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 author’s 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 work 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 work 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, and 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 on 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.
