Social media provides a great platform for authors to interact with their readers through sites such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Pinterest. It also allows fans to connect with the authors they love.

It can be a great way of getting the word out about your books and other products too.

Followers can provide good support on social media sites where they regularly expect to receive content and updates from you. It’s not enough to just have someone follow you online, you need to know how to keep them interested and coming back for more.

Here are seven social media rules every also should know:

1. Don’t spam people

Most authors often use social media as a novelty when their first getting started and can be tempted to post every little thing. This might make you popular on sites such as Twitter, but other people won’t like you spamming their newsfeeds with book promotions.

Remember you can have too much of a good thing. I often unfollow who litter my feed with dozens of book promos and your readers will too.

2. Be consistent

Some authors post incessantly when they first get started but after a while the thrill of social media starts to wear off and they quickly become bored by. Your followers will get used to you posting on a regular basis and will find it strange if you suddenly stop posting.

Try to come up with a regular schedule of posting on different social media sites. Even if you can only post a couple of times every other day it doesn’t matter, just be consistent.

3. Stay relevant

As an author, you have to be a lot of other things as well, but as most of your followers will probably be readers they might not need to know about those other things.

Keep your followers updated with things about your work and your books, but it’s not always advisable to post personal things.

Certainly never post things when you’re angry or start arguments with people as it won’t turn out well.

4. Engage with your readers

Neil Gaiman has gained a huge following on Twitter of over 1 million followers thanks to his retweeting and responding to other people’s tweets.

If someone sends you a message on Facebook or Twitter respond to them. This can easily turn a follower into a fan.

5. Stay positive.

As I stated in rule 3, don’t get involved in arguments on any social media platform. You can’t win and will most likely annoy more people in the process.

It doesn’t take much effort to post on social media, but remember to stay professional and don’t post things that may antagonise or deliberately offend others.

6. Keep your Facebook and Twitter accounts separate

It may seem like a good idea to link your social media accounts together but don’t. Some things that work on Twitter don’t always work as well on Facebook. This can include things like pictures which are normally different size on each different platform.

It’s important to customise your content for each platform. This will keep your followers engaged and show them that you are making an effort.

7. Enjoy it

There’s nothing worse than doing something you don’t enjoy. The same applies to social media and it’s important that you post things because you actually enjoy doing it.

Don’t just use social media to advertise yourself as this will quickly become boring. Interact and talk to your followers on the different platforms. Your followers will appreciate this and it will make the process much more enjoyable.

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