TikTok has driven many popular trends in social media marketing over the last couple of years. Whether it’s leaning into imperfect and genuine video marketing or the increase in edu-tainment content, TikTok has lived at the forefront of marketing efforts for many companies.
However, big businesses with big advertising budgets are not the only ones who can benefit from understanding TikTok’s trends. We took a look at TikTok’s What’s Next 2022 Report and applied the trends and takeaways to book marketing.
Self-Care Champions Dominated Social Media
People have begun to prioritize their personal care more in the last year than ever before. About one third of customers say they have increased their self-care practices in 2021.
What does this mean for authors using social media to market their books?
First, if your book is in the self-care, personal development category (or can be spun that way) it is your time to shine. Get out there sharing tips in your book and lean into the educational elements of the research you put into your book.
If your book is not in the personal growth category, that’s okay! There are still a lot of ways we can lean into the self-care wave taking over social media. Here are a couple of ideas:
Share self-love moments. Did you accomplish something that made you proud? Wake up with a smile on your face this morning? Try something new? Share it with your fans.- Lean into imperfection. A large part of this self-care is recognizing there is no such thing as perfect. Showing up as you are is not only applauded, but it is also a lot more relatable than showing up as a completely curated image.
- Talk about your writing journey. Writing a book is NOT an easy task, and it’s something a lot of people want to do and never complete. You did it. How did you get through the rough times? What habits did you pick up to push yourself through to the end?
- Before & After. A lot of the self-care material has been about makeup artists, skincare, and the like. If you like doing makeup or something of the like, give it a try. If not, consider a parody like “Before I decided to write a book vs. after I published” or “When I was writing my book happily vs. when I first experienced writer’s block.”
Co-creation Has Taken Instagram & TikTok by Storm
Gone are the days where one-way storytelling is enough to compel someone to buy from you. Have you noticed the remix feature on TikTok videos and Instagram Reels?
Instagram may or may not have (wink, wink) copied the idea from TikTok because of the insane engagement with collaborative videos and videos that allow people to participate in your story.
What does this mean for content creation for authors?
First, you need to be willing to interact with your community online. For Instagram, that would be supporting other authors through engagement and community building, engaging with bookstagram accounts, and replying to the comments left on your posts if they are not spam.
Okay, Liz, but HOW?
Remix a bookstagram reel that has your book or a comparable title in it with your thoughts- Engage on a couple of hashtags you regularly use and add to the conversation. Other people’s comment sections are not a place for sales unless they specifically ask you to promote your work.
- Join in conversations that you enjoy. Maybe you’re a big fan of Star Wars, but it has nothing to do with your book. Join the conversation anyways! You might make a friend, and who knows, they might buy a book or support your author career differently.
- Use branded hashtags in a campaign.
- Collaborate with another author. There is a collaboration feature for reels as well as regular posts.
Personal Finance Education Grows on TikTok
Similar to the personal development authors, if you are writing a book about personal finance or have published one, now is your time. People are beginning to value the empowerment that comes with truly understanding personal finances. Lean into the trend if this is your area of expertise.
PS. Looking for an awesome example or some personal finance education? I am OBSESSED with Her First 100K.
What about authors who are not in the finance sphere?
One of the biggest trends we have seen over the past couple of years is the rise in Education-Entertainment content. People like to learn things – contrary to what most of our high school classrooms looked like. And they especially like to learn them in ways that are interesting and entertaining.
Ideas to use:
- Anything in the how to write or publish a book category. People want to know. If you’re a published author, who better to tell them?
- Book recommendations. You’re an author, are you also a reader?
- Worldbuilding elements. Explain your world to us and make us want to join in!
- Character development. What do we need to know about the stars of the show? Were there bits and pieces that didn’t make it into the book?