Properly setting up your author brand on social media doesn’t make your branding journey entirely complete.
Yes, it is an excellent idea to pitch your tent on
the home front of a social media platform and have it professionally organized
to attract your target audience and grow your reader base.
Still, it isn't enough to just pack up and go on a beach cruise because you’ve set up your author's page on
social media. It takes a lot more than a beautiful bio, an enticing
portfolio, and a nice logo to build authenticity and credibility around your
author brand.
Expect members of your family, friends, and close associates who’ll stick around your social media pages, people generally will not waste their time on a brand that isn’t authentic and credible enough to entice and captivate their attention, nor will they stick around for a dormant brand.
Read Author Branding Mistakes New Writers Make On Social Media
Growing your author brand on social media takes a lot of work, consistency, courage, determination, and frankly a heavy dose of strategy to pull off (as the experts will say) but you can still pull off an 8/10 pass mark on your author brand if you apply the simple practices I’ll share in the post.
Here are 5 simple ways to build authenticity and credibility around your author's brand on social media.
- Cultivate
the habit of showing up on social media
In every social media playbook there is and ever
will be, this is one of the golden rules there is to excelling at anything on
social media.
Showing up is a rule of thumb on social media because it is a fast-paced world and there are millions of people on social
media striving to break through the elite space like you are.
Carving out a space for your brand on social media
isn’t enough, you have to show up and interact with your growing community.
There is no reality where you grow plants without
watering them, so also there’s no magic to growing your authenticity and
credibility on social media without showing up to drive its growth.
Does this mean you’ll have to be present every
single day on social media?
The simple answer is, that you don’t. Rather what you should do is have a social media schedule, which is basically your on and off days on social media. This way you get to also have a life and do invest more time in what matters – writing your book, or anything else you’ve planned to do.
Read Best Practices To Adopt When Setting Up Your Author Brand On Social Media
- Cultivate
the habit of talking about your brand
Talking about your author's brand on social media is a
great way to build authenticity and credibility. It gives your audience a clear
picture of what your author brand represents, what it hopes to achieve, how
your readers play a role, what you’re offering, and what you expect in return.
An example: My author brand on social media portrays
a writer whose main genre is romance and erotica. My central message is to
write heartwarming, suspenseful, steamy, and sensual romance and erotic stories
which my readers can enjoy and relate with.
Also, as an author, I try to infuse
unconventionality into my storyline. This way I break through the norms of the
expected and dive into the unexpected, which gives an exciting edge to my
stories.
Talking about my brand through my posts, reels, collaborations,
conversations, and my social media bio, has helped me build a credible and
authentic name for my growing brand as a romance and erotic author.
Don’t be ashamed to talk about your author brand at
every chance you get. Don’t think your audience will figure it out on their
own. They won’t, at least not all of them.
As a budding author, learn to crawl out of your shell and talk about your author brand in an engaging way on social media.
Read Reasons Why Author Branding is Important For Aspiring Authors
- Cultivate
the habit of sharing your works on social media
To buttress my earlier point, you cannot just set up a page on social media and glide into the sunset without a backward glance.
As enticing as that feels, you can’t win doing that.
You may feel consumed by a myriad of emotions when
you think about showing up to share your works on social media. I know, because
I felt the same way too when I decided to pitch my tent on social media
officially.
I was overwhelmed by what people will think of me as
an erotic author, but I took it as a challenge to prove to myself that I’ll not
be deterred by naysayers, rather I’ll learn from my experiences as I forged
ahead.
That determination has done more good than harm to
my growth on social media. My brand speaks for itself; my published and
unpublished work speaks even louder.
You don’t have to have written a 100k word novel to
feel confident enough to share your work on social media. You don’t need to
have accolades first before showing up.
To gain credibility and build authenticity with your
author brand on social media, you’ll have to build a base for it through
sharing your works on social media.
There’s no accolade bigger than sharing a piece you believe in with your growing community. It is the most authentic way to gain trust/build a loyal community on social media.
Read Grow Your Author Brand Through Collaborations As An Aspiring Author
- Cultivate
the habit of interacting with your community
Pitching your tent on social media means you’ve
accepted to become a chatterbox with your community. Not literally, but you get
the point.
Simply posting content on your page and abandoning
it won’t help. You need to carve out time for interaction with your community.
Social media experts say interacting with your community twenty minutes before
and after posting gives your content the leverage it needs to get noticed.
That aside, it shows positive sportsmanship, a good
vibe, and team spirit which shows your account is alive and active.
Having an active account gives your social media page all the credibility it needs. When your posts are recent, your comments are meaningful, your contents are entertaining & valuable, your page is alive and thriving, it reeks of authenticity and credibility to every individual who comes across your page.
Read Reasons Why Networking is Important To Grow Your Author Brand
- Cultivate the habit of originality
Being original with your author brand is and will
always be your best bet to build authenticity and credibility on social media.
When you strive for originality with your brand, it becomes tailored to you
alone.
Originality with your author brand ensures that
you’re unmistakably identified in the crowd. It helps you stand out from the
majority, draws your ideal audience to you, and opens the door to endless
possibilities.
However, it might not be an easy feat to pull off
because there are several other contents similar to yours. This doesn’t make it
impossible; because the best way to portray originality is to do what you know
how to do best.
Be yourself with a little tweak to give you an edge
and your brand, all the difference it needs to stand out.
Endnotes:
Building authenticity and credibility around your
author brand is of great importance to you as a budding writer because it sets
the pace for your growth, recognition, and excellence on social media.
You cannot suddenly become a force with your author
brand if you begin at the grassroots. Waiting until you’ve become a prominent
author to pitch your tent on social media is running a fool’s errand because, without fertile soil, the seedling cannot sprout.
Ensure you take notes of the 5 simple ways to build
authenticity and credibility with your author brand on social media because
it’ll help make or break your brand on social media.