What to post besides writing content?

Social media post ideas that go beyond snippets of your writing or career news

Recently in one of my group marketing sessions, an author was searching for social media content ideas. She wanted suggestions that were not just snippets of her writing or career updates about her writing. Those two suggestions are commonly recommended online, but she was searching for content ideas that went beyond her writing, but that still made sense for an author profile.

It’s important that a posting strategy include more than just info about your book—you want to build an authentic relationship with readers that goes beyond a brag sheet about where your career is at right now. Social media is one of the places you can build the Know, Like, and Trust factor and that requires sharing more than just writing content. (Not to mention, there’s only so many times a person can post the same thing, right? We all need some ideas for how to shake it up a bit!)

Because it was so hard for this author to find a good list online, I decided to write one myself, and share it with all of you today!

What to post on social media that ISN’T your writing

• Selfies

• Something that inspired you today

• Observations (What details in the world do you want to highlight today?)

• What You’re Reading

• Start a conversation with your audience/ask a question—either about life in general, or reading/writing. Audiences love to engage and share their opinions! I.e.: “Do you prefer the poetry of Mary Oliver or Rupi Kaur?”

• A short, encouraging message

• Tie into random “holidays” (I.E. “It’s National Dog Day, here’s a photo of my pet.”)

• Share a funny story that happened to you, either recently or something from the past and why it came to mind today

• A favorite quote from literature or by your favorite modern writer

• Photos of where you are at: Your kitchen, if you’re home baking; the walls or entrance of an art center, if you went to a gallery today; etc.

• Support other writers and poets by sharing some of their content on your feed (then you don’t have to create your own that day!)

• Share some of your current writing, but only the first few lines, as a teaser. Then share what inspired this section that you are currently working on.

• Nature photos, with a thought about the photo from you

• Family pics, if you are comfortable sharing those

• Interview another author and post the interview on your socials (either a written Q&A on your blog or newsletter or record a zoom call or do a Facebook/IG Live)

• Photos of a hobby you enjoy: baking, woodworking, drawing, etc.

• Photos of yard work you are doing this spring—is it going well or kicking your butt?

These are just a few suggestions, but hopefully they help you come up with some new ideas. Leave me a comment and tell me what some of your favorite things are to post about!

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P.S. A Previous Podcast Episode

I am still on maternity leave, so am not doing many guest interviews right now, but wanted to share this old one from last year. This interview on The Writing Podcast from Journey Sixty6 is still my favorite interview to-date. I loved the clear Q&A format that Melissa and Dave employ. We got very step-by-step practical—listening to this podcast episode is very similar to what a 1:1 session with me feels like—but this one is free! Enjoy!