketing trends for authors often requires you to harness social media advertising (paid social advertising). There are many different advertising services that you should look into every social network: Facebook Ads, Twitter Promoted Tweet, Pinterest promoted pins, Tumblr Sponsored Posts, YouTube display ads, LinkedIn Sponsored Updates, Google+ +Post ads, Instagram sponsored images, etc.
Advertising on social media requires that you pay a little extra to promote your best content (or best offers) in order to reach readers that you might not have reached with free marketing.
7.Mobile
Believe it or not, everything is in mobile. Reaching potential readers while on mobile devices is the next big thing in content marketing (and social media advertising).
Mobile users check websites and social networks multiple times a day, so marketing or advertising to them while they use those apps is the best way to reach them without being disruptive.
As an author and thought leader, you need to adapt your content to mobile users. You can think of videos, images, eBooks, and even live streaming. To be an author and content marketer in the digital age is to be mobile-friendly.
8. Use data to understand people and their needs
With content marketing, you can gather relevant data to better understand your readers’ viewing habits and buyer journey, among other information. These data help you effectively tap into their needs and wants and properly track your progress. Data helps you understand what works and what doesn’t.
9. Update old content
A week or month after you post content on your author website and social media, other authors, thought leaders, and content creators could already have posted something similar to yours. How can your content stand out from the rest?
Update and refresh your existing content. Doing so positively affects your social media rankings and ensures more people read it.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, though. Rather than create new content, you can update and refresh existing content by adding new information. It does not take long to give your old content new life every now and then.
10. Future-proof your content
You would want your content to still make sense a year, five years, and even ten years from now. You want your message, just like your story, to be timeless.
If you want your content to stand the test of time, make sure it is clear and comprehensive for future readers to understand. Moreover, it should be enjoyable and engaging to keep the conversation going.
Content marketing trends for authors is all about building a better experience for your readers and building positive anticipation for your book. Your opportunity comes from adopting all the aforementioned trends in your book marketing process.
Need help with marketing your masterpiece? Talk to a ReadersMagnet marketing consultant today. Call 1-800-805-0762 or email us at info@beta.readersmagnet.com
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