How Effective Is Social Media For Selling Books? Let's Discuss!

How socials can help (or hurt) your book sales...

Photo by Ben Kolde on Unsplash

I get these questions a lot:

1. Why be on social media if the conversion rate from click to sale is low?

2. If social media doesn't directly sell books, why bother with it?

3. Wait, what’s a conversion rate?

Here's the thing: while it's true that social media might not always translate directly into sales, it plays a crucial role in building a writer's brand, engaging with readers, and creating a community around our work.

Let's break it down:

1. Building Visibility

Social media is a powerful tool for increasing visibility. It allows us to showcase our personalities, share our writing process, and highlight our work to a wider audience.

The more visible a writer is, the more likely readers are to remember us when they're looking for their next read.

When I say visibility, I don’t just mean visibility on that one social media platform but also your overall search engine (e.g., Google or Bing) visibility.

2. Engagement and Community

Social media provides a platform for writers to engage with their readers, answer questions, and create a sense of community around their work.

This engagement can lead to a loyal fanbase that's more likely to support future projects.

I’ve built strong communities on Facebook and X (Want to join? It’s free. Click here for Facebook and here for X to join my writing communities.)

3. Networking vs. Connecting

While I’m not a fan of the phrase ‘networking’ (it’s so 90s), building relationships online definitely has benefits.

Social media is not just for connecting with readers; it's also a great way for writers to connect with other industry professionals, including publishers, agents, and fellow writers. These connections can lead to opportunities that go beyond book sales.

More here:

4. Indirect Sales

While social media might not directly sell books, it can lead to indirect sales through word-of-mouth recommendations. If someone enjoys our content on social media, they're more likely to recommend our books to friends and family.

5. Market Research

Social media provides writers with valuable insights into our audience's preferences, interests, and reading habits. This information can be used to tailor marketing strategies and even influence future writing projects.

While social media might not be a direct sales channel, it's an essential tool for building a writer's brand, engaging with readers, and creating a community that supports their work. So, it's definitely worth the effort!

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

How Can Social Media Hurt My Sales?

There is really only one way: by being spammy and constantly sharing “Buy my book!” posts.

You are more than your book. You are a person with a life, a past, interests, and stories. Learn more here:

Conversion Rates

A little more on conversion rates: The data available doesn’t specifically target books only, so extrapolate what you feel is meaningful for you.

Conversion rate is a key performance indicator (KPI) that measures the effectiveness of your marketing efforts in driving desired actions from your audience. Here’s the math:

Calculate by dividing the number of conversions (such as sales, sign-ups, or any other desired action) by the total number of visitors or interactions, then multiplying the result by 100 to get a percentage.

For example, if your website receives 1,000 visitors and 50 of them make a purchase, your conversion rate would be:

(50 conversions / 1,000 visitors) * 100 = 5%

This means that 5% of the people who visited your website took the desired action of making a purchase.

Tracking and optimizing your conversion rate is crucial for understanding how effectively your marketing strategies are translating into tangible results and for identifying areas for improvement.

Conversion rates for social media platforms can vary widely depending on various factors such as the industry, target audience, content quality, and the platform's algorithms.

Here are some general average conversion rates for popular social media platforms:

1. Facebook: The average conversion rate for Facebook ads across all industries is around 9.21%. However, this can vary, with retail having a higher average conversion rate of around 14.29%.

2. Instagram: Instagram's average conversion rate is slightly lower than Facebook's, hovering around 1.08% for organic posts. For ads, the conversion rate can be higher, averaging around 3.1%.

3. X(formerly Twitter): The average conversion rate for Twitter ads is around 0.77%. However, this can vary based on the campaign's objectives and targeting.

4. LinkedIn: As a professional networking platform, has a higher average conversion rate for B2B (business-to-business) ads, around 6.1%.

5. Pinterest: Pinterest has a high conversion rate for retail and e-commerce, with an average of around 2.9%.

6. TikTok: TikTok is a newer platform, and conversion rates can vary widely. However, early data suggests that conversion rates for TikTok ads can range from 3% to 10%, depending on the industry and campaign type.

It's important to note that these are averages, and actual conversion rates can vary significantly based on factors like the quality of your content, your targeting strategy, and how well your offerings align with the interests of the platform's users.

Additionally, conversion rates can change over time as platforms update their algorithms and user behavior evolves.

Social media is only one plank of your author platform. To build a strong foundation, you also need email marketing (much higher conversion rates!), blogging or articles, videos/visuals, reviews, giveaways and promos, and much more.

Next week, I’ll discuss each type of content so you can learn what works and what doesn’t. Thank you for reading!

Coming Up

Join me for my monthly #BookMarketingChat this Wednesday at 2 pm pst/5 pm est on Twitter (now X) Spaces at @BadRedheadMedia with special guest, award-winning author Linda R. Sexton, who just published her first book on open adoption, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝑾𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉: 𝑨𝒏 𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝑨𝒅𝒐𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒊𝒓.

Click here now to set a reminder/add to your calendar. All attendees are eligible to enter for a free copy of Linda’s book. I record all spaces so you can always listen later if you can’t attend.

Featured Author

I’m thrilled to know Dr. Melissa Monroe, who released her book one year ago, an award-winning memoir titled Mom’s Search For Meaning: Grief and Growth After Child Loss, about the sudden unexplained death of her toddler, Alice. This book is so beautifully poignant - definitely add to your TBR pile, along with plenty of tissues.

To celebrate, join Dr. Melissa and a host of guests (including yours truly) on Thursday, April 4th, at 2 pm pst/5 pm est on XSpaces. Click here now to set a reminder and join when it starts!

Sponsor

💜 Thank you, Booklinker, my exclusive advertising sponsor for 2024! Free universal book links for all authors. Super easy to use. And they have a fantastic blog here.💜

See you next week, and happy writing!