There are certain author branding mistakes new writers make on social media that hurt your brand growth in the long run.
An author’s brand is an extension of yourself as a writer that projects your message, originality, and authenticity to your audience.
It tells a lot about you, your works, your creative perspective with your art, and identifiable elements that are only attributable to you.
Your brand speaks loudly about Why you do what you do and What you are most passionate about.
As a writer, having an active brand on social media is well worth the effort because that’s how you turn fans into followers, and followers into readers.
Investing time into building your author’s brand on social media is important because it speaks for you even in absentia and informs your audience Who you are without you saying a word.
Your author’s brand is distinguishable by its colors, voice, persona, webpage, content, genre, story format, theme, fonts, style, etc. representing your originality and authenticity in your space.
Proper branding breeds recognition, credibility, and acceptability, on social media and opens the portal of opportunities in form of collaborations in diverse projects which can only happen if your author’s brand is positioned for it.
To gain recognition in your craft on social media you have to project yourself as an authority even as a beginner.
Read: Grow your author brand through collaborations as an aspiring author
Unfortunately, a lot of new writers fail woefully at understanding the game behind building a proper author’s brand for themselves on social media.
Some writers even feel nonchalant about making the effort to stand out from the crowd or be in the crowd, to begin with, which will inadvertently hurt their growth as budding writers and aspiring authors.
Deciding to become a writer is not enough in itself. There are other important things required of you to prove that you’re ready to follow through with your decision and give it your best shot.
One such thing is building your author’s brand on social media and growing a network around your craft.
Others include writing in itself, consistency, commitment, personal development, research, community building, and many more.
Read: Top 10 reasons why networking is important to grow your authors brand
One of the best places to showcase your brand is on social media and its affiliate networks which is a suitable match for your brand.
However, a lot of new writers do not understand or fully utilize their chosen platforms, making it harder to grow as a new writer which is devastating and frustrating to witness.
In this post, I will share 5 Author Branding Mistakes new writers make on social media that hurts their brand growth, with tips to fix/avoid these mistakes.
Social Media Author Branding Mistake #1: Having No Social Media Presence
This mistake is at the top of the list because having no social media presence is like living in the jungle as a writer and expecting someone to stumble across your work and take interest in it.
Stop daydreaming and snap out of it because it’s not happening.
Picking out a suitable platform for your chosen niche can be a hectic chore, but hiding away from the world entirely is not the solution.
Allowing fear, uncertainties, phobia, and sob stories about breaking out on social media to stop you is not enough to shelve your precious gift while pining away in a corner hoping for a miracle when you did absolutely nothing to attract it.
If you crave success, progress, and growth as a newbie writer and aspiring author, you will have to face your fears about social media and go for it.
Heck, you may not even come across this post to help you out.
How To Fix This Mistake:
- Prepare your mind to accept the change and possibilities social media presents.
- Ensure you take out time to evaluate the platforms that you wish to sign up for and grow your brand with.
- Plan your growth and content strategy on these platforms.
- Be willing to embrace the process and recognition on social media.
Social Media Author Branding Mistake #2: Having No Content On Social Media
I do not know which one hurts the most. That you aren’t on social media, or you abandoned your page and expect it to magically grow on its own.
My question is, how did you expect it to flourish or make an impact where there is nothing there to see, to begin with? What message did you intend to pass through a blank page?
What brand did you expect people to see other than unseriousness and inconsistency?
Not to offend or hurt you, but I’m pained when I take a genuine interest in reaching out to people who showed interest in my work, only to get to their pages and find it blank.
I’m unhappy because there could be so much potential hidden behind those blank pages, and no one gets to witness it.
You are reading this post because I put my blog out there, and you found my content relatable. Having no content on your social media page is as good as having no social media account in the first place.
How to Fix this Mistake:
- Talk to a brand strategist or a social media strategist who can give help you out if you’re coming up blank with ideas for your page.
- Take out time to map out your content pillars or pillar depending on what you eventually decide to make your page about.
- Ensure your contents are in line with your brand message.
If your content pillar is heartwarming love stories, advocating for mental health, or dealing with debts and financial freedom, ensure that your contents reflect that central message.
Also, your content pillars can reflect your genre or genres of choice, so it blends with your authored books and the brand’s central message.
Author Branding Mistakes #3: Having Content Unrelated To Your Authors Brand
Imagine visiting a social media page that says it advocates for mental health, only to find out that it has no post relating to its advocacy, or links to pages relating to advocacy.
How will you feel? Disappointed I guess; or pissed that you didn’t get what you want out of the page; or angry that you were tricked.
Whichever feelings suffice, will lead to one action. Walking away unsatisfied.
As a newbie writer, you will do yourself more harm when you pose as a writer but have no content relating to your craft on your social media pages. Nobody will take you seriously.
Maybe a few families, friends, and acquaintances, but your ideal audience will never show up to identify with you on a page like that.
When you post content unrelated to your craft, you will only attract the audience that finds your content pleasing, not your ideal audience which will hurt your growth as a writer.
Having a dual personality online is one thing, but mixing both personalities on one page is catastrophic unless they somehow complement each other.
Asides from this, it is harmful to blend two personalities into one when they are unrelated to each.
How to Fix this Mistake:
- Separate dual personalities between two accounts.
- Use the platform that represents your writing brand only for content associated with it and your content pillars.
- Avoid the urge to post everything that catches your fancy unless it falls in line with your content pillars.
Author Branding Mistake #4: Having A Private Social Media With No Content
This causes me to have a pounding migraine and a meltdown when I come across pages that are not only private but have no content. It is worse when there is no content, no bio, no link in their bio, no portfolio, nothing.
Just a blank, humorless, and unappealing page that simply states – Writer/Storyteller.
What story are you telling exactly? What is your page’s appeal that is inviting me to stay, encourage and grow with you as your ideal audience?
How do you expect to show credibility, authenticity, and authority with a blank page on social media? How?
As a new writer, you have no business with private social media pages or setting your posts to be viewed only by a closed circle. It doesn’t help to sequester yourself off the world like that.
Your personal accounts can be private, but your creator accounts should be made public, with relatable content, a sound bio, a portfolio, and a link in your bio to show off other parts of your brand.
You have to position your brand for acceptability before growth can occur.
How to Fix This Mistake:
- Change your creator account settings to public, and ensure it is complete with a sound bio and relatable content.
- If your account must be private, ensure it has a sound bio telling your ideal audience about your page. Also, please ensure it has content in it.
Author Branding Mistakes #5: Lacking Consistency/Commitment
As a newbie writer/aspiring author, consistency is the key ingredient that will make or break your writing career.
Lack of consistency or commitment to building your author’s brand from the ground up or acting nonchalantly towards growing your brand is the cause of all the other mistakes listed above.
You cannot start something and not finish it – In the words of Kelvin Hart.
You cannot aspire for growth and not work through the process. You cannot want something so badly, and not go get it. In essence, you cannot wish for your author’s brand to grow without doing the work.
Tenacity, consistency, and commitment are the first things you need to be dogged about building your brand on social media.
With excellent brand visibility, the trickle of your ideal audience will begin in earnest, followed by steady upward growth, which brings great opportunities for you as a newbie writer.
How to Fix this Mistake:
- To avoid being swamped and overwhelmed, devise a content plan.
- Pick days to show up and be active on your social media page. Interacting and communicating with others in your genre or niche of choice.
- Batch create your content ahead of every week, and store them in folders until you need them.
- Have a template designed and ready. This allows for ease in design, content consistency, and originality.
Endnotes:
It is with a heart full of love and appeals to you that I ask you to carry out a page audit on your social media pages, rebrand your page, and do things the right way if you’re a victim of one or more of the mistakes listed above.
Social media is a world filled with endless possibilities. An interconnected world of creatives like yourself who can add value to your craft, and support your creative art, if only you give it a shot by putting yourself out there.
Hiding away from social media means losing out on the best parts of your journey as a new writer because there is so much to learn from interacting with people who walk in your shoes and know exactly where it pinches.
You do not have to be afraid to put yourself out there. Do it with style, class, charisma, and the confidence of one who knows what she wants.