Promote Your Book: Social Media Strategies for Authors

Author: Christabell Ndive

Why promote your book on social media? Well, if you’re like most researchers (75%, according to Springer Nature’s new survey), then you are already using social media for your work. And while the majority of research shared on social media tends to be journal articles, there’s every reason to showcase your book there, too. So that leaves just three questions: Where, why, and how should you do that?

The good news: The survey I just mentioned has findings that can help show the way. We found that for work, most researchers rely on ResearchGate, LinkedIn, and Facebook (and in China, researchers use WeChat.) So, knowing the venues to use already puts you ahead of the game. But there’s more... 

Why social media?

Social media makes it possible to talk directly to researchers in your field, whether you know them by reputation, through their work, or you might not yet know at all, but who would be interested in your book. In close-to-real-time, you can network with other researchers, talk about how your book could be relevant to their work, answer questions about the book, and foster connections that can then, also, help you build your personal network. * 

This direct connection with people you haven’t met yet is one of the features that makes social media so uniquely powerful. 

Which social media platforms?

To begin with, you would want to highlight your book on the platforms that researchers use in their professional lives. Our survey research shows that the three platforms researchers currently use the most (outside of China) in their professional work are ResearchGate, LinkedIn, and Facebook. (In China, WeChat is the most popular.)

(It’s important to note that this is always changing — new platforms appear, and established ones can lose attention —these results differ somewhat from the survey we conducted in 2019, for example.)    

If you are already active on one or more of these platforms, you’ve probably seen other researchers sharing their work there. While, the majority of shared content is currently research articles, sharing material from your book can also be highly effective too.  

How to highlight your book on social media

The first suggestion for how to share your book would be to take a page from sharing articles — and to look at sharing material from your book at the chapter level, similar to how individual articles are shared rather than at the whole-book level.   

Secondly, it may seem counter-intuitive, but we’ve found that choosing and focusing mainly on one platform can get you the best results. Some other key tips (provided by Springer Nature’s own social media professionals) include:  

1. Focus on One Platform: Concentrate your efforts on a single social media channel where your research community is most active. 
2. Consult Colleagues: Ask your colleagues which platforms they use regularly to engage with research. 
3. Observe and Learn: Follow and observe how colleagues use social media to understand effective posting strategies. 
4. Understand Your Community: Listening and watching how your community interacts on social media helps you tailor your content to their preferences.

Importance: 

• Efficiency: Focusing on one platform allows you to manage your time and resources more effectively. 
• Relevance: Engaging on the platform where your community is active ensures your content reaches the right audience. 
• Collaboration: Sharing the workload with co-authors — if you had co-authors — can make managing social media more sustainable. 
• Insight: Observing others helps you learn best practices and avoid common pitfalls. 
• Community Engagement: Understanding your communities behavior on social media helps you create more engaging and relevant content. 

Using social media

While we don’t have room in a blog like this to get into the specifics of how to use each platform, Springer Nature does have some published guides for this — with more coming soon. Basically, you want to see how others use social media to promote their work, pay attention to what gets your attention, and then do those things. Other quick tips include using images such as charts and other visuals from your work, and highlighting key findings that you think would interest colleagues.

Social media is just one avenue to explore for promoting your book. There are other places and methods to consider. For more advice, tools, and tips visit our hub for book authors.