Promoting Your Publications: Are You Using Social Media Correctly?

Part of being a successful digital publisher is marketing your work effectively. It’s common knowledge that social media sharing can be a tremendous help when doing so. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, personal websites, and blogs are all great avenues for increasing your content’s exposure.

Simply having your content on social media isn’t enough, however. You also need to combine different marketing strategies. Here are some quick tips on how you can do that!

• Schedule your publication releases when your audience is most active on social media sites. This helpful infographic shows the optimal times to do so.

• Generate some buzz several weeks before your publication’s release. Highlight what makes your publication different from others and do something special (like hold a contest with prizes) to further whet your readers’ appetites.

• Don’t be afraid to start paying to promote your content. A lot of publishers are still under the archaic impression that great content doesn’t need a paid promotion. This is very wrong. Features like promoted tweets and Facebook ad targeting can dramatically boost your publication’s viewability.

• Use hashtags. Hashtags can carry over across different social media sites. When you follow a pound sign (#) with the title of your publication, you create a clickable link that lets you track all discussion pertaining to your publication. People can also search for and click on hashtags to join the conversation.

The takeaway: you can’t expect social media to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to marketing your digital publications. Follow our suggestions above, put some effort into it on your end, and succeed. And feel free to tell us how you best promote your content; we’re dying to know!