Pinterest, along with other social media platforms, can become a very good tool in your arsenal when you’re building your online presence as an author. Pinterest is an online board where you can “pin” blog posts, images, and any other web content for your followers to see. As an author, you can use this board to show your interests, hobbies and information about your current and upcoming books by pinning content from your own website to your Pinterest profile. In a way, you would be showing your followers the person behind the author, which builds trust. Below, you will find several ways with which you can make your Pinterest profile the perfect marketing tool and attract more readers.
1. Use your name
Do not use a funny or a witty username for an online platform where you want to, in essence, market yourself as a writer and your book. You need to look professional, even if the content you share might be casual. Additionally, do not use a random profile picture. Instead, use the picture that appears on all of your other social platforms. Then, when you link to your Facebook profile or your website, the readers will immediately know that you are the author and that they are not following a random fan-made page.
2. Focus on things you like
This is where casual content comes in. The best thing about Pinterest is that it offers you a board where you can “pin” things you like. This means that the content you’ve pinned on your Pinterest board doesn’t necessarily have to be your original content. When you browse the net, and come across things that you like, things that reflect your personality, images and pictures with motivational quotes, etc., you can share it on your board and your readers will be able to see it. This will allow the readers, or your followers, to get to know you a little better and build trust with you as a writer.
3. Share other books
Every writer started out as an avid reader. A lot of writers share opinions, reviews and thoughts on other books on their websites and other online platforms. Some even ask their readers what they are reading in a particular week, month or day (which is a good strategy for researching the market). Don’t be one of those authors that seem to forget about reading and focus only on your books – there are plenty of other books out there, and your readers will be delighted if you like a book that they have liked as well.
4. Share your books
This, of course, is a given. Among your pins and boards about everything else, you must dedicate at least a third of your posts and pins to your own books. You’ve written a new blog post for your website? Pin it. It will be even better if you have added images to the blog post – then you can pin the image and link to the post. Remember that neither of your social media platform profiles is disconnected from the others. This doesn’t mean that you should post the same thing – it only means that when you post something on Facebook, you should remember to share it on other social media platforms. This way, every platform can offer unique book information and content and you wouldn’t get repetitive.
5. Pin at the right time
Time your posts in a way that doesn’t overwhelm your followers. If you find something that you want to pin to your public board, but you’ve pinned something else a short while ago, don’t worry. Pinterest offers you secret boards where you can pin the things that captured your interest, but your followers will not see it until you pin it to your public boards. This allows you the freedom to choose your content carefully, and to time your posts in a way that’s spread out and will not overwhelm your followers.
Image credit: Pixabay
Georgina Roy wants to live in a world filled with magic. As an art student, she’s moonlighting as a writer and is content to fill notebooks and sketchbooks with magical creatures and amazing new worlds. When she is not at school, or scribbling away in a notebook, you can usually find her curled up, reading a good urban fantasy novel, or writing on her laptop, trying to create her own.