© 2021 Julie Lavender

Have you considered using videos on social media to promote your next release?

My parenting book, 365 Ways to Love Your Child: Turning Little Moments into Lasting Memories, released in October 2020. To market, I chose to employ videos to bring awareness to my book because it seemed to be the new social media rage. However, I’m not a huge fan of videos of myself, so I came up with the next best idea!

You see, I absolutely love supporting my fellow authors. I decided to ask author friends if they’d be willing to submit a one- to two-minute video sharing one way they show or showed love to a child. In addition to posting their video on my social media platforms, I promised to share their bios and any links they chose in the comments. Usually that meant a link to their newest release.

The videos were a hit with those on my “friends” list as well as my contributing author friends. It provided another opportunity for them to reach a new audience with info about their publication and at the same time, afforded me a chance to potentially reach their friend-groups on social media.
But the best part about the marketing plan was the relationships I nurtured with many members of my writing community. We supported each other in our journeys and spread the word about our publications simultaneously.

Here are tips on how you can incorporate videos in your next marketing plan:

1) Decide on content.
Choose a topic or idea related to your book that will generate interest and conversation. Make sure the content benefits your friends and followers.

2) Start early.
I began collecting videos more than a month prior to launching the first one. I sent out emails or Facebook messages to writer friends in February 2020, sharing my idea and asking them to include links to websites, social media, blogs, and books or published articles. I planned to post the first video in early April, seven months before my book released.

3) Decide how many to post per week. Be consistent.
I posted three videos per week, but that was a tad ambitious. It can be time consuming to maintain that many posts and responses. Two per week might be more manageable.

4) Encourage the contributor to share your post.
That way, you reach an even wider audience than your own friends and followers.

5) Engage with responders.
After all, the purpose of the campaign is to build an audience for your upcoming release. Engaging with them before the book releases, with sincerity and interest, generates a passion for your work when it comes out rather than coming across as “just another sales pitch.”

How can you use videos from others to generate an interest in your book and help you market your next release?
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Julie Lavender is celebrating her book’s one-year birthday. 365 Ways To Love Your Child: Turning Little Moments into Lasting Memories, published by Revell, released last October. Julie has enjoyed talking with parents, grandparents, teachers, and others who love children about the contents of her book. She adores hearing others’ tips for showing love to a child and invites you to check out her social media where she posts videos of friends and writers sharing their suggestions for loving on children.