LinkedIn is the perfect platform for promoting your business book because it’s designed for discussions, articles and posts about services that professional people are interested in. To help you get more visibility for your book on LinkedIn, we’ve shared tips below from other authors, LinkedIn coaches and our book marketing team on what types of content to create and share with your network. First though, if you’re not using LinkedIn already to promote your business, here’s why it’s important.
Authors: 3 reasons to update your LinkedIn profile
- Your LinkedIn profile acts as a standalone web page. If someone searches a particular phrase, and it features frequently in your 'About’ section, the search engines will return your LinkedIn profile on the search engine results pages (known as SERPS). This gets more visibility for you, your business and your book too. LinkedIn coach Greg Cooper says, "Your profile is your professional shop window. It should be written with your target audiences in mind. Pay attention to the layout, and make it easy to read. Fill in all parts of the profile so that LinkedIn gives it an All-Star rating and extra visibility. Showcase your work, for example, by sharing some pages from your book in the 'featured’ section."
- Online networking is the fastest way to meet new people, develop relationships and attract clients for your book and your services. You can grow your network by sending out invitations every day or every week; simply set yourself a goal of how many hundreds or thousands you’d like to connect with. Remember though, they might be on LinkedIn to network, get a new job or promote their own services and knowledge: people don’t take kindly to direct selling approaches! LinkedIn expert Jill Chitty recommends writing a personal message which is friendly and welcoming, taking an interest in them. "Plan the content you’re going to share and prepare the messages which you’ll send out to people. You need to welcome them into your network, rather than ignore the new connections you’re making."
- LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to amplify your marketing. If you’ve written a blog article or received coverage in the press, you can share it online with your network. Keep it professional and consider staying humble: you might be tempted to brag, but far better to show gratitude to the people who helped you get that coverage and tag them in your posts.
Like other social media platforms, LinkedIn has a complex algorithm to determine who sees your posts. So you may be connected with a thousand people, but they won’t all see your posts, unless they regularly like or comment on what you share.
What types of content to post on LinkedIn
To encourage people to like and comment on your posts, you’ll need to ask questions or engage with their posts first. When thinking about promoting your book, remember you don’t want to alienate your audience! Instead, you need to entice them to read more. Here’s how:
- Update your 'About’ section of your profile to include your book. Top tip: don’t just say BUY MY BOOK and leave a link. Give them a positive reason for choosing it, for example "To help launch your business while juggling family responsibilities, buy my book, The Expecting Entrepreneur" by Lauren Malone.
- Ensure your contact details are up to date on your LinkedIn profile and, for more publicity, make it easy for journalists to contact you. Top tip: include a link to your author page on your business website or link to your book website if you’ve launched a standalone site for it.
- Observe how LinkedIn only shows the first two lines of a text post and make an impact with those sentences. Top tip: if you want greater engagement and discussion, ask a question in the first line of your post.
- Mix it up. Create some text-only posts, some with images and some articles of 300-600 words to share with your network. If you know your audience well, they should start to respond, showing you which type of content they prefer. Top tip: use video on the LinkedIn platform, adding subtitles for people who don’t like the sound to interrupt them in the office.
Common mistakes on LinkedIn
Not on LinkedIn frequently enough: some authors only post once a month or very occasionally on LinkedIn. Unfortunately, your network is unlikely to see your posts if you’re not on there often enough. Log in and read your home feed at least once a week; you’ll get much better responses if you’re on there and posting 4-5 times a week.
Broadcasting your posts, then disappearing: lots of people hop on LinkedIn, share a post then leave. But if you don’t engage with other people’s posts, you can’t expect them to comment on yours. It’s a game of positive reciprocity!
Get more visibility for your book on LinkedIn
- Create work-in-progress posts in the three to four months before your publication date. LinkedIn expert Jill advises, "Start getting your message out there and building interest even before the book is ready. People will love commenting on the title, design and colours, so let them join in." One example: you could share an advance peek at the manuscript during the editing phase. A flat-lay image of manuscript pages can attract attention, with your followers craning to read the content. These posts will build a sense of excitement before the book is even published.
- When you’ve got options for the cover design, share them with your network to see which appeals to your audience the most. Discuss the font size, colours and overall look of the book, even if you’ve already chosen your firm favourite!
- After your book is published, author and copywriter John Espirian says, "Create a featured post with an image of your book, a few words about it and a link to your book sales page either on Amazon or on your website. To do this, you create an ordinary LinkedIn post, then click the ellipses (three dots) at the top right of the post - where you can select ✰ Feature on top of profile. That means visitors who find you will see the book immediately."
- Create visuals with quotes from your book. By extracting short snippets from your book, you can engage your network with the content and encourage them to read the whole thing. Some authors even offer a free chapter for people who sign up to their newsletter. By taking the relationship off social media and into email, you can continue to share updates privately with your audience and give them direct access to your best content.
- Publish your reader reviews. It’s always great to share positive news on LinkedIn, but as SilverWood’s Head of Marketing Debra Penrice says, "Don’t bore your audience by stating 'look at this amazing review.’ Instead, start by opening your post with the problem you can help with or your book solves, and turn that into a question to introduce your book review. Then say how grateful you are to receive the feedback and tag the person in, if you’re connected with them." Book reviews, like testimonials, stand out better on visual posts with an image or block colour background to highlight the content.
To wrap up, we hope you’ll connect with SilverWood on LinkedIn because we regularly share news for writers and love to help our authors with their book marketing. After publishing your book, we work with selected partners to help you promote your book. To get in touch with one of our friendly Publishing Assistants, book a complimentary Discovery Call here to discuss further.
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