5 Proven Social Media Book Marketing Tips To Boost Engagement

Dearest Gentle Reader,

In the last few years, the social media book marketing community has grown because of online spaces like BookTok and Bookstagram. In fact, there are over 79 million posts under #BookTok on TikTok and over 125 million posts under #Bookstagram on Instagram.

This shows how many potential readers there are. Engagement is now more important than ever to reach new readers!

Each social media platform differs in engagement and how it's tracked. This may be through watch time, likes, shares, comments, etc.

It can also be measured by reach, by followers, and by conversion rate. It all comes back to interactions on posts, whether that is videos or images.

Let's run through these 5 tips for social media book marketing, backed by real-world examples and with real statistics:

Tip 1: Picking trends that work best for the audience and author.

• Look for other debut authors and published authors in your genre to follow on social media for inspiration. Many authors also have guides to help out authors with new books and/or reaching new audiences.

  Here are some that are really making a name for themselves on social media:

  • Emily Tudor (always up-to-date on trends & you will always see her in her fans' comment sections) Instagram link

  • Adrienne Young (blends her lifestyle posts with engaging posts about her own books), Instagram link

  • Victoria Schwab/V.E. Schwab (shows highs and lows of writing process, in-depth newsletter) Instagram link

• Try to find short-form trends because studies show that 49% short-form video content drives ROI (HubSpot, 2026). These videos can be as simple as using trending audio over a reel of the book's writing process.

• If you see a trend shared on a different side of the Internet, use it as inspiration to make something.

  • Example: When everyone was posting the song, "House Tour" by Sabrina Carpenter, to show off their homes. Authors can use the song to show off all their books or their book tour stops, like in this post, shared by Chloe Gong on Instagram.

• The social media book marketing space changes frequently, with new trends every day. So don't get too overwhelmed and try to do it all! Choose what speaks to your personal brand and book's theme!

  • To learn more about social media marketing's changing landscape, here is a blog post about social media changes so far in 2026: Click here!

Tip 2: Create shareable content!

• Shareable content, including polls, interactive stories, and behind-the-scenes videos, can be best for engagement.

  

  Below are some examples for book promotion on social media accounts:

  • Book Playlist (songs that go with the book)

  • This or That (shareable template for stories with genre-specific items)

  • Quotes From The Book

  • Cover Reveal (ex, create a countdown on social media, slowly tearing away the compelling cover until the reveal day)

  • Book Trailers

  • Character Art and Fan Art (great for fantasy romance!)

  • Answer questions asked by readers

  • Feature reader reviews

Tip 3: Repurpose and cross-platform post content!

Repurposing means adapting content to new platforms. Cross-platform posting is posting the same content as is. This is important because each platform has different post requirements and styles that do well.

One strategy to use is the 5-1 rule: this is creating 5 pieces of smaller content from one long-form piece of content. Here is a link to a copywriting specialist who wrote a LinkedIn article about the 5-1 rule: Link!

• Turn books into infographics and smaller bite-sized pages (1-4 sentences) that are easy to reshare.

• Turn Long-Form Videos into Multiple Short-Form Videos on different topics. Turn this into written takeaways for blogs or newsletters. Turn stills of videos into social media graphics to share.

• Turn text threads into a carousel to scroll through.

And here are more ideas for repurposing content!

Tip 4: Community Engagement

• Responding to comments, liking and resharing posts, and participating in reader discussions on their social media pages can all create a loyal network of readers. Not only should authors connect with readers, but with other authors as well!

• These interactions with readers make readers feel connected to authors, which makes them more likely to share their work.

• With a loyal network online, a street team can form!

  • A street team is a volunteer group of dedicated fans who help promote an author's books. This street team will receive advanced reader copies (ARCs) and beta-read the novels.

  • This street team can lead to future collaborations on posts across social media.

Tip 5: Create a consistent social media posting schedule.

• Having a regular content schedule allows you to show up in your followers' feeds and in their algorithm.

• Everyone creates their content calendar differently. There's no right way to do it.

  • Scheduling Tools: Buffer, Hootsuite, and Later offer easy integration across multiple platforms.

  • Places to Brainstorm: Canva, Google, Microsoft, and Notion offer spaces that anyone can use anytime and anywhere.

  • Social Media Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are best for social media book marketing.

• It's recommended to post 3 times a week at optimal times for your audience.

  • This list highlights the optimal social media schedule. (Adobe, 2023)

    • Facebook: 1-2 posts per day

    • Twitter: 3 Tweets per day

    • LinkedIn: 2-5 posts per week

    • Instagram: 1-2 Reels per day + 1 image or carousel post per day

    • TikTok: 1-3 posts per day

    • Pinterest: 4-10 posts per day

• Below are the best times to post for social media book marketing, according to Buffer (2026).

Through handpicking trends, creating shareable content, repurposing content, engaging with the audience, and maintaining a consistent content posting schedule, anyone can master social media book marketing!

And by embracing these 5 tips for growing engagement for social media book marketing, authors can improve visibility and grow their fanbases to increase book sales.

🪽 Written by Claire Heleniak