Every now and then, you, as an author, have to audit your social media accounts. Marketing takes a lot of time and you don’t want to waste yours on something that no longer works. Or, your account may not be working the way you expected so you need to change how you use it.
I think I’m due for another audit.
You probably heard this before, images really work on social media. It’s not surprising my Pinterest and Instagram accounts get the most engagement.
Outside of Instagram, Pinterest is one of my favorite social networks. I use it to gather images to help me picture my dark fantasy worlds. I also find images to inspire scenes and stories. It’s also a place where I gather photography and design inspiration. I don’t do this to promote myself. Pinterest is a research tool.
Recently, my engagement rate shot up, like a lot.
A couple of months ago, all those arrows were pointing down. Should I start being more purposeful in how I use Pinterest? What I’m doing now is working. Why would I need to change anything? Although engagement has increased, follower rate is pretty low in comparison. My most popular pins aren’t my designs or blog posts. Right now, the site isn’t helping my content.
Checking out my analytics, I should make Pinterest a part of my marketing plan. You should know who’d buy your books. I’m reaching my audience on Pinterest.
First off, how did I increase engagement?
Scheduler
Maybe a month or two ago, I started using Tailwind– a scheduler for Pinterest. The free trial lets you schedule 100 pins before you have to pay. In one session on Pinterest, I can pin about 5 or more images. Instead of pinning them right away, I scheduled them, which gave me about a week’s worth of content. It seems posting more often increased engagement. People love fantasy artwork.
Check out Tailwind’s Facebook page. They have some good videos about what works on Pinterest and Instagram.
If I want to turn Pinterest into a marketing machine, what do I need to do?
Six Powerful Ways to Market Your Book on Pinterest
“…it’s important that you stay focused by regularly driving Pinterest users back to a web page where they can easily buy your book. It doesn’t matter if you drive them to your website, your book’s page on Amazon, or another bookstore website or blog — as long as it includes a seamless and easy way to buy your work.”
I’m pretty bad at this. All my blog posts have images. I should just share them on Pinterest but I don’t. I need to get better at that. Also, when I post images on Flickr and DeviantArt, I should share them on Pinterest as well.
3 Ways to Use Pinterest to Promote Your Book
“Using keywords in the description will help make your pins visible on Pinterest’s search results pages. If you have a young adult fiction book, for example, make sure to place “young adult” in the description.”
Another thing I don’t do often enough. I don’t add my own descriptions to the images. I don’t know how search friendly my account is.
Pinterest for Authors: A Beginner’s Guide
“People come to Pinterest to learn something, whether that something is baking the best chocolate brownie or writing a bestseller. They also come for the great visual aesthetic, which is why you will want to master pin-worthy images.”
That’s good to know. I have quite a few guide/tip blog posts similar to this one. Seems like these types of posts do well on Pinterest, as long as they’re accompanied by an eye-catching image.
In general, it seems Pinterest is a good partner for a blogger since it can increase website traffic. It may not sell books directly but it may drive people to this blog which is just as good.
More Resources:
Pinterest: 6 Top Tips for Pinterest for Self-publishing Authors
