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Canva
Mix Captions
Dear Emmie Blue
The Guncle
Eight Perfect Hours
Bob Books (workbook!)
Shownotes:
Hey it’s EPISODE two.
How exciting!
Today we’re going to talk about my
10 things you do NOT have to do to be successful on social media.
And we’ll end with what I’m reading right now!
- You do NOT have to be on social media 24/7.
It may feel like you need to be on social media all the time to make any progress,
but that’s simply not true.
First, it’s not sustainable for many people, especially booksellers, to be available 24/7
on social media.
Think of it this way: if you were on social media all the time, you would have no time for selling books, buying new books, reading books, learning about great books, talking to customers, or anything like that.
And that’s what your customers love you for!
Social media is part of the business model for many stores, but it’s not the only way you should be spending your time. Figure out what works for you and plan accordingly. And don’t forget to take a break! Social media can go non-stop, but you cannot. It’s important to realize that and figure out how you can balance your in store work, your online work, and your rest.
- You do NOT have to post every single day/do what the experts say.
There are so many social media experts. There are people that say post every day, others that say post every other day. Each one seems to promise you you’ll be successful if you do what they say, and not if you don’t. Yes, I’m aware that I have a podcast advising bookstores what to do on social media, and I’m even telling you you don’t have to listen to everything I say!
Not every thing is going to work for every one.
Not every store has the budget or the time to do the same thing. And why would we all want to do the same thing anyway? That’s boring. Don’t ignore what social media experts share about social media, but as you see what they share, view it through the lens of what could work and what does work for your store.
Keep an open mind while also seeing where you can improve. And when you find something that works, keep doing it! And share it with your bookseller friends. We are all here to lift each other up. And there needs to be more online specifically tailored to advice for bookstores!
- You do NOT have to be on every single platform.
I know it can feel this way.
Everyone is everywhere.
But you do NOT have to be.
And even if you are, you don’t have to be spending as much time on each platform.
You can let each platform serve its purpose, and post content there accordingly.
Does Facebook do well for you events-wise?
Maybe just post events there.
Do you get more engagement on Instagram?
Concentrate on posting things there that drive engagement.
Solely use Twitter to connect with publishers and authors and/or illustrators?
Perfectly fine.
If you look at bigger social media bookstore accounts, you will find that they seem to have one platform that they go all in on.
And remember number one?
You don’t have time to be on here 24/7.
Use your time accordingly,
and drop platforms if you want to.
People will find you if they care about keeping in touch with you.
- You do NOT have to hire someone to do your social media.
I know it can be tempting to throw your hands up and say,
“I’m just going to hire someone to do this!”
and walk away from it all.
If you have the money to do that, for sure, go ahead!
But you do not need to hire someone to be successful.
If you do hire someone, make sure you are both on the same page about what the expectations and job duties are. Don’t be afraid to start small and do what you can do on your own; once it feels like it’s too much, look around at your booksellers.
Do you think one of them or a few of them could take on the role?
Could you do the platform you like and they could work on the other ones?
When someone else takes over even part of the duties, communication becomes even more important. Hiring someone solely for social media is something that can help, but it’s not needed, especially not right when you are starting out.
- You do NOT have to have 50K followers.
Or even 10K.
Or 2K.
I know, it feels good to have followers.
It’s great to see that number.
So many people are interested in what you’re doing!
It’s validating! But followers don’t directly translate into sales.
And not every follower is going to see everything you post;
most times most of them won’t see it.
So followers don’t equal money spent at your store.
You can have a small audience that is really engaged;
it honestly matters more about the engagement than the follower count.
It’s okay to have a goal about gaining followers, but it should not be the only metric you are keeping an eye on.
Think about what social media is doing for your bottom line.
It’s not always obvious or easy to track though, so keep that in mind.
- You do NOT have to keep on top of all of the latest trends.
Trends move really fast.
We know that in the book world as well;
someone talks about a book and suddenly everyone wants to buy it and read it RIGHT NOW.
People who do social media consulting full time even miss trends,
so no one expects you to be able to keep up with them.
If you come across a trend that you think will work for your store,
put your spin on it and go for it!
If it’s a trend that won’t work for you store?
You probably don’t need to do it.
The thing about going viral for a piece of content is it’s better for you to go viral for a piece of content related to what you normally post.
That way the views you get from the it could potentially turn into followers when they see you post more content like the thing that brought them in.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s also fun to go viral if it’s not related to your main type of content.
But keeping it related to your usual stuff does three things:
- Strengthens your brand.
- Strengthens your feed
And
3. Earns you views that could convert into followers and customers.
Another thing to consider is the fact that posting about a book is almost always a piece of evergreen content.
What do I mean by this? It’s a piece of content that, no matter when someone comes across it, they can still find value in.
It could be a book that you showcased three years ago; if a reader hasn’t seen the book, it’s a new book to them. Trends can move quickly and the content around them can get dated quickly as well, so think about how much time you want to spend on making content around a trend. Would your time be better spent working on a piece of content that has a much longer shelf life? Yes. That’s not a rhetorical question. The answer is yes.
- You do NOT have to compare your store to other stores.
This is NOT going to end well, trust me.
It’s great to see what other stores are doing,
because you can keep your eye on the pulse of bookstore social media.
But it’s not good to doom scroll and wallow in your feelings, thinking,
“Why can’t I do that? Why aren’t MY posts successful like that?”
Remember, we have no idea what goes on behind the screen.
We have no idea if the person posting is someone who has YEARS of experience and talents.
All we know is what we see posted.
If you want to compare, I suggest you compare with yourself!
Keep track of how you are doing with your posts and
compare month by month to see how far you’ve come.
And if you must compare or are curious,
make sure you are looking at stores that are similar to you in some way:
they sell the same stuff (new, used, new and used), the are in the same region, they have a similar amount of followers…
One thing that really helps me when I think I’m getting low views is to look at accounts my size and see what their views, likes and comments are like. Sometimes it’s not just you, it’s the algorithm and it’s the app or it’s even the season!
For example: Back to school is a time of stress for a lot of adults and they’re not on social media as much. It’s something that happens every year, so if you know about it, you can expect it.
- You do NOT have the latest, fanciest gadgets, tools, and apps.
Wanting to have all the right/fancy tools before starting is something that goes beyond social media; lots of people who want to make art are constantly asking artists what pen they use, what paper they use. Remember you just really need your enthusiasm and ideas.
There ARE some great apps that help, but, for the most part, you can do a lot in the actual social media apps. Natural light is a great thing, but you don’t need a ring light for it; just a window and some daytime hours. Yes, I know daytime hours are hard to come by; if you can’t look, at creating some graphics!
For social media, I literally use Canva and the apps that I post on. Occasionally I use the app mix captions to caption a video if I can’t caption it right in the app. I use my phone to take photos; I don’t use any filters or adjustments after taking the photos. Nothing against any of that stuff; a lot of it is really helpful. But you DO NOT need it right away, I promise.
- You do NOT have to do everything according to what the analytics says is successful.
Don’t get me wrong: I love analytics. They are a great way to see what your numbers are, what’s working, what’s not, and what’s connecting with people. There are lots of insights we can gain from analytics. Most of them can be found in the analytics available in each of the social media apps.
I do caution ONLY doing things according to the analytics though. It is great to know what types of posts connect with your audience, of course! But it’s also important to remember that the algorithms in these apps reward certain types of posts. If you can make posts like that and stick to your goals and values, that’s great. But some of your posts may not be super popular, but are still important to your mission and values. Don’t get so caught up in sharing only things that can go viral or are super popular that you miss sharing things that are important to you.
- You do NOT have to only post bookish related content.
While it is great to stick to MOSTLY bookish content, I promise you that’s not all you have to post. Your followers want to get to know you as well as your store, and your employees, and you all are so much more than books, right? Right. Also, you never know when something you share that isn’t book related will connect with your audience. So have fun with it. What’s the worst that could happen? No one connects with the content? That’s not the worst thing in the world. Pick something you have fun making and sharing and see what happens.
What’s Kathy Ellen reading right now?
I’m trying to record this as close as possible to the day the podcast goes out, but hey, I have a baby who sometimes isn’t quiet, and a kindergartner who is RARELY quiet. So sometimes I may be joined by some special guest voices!
I’m actually in the middle of two fiction books, which is rare for me.
Usually I can’t keep two fictional worlds straight!
I’m listening to an audiobook, Dear Emmie Blue, an adult contemporary fiction, and reading
The Guncle in hardback, another adult contemporary fiction.
I’ve been eyeing Dear Emmie Blue at the bookstore, and I have a listening copy from Libro.fm. I read an arc from the author a bit back of her latest book, Eight Perfect Hours, and really liked her writing style, so thought I’d give this one a shot. It stars two best friends who met when Emmie sent a balloon into the sky and the other found it, more than 100 miles away. They’ve been friends every since, going on 13 years, and now Lucas is getting married. Only Emmie thought it would be them getting married to EACH OTHER. So she has to work those feelings out.
I like the characters, but it feels like it’s moving a bit slow. That could be the frequency with which I listen too, who knows. I do know I’d love this as a movie! The settings and the characters make you feel like you really know them and the places; there’s some great food, and I can really relate to Emmie’s character, especially when she’s talking about money being tight at the end of the month, and comparing her financial situation with her friends when they go out and picking the cheapest option. There were many times in my adult life when I felt the same way, and still do sometimes.
The Guncle is one I’ve been wanting to read for a while too, and it was on the special 7 day shelf at the library. Does your library have one of those shelves? Basically they are popular books that you can’t put on hold but you can check out for seven days. Another library I was a patron at called them the Lucky Day reads. They also have copies in circulation, but since they’re so popular they make it into the 7 day section too. I picked up two from the 7 day section so I better get reading fast!
This one is really fun too. Patrick takes in his niece and nephew after their mother dies and their father, his brother, goes to rehab. Patrick is a sort of retired tv star actor living in Palm Springs; not the most likely choice to take in the kids but he’s growing through the experience and really great for them. I love that they call him GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick) and Guncle (Gay Uncle). He’s dealing with a lot of grief too; their mother was a great friend of his he met in college, and he’s determined to help the kids through their grief but not sure about what to do with his own. There are laugh out loud moments in this book and my heart warmed up to Patrick and the kids right away. I’m looking forward to seeing how Patrick changes throughout the story because the kids are changing him for the better already.
Oh, and I’m reading a ton of BOB books with Rosemary, my five year old.
She’s getting into reading and very excited about it!
Have you read it?
Let me know what you’re reading right now on my post about this on Instagram and TikTok!
